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PHILADELPHIA — Everything spiked — from an increase in applications to the school and support from the community, from pride within the institution to excitement for all sports — as a result of Florida Gulf Coast’s run to the Sweet 16 in 2013, “Dunk City” to college basketball fans.
“It was absolutely mammoth,” Mitch Cordova, Florida Gulf Coast’s vice president for student success and enrollment management, recalled in a phone interview, citing a 30 percent rise in the number of applicants the following year. “We saw a large increase in interest in our school.”
Saint Peter’s is starting to see a similar effect resulting from its stunning run over the last week to the Sweet 16, following Florida Gulf Coast and Oral Roberts as the only 15th seeds to advance to the NCAA Tournament’s second weekend.
School president Eugene Cornacchia said there has already been a bump in the interest in applications, traffic to the website has been “through the roof” (it crashed the night of the first-round upset over Kentucky on March 17), engagement in social media has risen significantly and, according to Amazon vendor Trevco, Saint Peter’s merchandise was the top-seller among schools last weekend at more than $40,000.
“Oh, it’s amazing, it’s absolutely amazing,” Cornacchia said. “I know why it’s called March Madness, because it has been madness. I don’t know what else to say, but we couldn’t buy the amount of media coverage we’re getting, no way.”
Eric Smallwood, the president of Apex Marketing Group, calculated that these two NCAA Tournament wins are worth $71 million to Saint Peter’s in marketing exposure. Cornacchia has heard different figures, one up to as much as $100 million. Smallwood cautioned that the results won’t be instantaneous, particularly since it is late in the process for students who will be freshmen in the fall. But it could be immediate for Saint Peter’s players. Shooting guard Doug Edert signed a Name, Image and Likeness (NIL) deal with Buffalo Wild Wings and other players are weighing different offers.
“Now people are Googling Saint Peter’s and finding out where it is,” Smallwood said. Cornacchia joked that he never knew Saint Peter’s had so many basketball fans.
Everyone at the Jersey City school is getting behind coach Shaheen Holloway’s Peacocks. The school was given 1,000 tickets, and it could’ve sold five times that amount to Friday’s showdown at Wells Fargo Center against third-seeded Purdue. Fans flocked to Run Baby Run Arena for a welcome home party on Sunday and gave the team a spirited sendoff on Wednesday.
No matter what happens in the Peacocks’ Sweet 16 game Friday, it appears that Saint Peter’s will benefit in a variety of ways.
“We’ve been, I wouldn’t quite say invisible, but we haven’t been as visible as many of us would’ve hoped,” Cornacchia said. “We like to say we’re the best-kept secret in New Jersey in higher education, an exceptional academic program and wonderful students.
“But people didn’t really know us much outside of our immediate area. “This is going to make a real transformation for us as far as getting our message out and being known.”
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