At the Mississippi State University men’s basketball game against Kentucky, students will have the opportunity to earn their first point for the new Bulldog Coalition program.
Rhett Hobart, Student Association president, said the Bulldog Coalition is a program that was started two years ago, but it stayed primarily in the planning stages.  The program serves as a way for students to earn points for the Bulldog Club before they graduate.
“I think the new Bulldog Coalition provides a great benefit to our student body by allowing them to earn prizes for attending events on our campus,” he said. “It gives students the opportunity to begin earning Bulldog Club points simply by attending events at MSU.”
Hobart said the Bulldog Club is an alumni program in which points earned give alumni priority in ticket ordering and seating options. Before the Bulldog Coalition, the only way to earn points was by donating money. With the start of this program, students will earn one Bulldog Club point for every 250 Bulldog Coalition points earned.
In the past, students had to pay to join the Bulldog Coalition. That is no longer the case with the revamp of the program. To join, students may have their student ID scanned at the men’s basketball game against Kentucky.
The IDs will be scanned by an iTouch scanner. If a student does not attend this game, there will be an opportunity to sign up via a website that will be set up at a later date. This website will also allow students to track their points.
Chad Thomas, assistant athletic director at MSU, said he is very excited about the changes the program has undergone.
“After discussing the set-up with SA President Rhett Hobart, we agreed with his staff that we needed to have a more streamline system in place for students to get scanned and aggregate their points,” he said. “This new scanning system will allow students the ease of carrying one ID card and give them up-to-date information on where they stand with their points throughout the year.”
Thomas said he sees the program as a great way for students to prepare for future Bulldog purchases.
“We look forward to all students joining the program as it is a way for them to gain valuable Bulldog Club points after graduation that goes towards the purchase of football and men’s basketball season ticket priority sales,” he said.
Hobart said in order to earn points, students must simply attend MSU events and have their IDs scanned. Most events will be worth one point, but some could be worth up to three points. The points offered will be announced prior to each event.
Student organizations will be given the opportunity to apply for their events to be added to the Bulldog Coalition roster.
With the accumulation of points comes prizes.
Students will be able to claim their prizes every Friday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. in Colvard Student Union suite 314.
Each year the top three students will be awarded grand prizes. The third place student will receive a $100 Barnes & Noble gift card and two general admission tickets to a Music Maker Productions concert of his orher choice. The second place student will be given a chance to choose between a pre-game sideline pass to a football game or the opportunity to throw the first pitch at a baseball game. The first place winner will have lunch with Scott Stricklin, associate athletic director, and a head coach of the student’s choice.
The athletic department faculty at MSU hope this program will be an incentive for students to attend all events, not just the major ones.
Lacey Odom, junior music education major, said she hopes the program will have the stands full at every athletic event.
“Everyone goes to football games, but it really helps the team, band and other fans when the stands are packed at every event,” she said. “I feel like this new program could make that happen.”