Students buy into hype; season ticket sales improve

IU's contest with Nicholls State University this weekend isn't just the team's first chance to defend its home turf. It's the first opportunity for IU fans to experience a program that spent the entire off-season marketing itself to the Hoosier community. \nSince the hiring of head coach Terry Hoeppner in the spring, IU supporters have been bombarded with marketing on billboards, in newspaper ads and through TV and radio ads. Everywhere are messages that inform fans that "crowds help win games" and "Coach Hep wants you!"\nMemorial stadium has even been re-designated "The Rock." \nAll this excitement has paid off for the football program, resulting in higher season ticket sales than in past years under former coach Gerry DiNardo. Tim Fitzpatrick, director of external operations for IU athletics, said the program has entered the new season by taking an important step in the right direction. \n"Student attendance has been a priority during the football marketing campaign," Fitzpatrick said. "There is a substantial increase in student season ticket sales. However, as Coach Hep likes to say, 'We are just scratching the surface of what we can do.'"\nThe dividends accrued from the marketing programs are already evident in season ticket sales. As of Aug. 23, the program had sold 16,662 season tickets, a 3,138-ticket increase from last season. \nStudents have contributed most to the increase, buying more than 4,165 season tickets, a 47-percent jump from last year's total of 2,832. \nHoeppner said he is excited about an influx of concerned Hoosier faithful filling Memorial Stadium.\n"We have the expectations of our program and what it can bring," Hoeppner said. "We want people who care enough to show up and support us. It's a win for everyone."\nHoeppner recognizes, but, that ticket sales have increased, they are still far below Big Ten attendance averages, even as his team and program develop simultaneously. \n"We are not where we want to be yet," he said. "The similarities between our team on the field and our program of the field are paralleling each other."\nPlayers aren't blind to potential benefits from increased sales. Senior linebacker John Pannozzo is excited about the prospect of a packed Memorial Stadium full of screaming Hoosier fans, he said. \n"That's the ideal," Pannozzo said. "With such a big school and big campus, there's no reason we shouldn't be able to fill the stadium every Saturday. It's exciting to think about." \nSophomore quarterback Blake Powers wants his team to leave its lasting mark on the program. \n"You love the idea of the stadium being full," he said. "Since I got here, I've said that was my goal. We want to be the team that gets (IU's) program to the top. We want to leave here with the program much better than it was when we came"