Penn coaches agree that fans are a factor

Penn's new marketing director Bill Richter hopes to help the Quakers win games by boosting the attendance level. Penn football coach Al Bagnoli remembers the day vividly. November 6, 1993. Homecoming. Both Penn and Princeton were 7-0, competing on a gorgeous fall day for the Ivy League championship. The attendance was a massive 35,810. That game, says Bagnoli, "all the stars lined up" to create such a large audience -- a huge game, a beautiful day and most importantly, two stellar teams. That game, it can be inferred, is certifiable proof of the age-old sports phenomenon: people love to watch, support and root for winning teams. Although fans traditionally show more support for winners, several Penn coaches have expressed an interest in promotions and incentives that would bring fans to the gate even during slumps. Long before the season starts, before the team even starts winning, planning begins for various ways to lure fans to support the Quakers. With the recent hiring of Bill Richter, Penn's new director of marketing and promotions, coaches can reduce focus on filling the seats through giveaways, leaving that task to a professional . Indeed, several Penn coaches recently agreed that not only is a team's success crucial to attracting more fans, but also the size of a crowd itself can often be the difference between a heartbreaking last-second loss and a dramatic come-from-behind victory. "It's one of the things about American sports. People want to support a winner," Patrick Baker, the women's soccer coach, said. "Nobody wants to go see a team lose," agreed women's volleyball coach Kerry Major. Men's soccer coach Rudy Fuller put it quite simply: "Success brings fans." "Everything we can do to help promote the players, in whatever sport, for whatever season, helps draw people out," said Baker, who listed autographed cards of players distributed to kids as one such successful promotion tool. Major expressed similar sentiments. "Promotions are good for getting fans there first, for initial contact," she said. Major, who is in her first year at Penn -- accustomed to huge, invigorating crowds at other schools -- especially longs for fan support. "I come from a program [at the University of Alaska] where we had 1,000 fans at every home game. It's a priority on my list," said Major. While the volleyball and women's soccer home games are often sparsely attended, even high-profile Penn teams like men's basketball and football struggle to pull in fans when they struggle to win. "There's a direct correlation with how well you do and the size of the crowd -- not just at Penn; it's typical of all athletic programs," explained men's basketball coach Fran Dunphy. And while fans always seem to love a winner, Penn coaches certainly love fans. Regardless of how their team is doing, regardless of where their team is playing, coaches greatly appreciate -- and even find necessary -- fan support. "Everybody likes to play in front of a crowd. There's nothing more discouraging for kids to labor and labor and labor and not have anyone show up," Bagnoli explained. Lack of fan support can be, in fact, infuriating. Conversely, tremendous fan support, which is what the men's basketball team generally receives, is often exhilarating for the coach and even more so for the players. "I just think it makes everyone feel better," Dunphy said of the benefits of fan support. "Most of all the players, who see that their efforts are appreciated." Every Penn coach knows from personal experience the benefits of a large home crowd and the potential terrors of boisterous and active fans at away games. And each Penn coach has his or her own fairy tale and nightmarish horror story to tell. Last year's home game against Yale, for example, is a game that Dunphy fondly remembers and points to as primary evidence of an involved home crowd creating a home team advantage for the Quakers. "We were down 20 points with maybe 10 minutes left in the game. The crowd had a direct effect on us coming back and winning in overtime," Dunphy recalls. Richter, in an effort to bring Penn students out to different Penn sporting events, has devised several promotion incentives. Each home football game, Penn students can bring their tickets for the game and enter them in a raffle. Winners of the raffle will be eligible to receive a host of different prizes. Another new promotion is the free red and blue T-shirts given to every Penn student who purchases season tickets for the upcoming basketball season.