The NCAA Bounce
by Bob Edwards
Selection to the 2008 NCAA Men’s and Women’s Basketball Tournaments was quite an accomplishment for WKU. Playing on network television gave the University a tremendous amount of national exposure.
It was announced on the eve of the tournaments that WKU’s graduation rate for women basketball players was 92 percent and the rate for men basketball players was tops for all the teams in the tournament with 100 percent, according to a University of Central Florida report for schools in the NCAA tournament.
To top it off, Ty Rogers’ buzzer-beater to defeat Drake University was shown over and over, and selected as the winner of Pontiac’s Game-Changing Performance Challenge.
With the success of each game, reporters began calling about the impact of such positive, national coverage. Have applications gone up? Have donations increased? Was WKU getting the version of the “Flutie Effect”? The ‘’Flutie Effect’’ refers to a two-year, 30 percent jump in applications to Boston College after quarterback Doug Flutie’s televised Hail Mary pass beat Miami University in 1984.
A recent study on a college’s applications after major athletic success shows there may be some truth to the “Flutie Factor”, while probably not as dramatic as its namesake. Dr. Jaren Pope, an assistant professor in applied economics at Virginia Tech and his brother, Devin Pope, an assistant professor at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School, compared information on freshman classes at 330 NCAA Division I schools on how the schools’ teams fared from 1983 through 2002. They concluded that schools that make it to the Sweet 16 in the men’s basketball tournament see on average a three percent boost in applications the following year. The champion is likely to see a seven to eight percent increase, but just making the 65-team field will net schools an average one percent bump. Selection to and participation in the NCAA Basketball Tournament on a consistent basis can result in better name recognition and positive perception by potential students over time.
Two perfect examples of this phenomenon are Xavier University in Cincinnati, Ohio and Gonzaga in Spokane, Washington. Fifteen years ago, most people could not tell you where either school was located or how to even properly pronounce their name; however, their consistent tournament participation has put them on the map nationally. Enrollments at, and perceptions of both institutions have grown significantly during this time.
Coaches and players from the men’s and women’s teams represented WKU admirably. They were gracious in victory and defeat, articulate in interviews and compelling in their play. They were winners. That is important because fans watching the game tend to associate characteristics of the coach and players they see on TV with the institution. As a result, the University was viewed by many as a winner.
What the ultimate impact of a successful run in the 2008 NCAA Tournament will mean to WKU is hard to measure. The effect will probably be seen over the next few years. But the exposure WKU received as a result of participation and success in the tournament, recognition of the players’ academic success, and Ty Rogers’ dramatic shot resulted in media coverage and exposure we couldn’t buy. It was priceless.
Bob Edwards is the assistant vice president for University Relations.
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