Coach Tracy Roller said she plans on taking the Ball State University women's basketball team to new heights this season, literally.
Starting Thursday, Roller will spend every day from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. sitting on top of a billboard at the intersection of McGalliard Road and Bethel Avenue until 1,000 season tickets are sold for the upcoming women's basketball season.
"I'm really excited," Roller said. "We already got what we expected out of this because people are now talking about getting season tickets. Friday people are coming back for Homecoming, and they are going to talk about that crazy coach on the billboard."
Roller said she got the idea six months ago after receiving multiple comments for appearing on a billboard encouraging people to drink more water.
"We don't appreciate how much billboards reach people's eyes," she said. "We have a great team, and I thought maybe if I just went up there, it would get the attention, and boy has it."
Last season, Ball State went 26-7 to tie a school record for wins and advanced the second round of the WNIT before losing a home game to the University of Kentucky.
In the first four games last season, Ball State's largest attendance was 925. However, the Cardinals finished the season with an average attendance of 1,710, including a school record attendance of 4,711 in their final regular season game when they clinched the MAC West championship.
Also, in its home WNIT game against Kentucky, Ball State had 3,581 people in attendance.
Senior forward Lisa Rusche said the interest in women's basketball has continued to increase throughout her time at Ball State and last season as the team won more games.
"Even at the beginning of last year, it was kind of like my mom and dad and every other player's mom and dad were the only one's there, but a lot of people showed up towards the end of the season," she said. "I've never seen a coach do this, but it's great."
Roller said the attendance in the final two home games made her believe selling a team-record 1,000 season tickets was possible.
"Last season people didn't know about the women's basketball team and last year we promoted the last two games really hard," she said. "When we set attendance records, I thought maybe we do have the market where a team could do something like this."
Originally Roller wanted to sleep on the billboard until 1,000 tickets were sold, but was prevented from doing that because the billboard owner's lawyers wouldn't allow it, she said.
Athletic director Tom Collins said the university has taken multiple safety precautions to ensure Roller's safety, such as not letting her stay overnight on the billboard and building a larger platform around the billboard.
"I'm hoping it's not going to be very long that she's up there," he said. "Tracy has a lot of respect in the community and she's highly involved."
The Cardinals open the season at home Nov. 9 against the University of Louisville.
Season tickets are $80 for 12 games for adults and $20 for people fewer than 18 years old.
Roller said she doesn't know how long she will be on the billboard, but will be allowed to leave for games and practices in between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m.
"I'm not coming down until we have 1,000 season tickets," she said.
Rusche said although 1,000 season tickets will probably be sold by Saturday, she's hoping it's nice weather throughout the week.
"Imagine if it rains, they'll feel so sorry for her that people will have go out and buy tickets," she said.
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