By David MorrisonThe Daily Northwestern
It happens every fall.
Whenever it’s a football weekend, they descend on college campuses wearing brightly-colored blazers adorned with patches and buttons.
They hobnob with as many people as they can, from the higher-ups in the athletic department to tailgating fans in the parking lot.
They’re armed with nothing but broad smiles, hearty handshakes and a wealth of information.
They are the scouts from bowl games. And if you’re a team with six wins, they want to sell you a bowl.
“It doesn’t have a thing to do with scouting,” said Tom Quattry, a scout for Florida Citrus Sports, which puts on the Capital One and Champs Sports bowls in Orlando, Fla. “It’s all about public relations.”
It’s the job of these scouts to immerse themselves in all aspects of the university in just one weekend.
Their job consists of more than just watching the action on the field. They have to assess the fan base and get a clear picture of the behind-the-scenes operations of the team, all in an effort to evaluate how well of a fit the team would be if they came to their city.
In the end, they’re the ones responsible for bringing players, fans and advertising dollars together in those late-December and early-January festivals.
“Familiarity is important,” said Steve Green, Northwestern’s senior associate athletic director. “There’s politics involved. It’s not like 30 years ago.”
Thirty years ago, there were far fewer bowls and far fewer alignments.
But as the business of college football expands each year, so has the number of bowl games. And both the teams and the bowl representatives realize there is money to be had in this enterprise.
Serious money.
Bowl games grossed more than $257 million last season, a figure that has risen 13.3 percent in the last four years.
“When we walk on campus, we have $3 million in our pocket to give to a school and a Florida trip for a week,” said Jim McVay, president and CEO of the Outback Bowl in Tampa, Fla. “They’re going to remember this experience the rest of their lives.”
THE BOWL-REP LIFE
Quattry has worked for Florida Citrus Sports for 28 years and scouted for the last 21.
Besides his scouting trips in the fall, it is Quattry’s job as team support chairman to work closely with the teams to make sure they have everything they need once they get into town, from the practice field to the hotel room.
He said perennial contenders sometimes are a little more difficult to deal with than teams who make bowl trips infrequently.
“They’re going to be a little harder because they’re accustomed to being treated like royalty,” he said. “You’re inclined to be a little warmer to the upstarts.”
Scouts like Quattry hold their positions on a volunteer basis and pay their own way for their college football weekends.
Most bowls have a hierarchy in place, and the longer the scouts have been in the organization, the more high-profile games they get to attend.
“We try to make sure we have a good core of experience from prior years, but also make sure we get new people involved every year if possible,” said Derrick Fox, president and CEO of the San Antonio Bowl Association, Inc., which runs the Alamo Bowl.
The scouts are expected to take in every opportunity they can to gauge the atmosphere of the team, the athletic department and the university.
But not to overstep their boundaries.
“We understand that we are there as guests,” McVay said. “Those schools don’t owe us anything.”
After every game, the selection committee – composed of the scouts – meets and reports its experiences, building up dossiers on teams that will have an effect on who ultimately will be chosen to go to the bowl.
Like the committees, there is a hierarchy of bowls, so each bowl is limited in its choices by its place on the totem pole.
In the Big Ten, after the Bowl Championship Series picks its teams, the Capital One Bowl gets the next selection, followed by the Outback Bowl and the Alamo Bowl.
Steve Hogan, executive director of Florida Citrus Sports, said while many criteria factor into the decision, the bowls will usually take the highest-ranked team still available.
As for playing favorites, bowl representatives said it’s not in their best interest. This year’s dynasty might be next year’s doormat.
Still, the scouts are not immune to letting emotions creep into their work.
“You can’t do this without coming away with personal feelings about coaches,” Quattry said. “You come away with more respect for some than others.”
CHOICES, CHOICES
Only two teams can play for the national championship.
And only one bowl can host the championship game.
The other 31 bowls and 62 teams go through a season-long courtship process to prove they deserve each other.
“You’re rewarding deserving teams for having a really great year,” McVay said. “Typically you like to get decent travelers because you have bills to pay and you’re paying the schools a lot of money. But that’s not the No. 1 criteria.”
Bowls and football programs form a symbiotic relationship, with both sides sharing in the revenue and prestige that accompanies postseason play.
That’s why another important facet of the scouts is a go-between for the schools and the bowls.
“We like to be sure we’re aware of their needs, what their expectations are,” Hogan said. “Having conversations throughout the season is helpful in making sure we provide the best experience to a particular program.”
Just as teams gain reputations for their performance in bowl games, the bowl organizations gain reputations for how well they host.
Good reports from returning teams can mean increased sponsorship money and the possibility of the NCAA awarding the committee another bowl game. Bad reports can mean the opposite.
“The communities put out a year’s worth of effort to roll out the red carpet for these teams and fans,” Fox said, “and we welcome them with open arms.”
Being the oldest and one of the most prestigious conferences in Division I-A, a continued association with the Big Ten is the crown jewel for most of these bowls.
Big Ten teams appeared in seven bowl games last season, generating more than $33 million in revenue, the highest of any conference.
The conference has deals with seven bowls this season, excluding any teams who might receive BCS at-large bids.
Ohio State and Michigan currently hold the top two spots in the BCS poll.
“We find ourselves being a champion of the Big Ten,” Hogan said. “We’re excited when the Big Ten has successes and we suffer their failures with them.
“It’s a nice neutrality to enjoy: looking at all 11 teams and being a fan at the same time.”
‘LIKE A FAMILY’
As the saying goes, bowl games are like snowflakes: No two are exactly alike.
But all of them place a heavy emphasis on establishing and maintaining long-term bonds with the schools.
Even when the teams are not bowl-eligible.
Green said NU, which is 2-7 this year, has had bowl scouts at every home game.
Two Rose Bowl representatives were in the press box against Michigan State, even though the teams had an 0-6 conference record at the time.
“It’s like a family, an extended family,” Green said. “It’s a feel-good thing, to make sure that everybody’s comfortable with the relationship.”
As the head equipment manager for NU, Bill Jarvis has had a wealth of different experiences with bowl officials.
When the Wildcats went to the Rose Bowl after the 1995 season, the bowl took a laissez-faire approach and left NU “pretty much on our own.”
On the other end of the spectrum, the people with the Sun Bowl lent the NU equipment managers some of their staff for last year’s game.
Sun Bowl representatives even attended former coach Randy Walker’s funeral over the summer, even though the Big Ten terminated its relationship with the
bowl before this season.
“These are not things that they had to do,” Jarvis said. “They did it out of courtesy, friendship and the type of people that they are.”
Quattry said his favorite part of the job is dealing with lower-profile people like Jarvis, who he likens to the engineer that makes the train go.
“It forwards me the opportunity to work with people in a different light,” Quattry said.
Quattry and Jarvis met when NU went to the Citrus Bowl, a precursor to the Capital One Bowl, after the 1996 season. The Cats have not been back to Orlando since then, but the two still talk over the phone three or four times a year.
Quattry even said he bought Jarvis a fruit basket.
“They’re nobody important, just real great people,” Quattry said.
Still, it’s not all about friendships. Because no matter how close these people get, bowl representatives still have a lot of work to do – something Quattry said is much different than when he started.
“We’ve turned it from just standing on the sidelines into a serious job,” he said.
Reach David Morrison at [email protected].
