I missed this one in my initial post; NSM also represents the U. of Louisville, so they have some credibility.

This is interesting, and I will share why.

As I have posted before Dave Dipetro is in charge of Auxilary Services for the University. That means that all outside vendors are under his management. Example Barnes and Noble book store, which is the only place you can buy your Duquesen apparel because Dipetro says so.

Aramark managed food service, which invested in the kitched for the Red Ring Restaurant, but Dipetro told them how he wanted it managed and when to be open. If you don't know Aramark payed for the catering kitchen in the Power Center, along with paying millions for the entire renovation of the Hogan Dinning Center in Towers, with a new 10 year contract in return. Aramark was shown the door less than a year later and will be out by Aug. 4th. Parkhusrt a division of Eatnpark will take over. So much for the new ten year deal.

Dipetro and Aramark management have had a strained relationship for years, due to Dipetro won't let the people who are professionals in the food service industry manage the way they want, its his way or the highway. So how does a man who probably never worked in the food industry blame Aramark for poor food and service when he was telling them how to run their business. This is a 13 million dollar a year contract. Good luck to Parkhurst.

So now GA, and credit to him for bringing in a Professional Co. to market our Athletics programs and sponsors, how is this going to work with Dipetro's ego? If they have to bow to him, forget any progress, if he is out of the loop, and I don't see how he could be, then there is a chance for change. So Jeralta you may not be able to buy your Duquesne apperal at Macy's if he has his way.

I hope we can upgrade the concessions at AJP with Parkhurst but not likely since Dipetro also controls the AJP, from the out dated hot dog, pop corn and soda's, pleasssssssssssssse.

One more point, since we are paying a Company to do the job of the, ( as Iron Duke say's ), job for life sports marketing department, do all the failures for years keep their jobs?

duqkurt, why would it mean Bob Derda's job? Maybe it's the resources (finally) that Derda needs to do his job.

We've been complaining for years about the visibility of the program. It's easy to look at three people and wonder why they "can't get it done," but the business of marketing Duquesne athletics - like any business - requires resources that you're likely not going to find in a pool of three people.

I've been complaining for years, for example, that our SID department has been lacking in writing skills and the ability to get information out in a timely manner. There too, you have a relatively short staff, and in addition to maintaing the website, press contacts, information databases, and some of the traditional PR activities, the proliferation of social media has made the job a lot tougher. You can't just have admins tweet or hire college kids to do stuff; their skills simply aren't that advanced.

I've got a BA in journalism from Duquesne, an MBA, and a 30 year career under me, a team of trained professionals at my side, and if I have something big going on, the first thing I do is hire an agency with the juice to help me be successful. And I'm willing to spend some serious script in the process.

I'm not looking over Bob's shoulder (Bob was a classmate and friend, by the way, so I'll call him Bob), so I don't know what he has to deal with on a day-to-day basis. I don't imagine his job is very easy. Despite what I said above, mine certainly isn't.

An agency with expertise, ideas, reach -- I think it's a great idea.

So ED, are you saying that the hire of this agency is to guide those in the current postitions and not replace them? That was my question of where do this people fit in with this new stratagy?