FACTS and opinions

First things first: it is almost undeniable that at this point, we need a recap of everything before getting started. This also allows for some clarifications.

About three weeks ago, I decided to let go of the belief that Georgia Southern should stay at the I-AA/FCS level of football for as long as they could remain dominant. Instead, I've come to believe that the Eagles should at least take the initial steps toward a move to the biggest arena of college football. This Mitt Romney-esque flip-flop has come in part because since I produced a five-part newspaper series about the I-A/I-AA debate three years ago, shifts in the landscape of D-1 football and progress in terms of Georgia Southern's athletic infrastructure point towards a change in direction.

I argued against using institutional pride as a reason for hoisting the Eagles into uncharted waters, mainly because pride can be used strongly and logically as an argument for either side of the debate. Instead, I think the evidence shows that the NCAA has no real commitment to preserving the viability, dignity and status of I-AA/FCS football. Without the balls to even effect a reasonable and logical change of nomenclature, the NCAA can't be counted on at all to assure that the financial advantages held by top tier FCS schools will remain if a greater gap continues to emerge between the subdivisions. That makes the time right to start looking into other options. If fact, with GSU fans mostly resigned to the eminent possibility of some prolonged (by Eagle standards) rebuilding, why not give those same fans something new to look forward to at the end of the tunnel?

For the most part, this has been little more than a war of words, waged mostly on the Internet by a small, vocal and somewhat anonymous group of Georgia Southern supporters. In attempting to explain how public relations works on a larger scale to shape opinions and deflect criticism, the goal was to prepare everyone for the next-to-last piece of this debate. In essence, you can put it like this: after years of posturing, the war has finally begun.

Until recently, there were only two organized voices in the debate about Georgia Southern's football classification, and they were essentially on the same side of the argument. The NCAA, hoping to appease two sides of a radically different issue, touted I-AA football as a vital field of competition that also allowed Division I schools to remain fiscally responsible. Meanwhile, the governing body of major collegiate sports did nothing to stop a steady swelling in the lower-middle segment of I-A football and lacked any authority to stop the Bowl Championship Series from solidifying support among I-A institutions by holding approximately 214 bowl games and dividing the spoils between every league at football's top level. Money talks, especially to college presidents.

(PS: I know that the BCS also gives money to the FCS as a whole—but not enough to convince the top programs from exploring a move upward. This goes back to my timing argument.)

The second voice in the I-A/I-AA debate is Georgia Southern's own. Seeing as the debate about transitioning to a higher classification has been fairly prominent since at least 1989's perfect season and fourth I-AA national title, one can assume Georgia Southern's stance has been pretty clear. The Eagles are still in the lower subdivision and any plans contrary to staying there are currently filed under "Top Secret."

Between the NCAA and the school, those in favor of staying put at I-AA had a better stranglehold on how a debate was being publicly framed than anyone outside of Dick "stay the course" Cheney.

Every now and then, though, a bulldozer comes crashing through the front door. Enter SoutherFACTS.org, a group of Internet activists intent on getting some real traction in the FCS/FBS debate. Suddenly, there is a unifying voice on the other end of the debating table from GSU, and while SouthernFACTS could be doing more, just the initial introduction into the arena of combat is enough to get some attention. Hell, it got mine.

Going back to my previous entry about the nature of public relations, though, it doesn't take long to see that this chess match already favors GSU. For one, PR is just a battle for public perception. Real actions generate real news—public relations govern how information is played out in front of "the audience." So far, the only action SouthernFACTS.org has taken is to exist. Touting a $1 million plan for revenue enhancement and flaunting a list of supporters that is still rife with "anonymous" listings and Internet handles is the PR equivalent of fluffing a petition with names off of headstones. Even with assurances by SouthernFACTS that individual IP addresses are being scanned to eliminate repeat entries, the overall effect is less-than-convincing.

The web-group also left itself open to another criticism by calling for pledges from the sometimes-anonymous supporters. Georgia Southern athletic director Sam Baker took a smug swipe at the "pledges" in his own blog:

"I can take you to the spot behind Hanner Field House where an individual back in 1995 told me pointblank that 'if' we hired Paul Johnson, he would build a much needed football building. Certainly we didn't hire Coach Johnson on that promise but it was not surprising that the promise never came to fruition and the individual did not even continue through Paul's time with purchasing his season tickets."

Smug, yes. But also very, very on the money (forgive the pun). And this story doesn't even have to be true. Even IF this story were pure bullshit, it still represents a public relations cannonball through the side of the SouthernFACTS boat because it is so plausible that the truth of the story is completely irrelevant. For my money, I believe the story (for good reasons), but I use it to illustrate what a huge gulf exists between the proven methods of an established administrator and the newborn first steps of a new voice—at least, in terms of objective public perception.

