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Behold, the hype Behind every Heisman candidate ...
By Stewart Mandel, CNNSI.com Hello and welcome to Heisman Campaigning 101. You will need a web-production company, video editing equipment, poster designs -- and lots of postage. For most schools with legitimate Heisman candidates, the push to market their man began as soon as last season ended. In addition to the traditional postcards and mailers, SIDs now blanket voters with highlight videos, flashy Web sites and CD ROMs. "From a school's standpoint, your job as a publicity department is to generate interest for the school," says Texas' John Bianco, who handled Ricky Williams' successful campaign in 1998. "Having a Heisman candidate, the explosion you get from that compared with any other sport -- it's second to none." Managing the publicity -- and the schedule -- of a Heisman candidate requires most schools hire at least one full-time staffer concentrating solely on that. Bianco, men's director of media relations, worked "24/7" on Williams in '98.
At Purdue this season, Jim Vruggink is primarily handling QB Drew Brees, while another football staffer takes "everything else." Vruggnik's department will mail 2,500 Brees CD-ROMs, based on one Georgia Tech produced for '99 runner-up Joe Hamilton, along with a menu of other offerings (media guide, video, poster, weekly mailings) voters can choose from. Similar onslaughts are being conducted at Virginia Tech (Michael Vick), Ole Miss (Deuce McAllister) and Texas Christian (LaDainian Tomlinson). "There's a fine line between doing too little or too much," Vruggink says. "You can't buy the Heisman Trophy, there's still a level of amateurism that goes with it. I just want to give the voter the opportunity to have any information they need to have." Obviously you always want your guy to win. But there's clearly more at stake for schools to be investing so much money and manpower toward these efforts. As Vruggink says, "you can't pay for the exposure" that comes with having a Heisman candidate. Suddenly your player, and your program, are rolling off the tongues of even the casual sports fan. "Our football program is trying to get back to the level of excellence we had in the late '60s and '70s," Vruggink says of the Boilermakers. "We really had about 20 years of football we weren't terribly pleased with. So to have a person in our program now who is in the running for the Heisman Trophy ... it's a level of recognition that hasn't yet been achieved." At least Purdue has the exposure that comes with playing in the Big Ten and, quite often, on national television. For a lower-profile school like TCU, having someone like Tomlinson is invaluable. In fact, the school is working with a whopping $90,000 in private donations to promote the lesser-known running back (Wisconsin, by comparison, spent $2,000 on '99 winner Ron Dayne). "I would clearly say the exposure that will be generated from LaDainan Tomlinson's campaign will draw to TCU," says Texas' Bianco. "It's a little different, he won't be on TV every week. Without question, all the publicity he's generated at this point from stories in major magazines and on national TV is terrific for the school." Of course, all the marketing in the world doesn't matter if the candidate doesn't get it done on the field. But even if their guy doesn't win, it will be a hectic autumn for some selected publicity folks.
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