In a season when the men’s basketball team needs the most support, its primary fan organization has largely fallen off the map.
The Colonial Army, which was formed in 2003 to rally students at GW basketball games, has remained largely inactive this year – despite collecting $15 membership fees from more than 100 members in the fall.
After nearly an entire season of inactivity, the co-president of GW’s student spirit group said this week that they are planning a “relaunch” in time for the men’s basketball team’s Senior Day on March 7.
The members who signed up this fall were promised frequent barbecues, T-shirts and discounts at area restaurants. But with three men’s home games remaining in the season, the organization has only had three barbecues and has yet to follow through on the shirts and benefits.
“Basically we had three tailgates early on in the year, then we were kind of waited on ordering T-shirts on more people signing up, but more people didn’t sign up,” co-president Victor Danau said. “Then winter break happened and people went abroad and we kind of got discombobulated.”
He added, “I absolutely agree that we let the group down.”
Starting with an apology e-mail to the group’s members, Danau said the group plans to make good on its promises: Buff t-shirts should arrive within in a week and the barbecue series will be renewed.
Another part of the relaunch will be an overhaul and update of the Web site, which has not updated its photos section since 2005 and until Wednesday still advertised the women’s basketball team’s Dec. 2 game against Tennessee. Danau said the new site will have a message board and an area for fans to post photos they took at games.
“We have a responsibility to the members that paid,” Danau said.
Tim Miller, executive director of the Student Activities Center, said he was not aware of the organization’s failures but was “disappointed that a group would take money then not do anything with it.” Though it collected membership dues, Danau said the group did not receive initial allocations from the Student Association.
Senior Chase Carpenter, who has attended all but one of the men’s and women’s home games this year, said he is not impressed by the relaunch plans considering that there are just three men’s home games remaining. Carpenter said he attempted to contact Danau multiple times during the year to find out why the organization had eroded, but did not receive responses.
“There was no communication at all,” Carpenter said. “If you sign up to take the job you have to go through it fully or at least send out an e-mail – a simple e-mail reminding people there was a game each week. It would take less than five minutes.”
Carpenter added that he has not seen Danau at any games this semester and hasn’t seen co-president Becky Wilson in much longer.
Part of the problem, Danau said, has been a lack of interest in the floundering men’s basketball team from freshman – typically the group’s most active members. More than 80 percent of this year’s members returned from last year, and overall membership is significantly down from the group’s peak in 2005-2006, when it had more than 1,000 members. Danau, Miller and Carpenter all said the group’s role is to find creative ways to raise interest in the team when it is struggling.
The group plans to form next year’s executive board within the next few months and have sign-up fairs at Colonial Inauguration to attract incoming freshmen. Danau and Wilson are both seniors, leaving junior Daniel Gardner as the only returning member of the board.
“Colonial Army’s been a great tradition. There’s no way we’re going to let it die out,” Danau said.
Carpenter, meanwhile, is more interested in the near future than next year.
“If the student section isn’t filled for Senior Day, that’s a slap in the face to the entire University, but especially to Colonial Army,” he said.
