By Craig Morgan, thesundevils.com Writer
TEMPE, Ariz. -- Sun Devils Athletics' overarching marketing theme this season is "Ignite the Power Within." It's a tagline you'll see in most aspects of the department's marketing campaign.
The department still left some leeway for ASU's teams to adopt their own adages, however -- words that speak to those team's particular cultures, their particular group of student-athletes, their coaches and their goals.
For Todd Graham and the Sun Devil football team, this year's rallying cry is "Rise Up."
"That's what we came up with, but it wasn't something we spent a lot of time on," Graham joked on Thursday after his season-opening press conference in the Carson Student-Athlete Center's Dutson Theater. "Obviously, our wrist bands every year say 'service and sacrifice' and 'PT 42.' It speaks to how we're going to do everything from academics to our conduct on and off the field, and that's a tribute to Pat Tillman and the standard he set here."
"But we were trying to find something that fits us; something that fits our mindset this season. Our deal is we're anxious to get back on the field. We didn't reach our goals last year. We lost some games that he felt like we should have won. So when you get knocked on your can, you rise up and go at it again."
The department expects to use the football team's 'Rise Up' battle cry on everything from marketing collateral, to the team's annual media guide to social media.
"It's no so much a slogan or a motto," Graham said. "We're in Year 5. We're not having to do so much selling on what our culture is about. We have a culture established and there's a lot of positives about going into Year 5. We just want our guys to understand that when things don't go right, you don't give up. You keep fighting so that's what that's about."
TEMPE, Ariz. -- Sun Devils Athletics' overarching marketing theme this season is "Ignite the Power Within." It's a tagline you'll see in most aspects of the department's marketing campaign.
The department still left some leeway for ASU's teams to adopt their own adages, however -- words that speak to those team's particular cultures, their particular group of student-athletes, their coaches and their goals.
For Todd Graham and the Sun Devil football team, this year's rallying cry is "Rise Up."
"That's what we came up with, but it wasn't something we spent a lot of time on," Graham joked on Thursday after his season-opening press conference in the Carson Student-Athlete Center's Dutson Theater. "Obviously, our wrist bands every year say 'service and sacrifice' and 'PT 42.' It speaks to how we're going to do everything from academics to our conduct on and off the field, and that's a tribute to Pat Tillman and the standard he set here."
"But we were trying to find something that fits us; something that fits our mindset this season. Our deal is we're anxious to get back on the field. We didn't reach our goals last year. We lost some games that he felt like we should have won. So when you get knocked on your can, you rise up and go at it again."
The department expects to use the football team's 'Rise Up' battle cry on everything from marketing collateral, to the team's annual media guide to social media.
"It's no so much a slogan or a motto," Graham said. "We're in Year 5. We're not having to do so much selling on what our culture is about. We have a culture established and there's a lot of positives about going into Year 5. We just want our guys to understand that when things don't go right, you don't give up. You keep fighting so that's what that's about."