Ball State University women's basketball coach Tracy Roller said she would sit on a billboard until 1,000 season tickets were sold for her team. Two days after she began her campaign, Roller left the billboard but her goal was not met.
Director of Intercollegiate Athletics Tom Collins said he made the decision Friday to remove Roller from the scissor lift she was on by the billboard.
"I wanted her to concentrate on practice," Collins said, "I worried about her long term health with the basketball season going on and I didn't want it to be a distraction for the Homecoming parade or the Homecoming football game."
Roller spent Thursday and Friday on the lift from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. each day. She could not be reached for comment Sunday.
When she left the lift Friday, Ball State had sold more than 750 season tickets compared to 407 last year.
"We had a lot of very positive people buying season tickets," Collins said. "We handed out a lot of brochures out there. We exceeded the number of season tickets we sold last year, and we still got orders coming in. So it's been very positive."
Though Collins told Roller to stop going on the lift, he said he supported her campaign. However, he did not visit her during her two days on the lift.
"Just the schedule that I had this week with the events that I had to be at [prevented me from visiting]," he said. "I drove by a couple times but did not stop up there."
When it was time to tell Roller about the decision to end her campaign, Collins said he could not tell her in person because he had an appointment he could not break.
"Ken Brown and Matt Wolfert, a couple of the associate ADs, went out to visit with her on it and then she and I spoke on the phone late in the afternoon," Collins said.
Collins said Roller seemed disappointed when she heard about his decision.
If she had planned the campaign earlier, the athletics department could have chosen a date when it would not have conflicted with Homecoming, Collins said.
In an interview last week, Roller said she came up with the promotional idea six months ago, though not in its complete form.
"I look at it as if Homecoming has been planned for a long time, the parade has been planned for a long time," Collins said. "Again I didn't want Tracy being out there being a distraction for things that have been on the books for seven or eight months."
Collins said he does not think the decision to remove Roller from the lift shows favoritism to the football team.
"Basketball practice had just started on Friday, and I want Tracy to be healthy to be able to coach her team up," Collins said. "She's got all these young ladies coming back, they're probably going to be chosen to win the West division in the MAC and that's what I want her to concentrate her efforts on."
Read More
Three Air Jam teams take home the win
October 12, 2012Nineteen teams shimmied, shook and flipped for a sold out John R. Emens Auditorium on Thursday night during the 25th annual Air Jam.
Bill Clinton Speaks at North Central High School
October 12, 2012Former President's Speech Could Have Effect on State Senate Race
