With a win last night over Wake Forest, Saint Joseph's basketball season is far from over.
But already the team's success on the court has been paying dividends off the hardwood.
When debating the immense costs of Division I college athletics, we often hear of the massive sums of money spent by various colleges on athletics.
It doesn't take a Wharton student to see that NCAA sports, for the most part, are a highly lucrative investment.
Of over 100 Division I-A athletic departments -- schools with big-time college football -- less than half turned in a profit, and at smaller Division I institutions such as Penn, the amount of profitable sports programs can be counted on your fingers.
Some schools, while they might not readily admit it, realize that athletics are an essential part of the college experience and are willing to accept a financial loss as an investment in the education of both the athlete and the fan.
Most schools, however, argue that while athletics may not be profitable, they provide secondary benefits to the university.
They say that a high-profile sports program increases donations and applicants, ultimately leading to a better student body.
Essentially, these schools want to use athletics as an expensive mode of public relations.
However, most studies have shown that this is not an effective way of marketing a university.
Since alumni have a limited amount of money to donate to their alma mater, athletic success does not lead to increased donations to a university on the whole. While donations to the athletic department normally increase with championships, substitution normally occurs and less money is donated to another department.
In 2001, Art & Science Group, a research firm in Baltimore, found that athletics is far down on the list of factors high school students consider when picking a college. Of the 500 students polled, 73 percent said that their college decision was in no way influenced by varsity athletics.
This study helped negate what many in college athletics called the "Flutie Factor." This term refers to the alleged 25 percent increase in applicants to Boston College the year after quarterback Doug Flutie led the school to an upset of Miami in the 1984 Orange Bowl.
The Chronicle of Higher Education reported that applications to Miami increased steadily in the late 1990s, when its football team returned to national prominence. However, an interview with the Miami director of admissions revealed that most new student applicants were not influenced by football.
But St. Joe's seems to be the exception to these studies.
Where Miami and Boston College's locations and prominence as research institutions gave them national names long before their success on the field, St. Joe's was little known to most people outside of Philadelphia.
Before Jameer Nelson and Phil Martelli were on the cover of every sports section in the nation, few outside of Philly were able to name where St. Joe's was located. I suppose even fewer people were able to identify any distinguishing features of the school.
But not any more.
The school has started a massive national television campaign, with Nelson, Martelli and university president Father Timothy R. Lannon using the Hawks basketball team to sell the school.
"This team represents what St. Joseph's University is all about," Lannon says in the ad.
Gonzaga, once a school known only in the Pacific Northwest, has also used basketball to make a name for itself.
Martelli's feud with CBS broadcaster Billy Packer, along with the team's less-traditional style of play, has helped to establish a unique identity for the entire school -- a feisty, blue-collared attitude.
And while St. Joe's has only been in the national spotlight for a few months, it is already seeing positive results.
The school saw a 6 percent increase in applications, although the real spike is expected for next year. Many applicants cited basketball as a reason for applying. Sponsorship income has risen 369 percent.
And while most larger institutions see a substitution in alumni donations thanks to athletic success, St. Joseph's has seen an increase in total donations by 62 percent. This can be credited to an increased solicitation of alumni and the pure joy these alums feel from finally getting their chance in the spotlight.
While St. Joe's unconventional four guard lineup may or may not lead it to a national championship, with a strong marketing effort its success on the court has already taken the school to the bank.
