From 'ridiculous' to a viral success: Akron’s offensive coordinator contest has been a big hit

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AKRON, Ohio (AP) — Some people thought Andrew Goodrich was bonkers when he suggested that the University of Akron hold a contest to name an “Offensive Coordinator of the Game” for its home opener against Robert Morris on Sept. 12.

But after the Zips' athletic director explained and refined the idea, the promotion has turned out to be a public relations success and a revenue driver.

Akron garnered 23 million social media views and an influx of new season ticket-holders since the contest was announced Aug. 4.

"I just wanted to do something that no one had ever done before. And maybe more importantly than that, I wanted to do something that would make fans read that and look at their friend and go, ‘Are you serious? Would I really have a chance to do this?’ And that’s what we were looking for,” Goodrich said. “We thought it would be popular in our backyard of maybe the MAC, northeast Ohio and western Pennsylvania. We didn’t realize that the whole world was going to go, ‘Hey, you know what? We love this.’”

Marty Whims II, a longtime season ticket-holder, was announced as the winner Tuesday. Whims graduated from Akron and is the chief financial officer for Stark Enterprises.

Akron’s College of Business and the George W. Daverio School of Accountancy conducted the random drawing.

“It’s a unique opportunity. The football program benefits from season tickets and then shines us in a positive light. I never had on my bingo card that I’d be on TMZ Sports,” coach Joe Moorhead said. “Like I told our players when they heard about it, I said, ‘I’m not going to let the circus roll into town. It ain’t happening under my watch.’ It’s going to give somebody a unique opportunity, but I’m never going to make a mockery of the game or disrespect our opponent.”

Whims will get to call one series. Moorhead’s sheet for the opening series includes 12 to 24 plays.

Goodrich first had the idea on a flight from Tampa, Florida, after the Zips were eliminated by Texas Tech in the first round of the NCAA men's basketball tournament on March 20.

Senior deputy AD and chief operating officer Matt Pottorff told Goodrich it was a terrible idea when he first heard it, until they discussed it more.

Letting a fan be an OC for an entire game was a nonstarter and calling one play wasn't enough of a selling point. Calling one series, though, was a happy medium.

Pottorff said the two biggest issues that remained were getting buy-in from Coach Moorhead and announcing it when it would get more attention.

“We wanted to be just basically at the right time with ticket sales and ticket staff,” Pottorff said. “We had kind of all hands on deck at this point to make sure everybody’s ready. But we didn’t think that this was going to be anywhere near as huge as it ended up being.”

Moorhead, who is his own offensive coordinator, was initially skeptical.

"At first I thought it was absolutely ridiculous. I don’t even let my assistant coaches call plays. I call the plays,” he said. “As we talked through it a little bit more and discussed some of the guardrails and parameters where, ’Hey, this guy’s not bringing in a single-wing playbook and putting it in Friday before the game.' He’s going to come in, you’ll walk them through what’s in the game plan. You’ll talk about, ‘Hey, this is what Robert Morris plays in all these different situations. Here’s my opening script for the game. What are your ideas? And then, hey, what do you think about this play in this position?’ And make it more of a collaboration, for lack of a better term.”

Only those with season tickets or suites were eligible for the contest. Besides new season-ticket sales, suites sold out for the first time since InfoCision Stadium opened in 2009. Jon Gruden, Pat McAfee and Dan “Big Cat” Katz ended up ponying up for season tickets, as well as fans from 38 states and as far away as Germany.

Every season and suite ticket counted as an entry (four tickets, four entries). Season ticket-holders also received additional entries for each new season ticket buyer they referred.

The nine finalists were announced Aug. 19, including Katz of Barstool Sports, longtime season ticket-holders, and people from Nebraska and Texas.

The promotion even got a last-minute corporate sponsor with fast-food chain Arby's coming aboard.

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