Hello all!

I'm going to be attending a phone call with the athletic department on Tuesday morning - another step in potentially reviving the O-Zone and potentially returning it to its former glory. I need some advice to you all - I'm on the fence on whether to keep it separate from the AD or not. I see pros and cons of each but what do you all think?

I hope I can bring back the O-Zone to its former glory!

I think a big thing you should figure out is what the AD is expecting from you and what they want the student section to be. Other previous OZone leaders on here will probably have more accurate information, but as I understood it, the Athletic Department was mostly hands off with how the OZone was ran. Obviously they want it to be a safe and inclusive environment for students, and to make sure bad behaviors are corrected when they come up for liability reasons, but I don't think its likely that they'll try to pull the rug from underneath you and bring it in fully under the AD's control (I doubt they want the extra responsibility in running a student section)

They may want you to be registered as an official student club/organization with a President, VP, Treasurer, ect., as I think that is what the OZone was when I was in school from 09-13 (Others correct me if I'm wrong, I was in the 110 so I never was able to join in any official capacity). This is beneficial because they can give you access to club fairs for when new students arrive on campus and recruit the incoming freshmen. If I recall correctly, it was like $20-30 to join, which mostly covered the cost of a t-shirt and help fund away game trips. It's also a great way to get emails from incoming students so you can communicate meetings, events, send out organized chants and reminders the entire time while they're at school.

If you become an officially recognized club/org, its a lot easier to reach out to local businesses to get sponsorships too.

I was around from 04-08. We were a student org then, had an exec board, and a marketing rep sponsor the group and come to our meetings. That rep would guide us on feasibility towards using membership funds, help facilitate the logistics if we wanted to do something like an away game bus trip, and let us know if anything we did conflicted with compliance. Other than that, we had freedom to do what we wanted.

In later years, I've heard the department was a bit too hands on. I don't know if he still lurks, but I believe past O Zone leader and member of this site RP Kirtland had a much different experience.

Thanks shabamon! I'll have to send him a private message asking for guidance as well. I also had a phone call with the past student leader and he voiced similar things about one guy in the athletic department that'll probably shoot down some chant ideas. I'll be careful, but I really want to be edgy and intimidating for opponents at the same time EX Winning Team Losing Team

I will be making the motions soon to claim the O-Zone organization and potentially do club fairs as well! I really want to highlight local Athens businesses such as Red Brick or Brenens and offer rewards for those businesses. I know Red Brick has a new pizza menu - might try to reach out later in the year and maybe establish a pregame tradition.

If I remember correctly, Any place that sells OU apparel such as College Bookstore, are good places to look as well. Bobcat fans buy bobcat gear.

That could be another good one! I love the College Bookstore.