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Sweet-16-Bound Florida Gulf Coast Hoping for Returns on March Madness Investment

March 21, 2013 - 7:00pm

UPDATED: As their team prepared to go head to head with the Georgetown Hoyas Friday evening -- first time at "The Big Dance" in the school's brief history -- administrators at Florida Gulf Coast University (FGCU) knew full well there was more at stake than sheer fun and games.

Little did they know that by the time the weekend was over, they would be THE story of the NCAA tournament.

"We're just extremely excited, not only for the prospects for our team, but for our entire university, Ken Kavanagh, FGCU's athletic director, told Sunshine State News before Friday night's game. Basically, the reason you have collegiate athletics, why we make investments in sports scholarships, the school is hoping for a combination of positive things: school spirit, camaraderie, and ensuring a way to create opportunities for others to know about your institution."

The FGCU Eagles, 15th seed in their bracket, shocked most of the basketball world Friday night by beating No. 2 Georgetown 78-68, in Philadelphia. It wasonly the seventh time in the history of the NCAA tournament that a No. 15 has defeated a No. 2.

FLASH! And if that wasn't enough, they ripped San Diego State 81-71 Sunday night, making more tournament history and punching their ticket for the Sweet 16.They are the first 15-seed ever to be one of the top 16 college basketball teams in America.

Unfortunately, the high-flying Eagles' next opponent is the powerful No. 3 seed, the University of Florida Gators -- picked by many, including President Obama, to go all the way. But don't tell this surprise team from Fort Myers they have no chance.

Participation in the NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship: no mean accomplishment for a university that accepted its first student just 16 years ago, has only been playingDivision 1 basketball for six years, and only last year qualified for the tournament after wiping the floor with the University of Miami Hurricanes.

Kavanagh is quick to credit the team's success to the efforts of head coach Andy Enfield, who's been with the school since 2011, after serving as assistantcoach to the Florida State Seminoles, the Boston Celtics, and the Milwaukee Bucks. Enfield, himself a former NCAA player who holds the career record for free throw percentage (92.5), took up coaching basketball after helping to found a Wall Street firm now worth $100 million, according to a report in the Star-
Ledger.

There is a sign above my door in my office that says, You miss 100 percent of the shots you dont take," Enfield told the Ledger of his unconventional career move, adding that he didn't know much about FGCU before he was hired to its top coaching position.

Of course, college sports isn't all about play: schools operate them in the hopes they will yield a return on investment, even when those returns are notquick in the coming.

We're one of many school that don't make money off of athletics; its the student body that gives us the lion's share of our budgets, says Kavanagh. The main issue for us every day is to bring positive publicity to FGCU and ensure there will be positive value-added incentives to have athletics.

He clarifies that, contrary to popular belief, schools do not make a direct profit from their participation in the NCAA tournaments. The NCAA picks up the cost for a travel party of up to 75 most of that being the band and cheerleaders and it also disburses funds to the regional conferences, which in turn distribute themto individual schools. Florida Gulf Coast belongs to the Atlantic Sun conference, and will be receiving the same amount of funds as it has in previous years, except it will be given an extra $15,000 to help offset the additional burden of complimentary ticket purchases.

There's a fallacy out there that we make all this money, but we really don't, Kavanagh explains. What we hope to do is capitalize on our achievement and create, maybe, more people who will buy season tickets, more people to join our booster club, etc.

Another possible upside of FGCU's entry into the tournament this year is higher enrollments. After George Mason Universitys magical Final Four run in the NCAA Basketball Tournament in 2006, applications to the university jumped 22 percent; Butler University's jumped 41 percent after its first finals appearance.

In terms of benefit to the University, we certainly have seen the national exposure and profile for Florida Gulf Coast University dramatically rise over the past couple of weeks, vice president and chief of staff Susan Evans told SSN, but its direct impact in terms of potential student interest and application for admission won't be immediately known.

Kavanagh agreed.

You always hope that most positive visibility will result in things like more interest and higher enrollment, but it often takes a while for those kinds of benefits to trickle down, he says. For now, we just want to make people feel proud; that's been really fun to witness over the last couple of weeks.

Reach Eric Giunta at egiunta@sunshinestatenews.com or at (954) 235-9116.

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