Remember, campers: right now, this battle is about public relations. You know: hearts and minds. Word choice is important. Context is important. Public support is important. And to achieve these public relations goals, you have to use a tool my old English 101 teacher preached about: specificity. It takes a very specific plan of action—not a pledge of ethereal dollars by SouthernFACTS or a pledge to make a move "when the time is right" by the GSU administration.

It goes back to message-plausibility ratio. If SouthernFACTS wants its message to be taken seriously, it will need to back that message up with actions that make the message seem plausible to undecided potential donors. Likewise with GSU—to remain viable in the eyes of even the most ardent supporters, the Eagles must prove that the program can move forward while still remaining at the lower level of Division I.

Even with the imperfections and semantic missteps, SouthernFACTS.org is the best thing to happen to Georgia Southern football since Paul Johnson left Navy, no matter which side of the FCS/FBS debate you fall on.

For supporters of a move up, SouthernFACTS is a voice. If the web-group continues to organize and revise its own vision, the group will also be able to stage actual acts. This means fund-raisers, scholarship endowments, positions in key places among Southern Boosters—more than just words and public relations. To really affect any change in GSU's stance, SouthernFACTS will have to show that it can raise real money, not just pledges. It will have to donate some of that money to Georgia Southern—no strings attached—just to validate itself as a real player in the landscape of Eagle sports. If run correctly, the web-group could be in a position to raise such a substantial amount of money that the thought of those dollars being withheld would force the school to at the very least launch the type of feasibility study the website is demanding. Moreover, that feasibility study could be administered with strict oversight by the same people who moved to make it happen. So there is no funny business.

(This, of course, goes against the disclaimer at the bottom of the SouthernFACTS home page that reads: "THIS SITE GATHERS NO DONATIONS FOR SOUTHERN BOOSTERS OR GEORGIA SOUTHERN UNIVERSITY. We only record responses to the survey for the purpose of reporting on the study. At the end of the study, we will be able to provide the information to the public and those at the University who ultimately make the decisions. THIS SITE IS IN NO WAY AFFILIATED WITH GEORGIA SOUTHERN UNIVERSITY OR SOUTHERN BOOSTERS." A change of direction, obviously, would be called for.)

Everyone opposed to a move up should also hope that SouthernFACTS succeeds in becoming a major player in the fundraising arena. Additional dollars to Southern Boosters cannot actually do any harm. If the school is forced to kowtow into a feasibility study and the I-AA/FCS advocates have been right all along about Georgia Southern's relative ability to move up, then the study should pronounce that finding clearly. The money raised by SouthernFACTS, however, will not magically disappear. In fact, an honest feasibility study that found GSU's best position would be to remain in I-AA/FCS would also spell out exactly what the Eagles would need to bridge the gap and move up. If SouthernFACTS and the other I-A supporters were truly committed to moving up, a feasibility study finding against them would simply set a new goal for fundraising efforts by the web-group.

And if SouthernFACTS wasn't able to raise enough money to get the university's attention, that would prove the I-AA/FCS stalwarts right and quiet the debate for a little while.

So, here is the PR scorecard:

Georgia Southern leads on the strength of past message dominance—there's been no organized group to stand up with a unified voice and call for a feasibility study. Sam Baker has proven to be a solid builder of infrastructure, and even though he has had plenty of detractors point to a conspiracy of silence, his control over the outflow of information about GSU athletics has been a public relations win more than a PR loss.

SouthernFACTS plays an admirable underdog, with a strong opening statement and a high ceiling for continued success. Now the web-group must back up words with actions—and dollars. As a first step, every person who has pledged to join Southern Boosters on the SouthernFACTS web site should immediately give the web-group the amount they would donate to GSU if the school moved to FBS. Then SouthernFACTS should give that money to Southern Boosters as a goodwill gesture to show the school just how committed this group of (currently) 900 or so fans are to the cause. If Georgia Southern wants that money again next year… well, there could be some serious discussions and deliberations, my friends.

And don't forget to call the newspapers if you do, SouthernFACTS—that's the kind of PR you can't get in cyberspace.

(PPS: Even if SouthernFACTS remained just a vehicle for gathering names on a virtual petition, clever application of a few PR "stunts" could quickly raise awareness about the issue among the general populace of GSU football fans. It is worth noting that in creating this piece, I never interviewed anyone from SouthernFACTS, simply because I wanted to write from the perspective of a very interested fan. Any ideas I have advanced about fund raising or otherwise drawing attention to the FCS/FBS issue through SouthernFACTS have been in an argumentative sense only.

Those ideas would work, though.)

Next week: I'll wrap it up.