Grand Canyon University Athletics
Coro: GCU creates scene for basketball
11/17/2021 11:45:00 AM | General, Men's Basketball
University effort creates game-night reputation for sellout crowds
A choreographer makes a dance recital look unique. A conductor makes a band sound harmonious. A coach makes cheerleading turn competitive. A DJ pumps up a party. An announcer incites a crowd.
All of that, combined with some of the nation's best college basketball, makes for a GCU Arena game-night atmosphere that has drawn national renown for producing a party, which is wrapped inside a rave, which is glued to a game.
The most raucous show in Phoenix packs purple into 7,000 GCU Arena seats regularly each winter because Grand Canyon basketball is not the only show.Â
"I guarantee you will leave entertained," GCU Director of Bands Dr. Paul Koch tells every first-time guest.
Much like the Lopes basketball coaches' and players' advance work that is required for a win, the greatest teamwork happens on GCU's campus for dozens of lead-up hours each week. Talent toils and minds motor constantly among the campus leaders connected to game entertainment, which unfailingly provides Lopes fans 2½ hours they will remember beyond basketball.
From band to dance to cheer to DJ music to video displays to Thunder the mascot, the ambiance stirs the Havocs student section into a frenzy that entertains the rest of the Arena crowd as much as themselves.
"Even after we've had a significant game-day culture for the last five or six years, I still get goosebumps and chills and tears of joy every time I see the student section, the crowd engagement and the passion that our students have for our sports teams," said Jesi Weeks, who has gone from small crowds as a GCU cheerleader (2009-13) to sold-out seasons as the GCU Spirit Programs manager.
Weeks is part of a group of campus leaders who begin meeting about the next basketball season's in-game entertainment once Spring Commencement is over.
The GCU game-night atmosphere placed a high bar, but the groups involved are like high jumpers who keep pushing the bar higher with each successful leap.
"There is a lot of forethought to make sure we don't get stagnant," said 10th-year GCU Dance head coach Jacque Genuch-Koch, who is married to the band director. "We love the idea of building tradition but, at the same time, that's not necessarily what GCU is.
"GCU is always pushing the envelope, looking to do the next big thing and being the forerunner to what the industry standard of game day looks like."
The work means 34 GCU dancers learning about 25 timeout routines and the 100 Thundering Heard Pep Band members nailing down more than 50 songs that tap into thousands of booming voice boxes.
"I'm incredibly nervous at the beginning of games," said Havocs President Josh Gillespie, a GCU senior. "We put in all this work and prep into the entertainment part, so I really want it to go right. But once you see the payoff and the students engaging, it's so much fun. You just drink it all in. It's the coolest thing ever, and I get to be a part of it."
Every involved group creates its game entertainment with the Havocs in mind.
Dance and Cheer save some of their artistry and technique for competitions to focus on material that engages the Havocs during a basketball game. The DJ and the band play songs that get students dancing, jumping and singing … often all at once.
"We like doing super-hard skills and death-defying acts, but our first job is to make sure what we're doing is helping the game go along," said second-year GCU Cheer head coach Keegan Hubbard, whose 53 cheerleaders practice 12 hours per week. "We help lead the Havocs, who create the environment themselves.
"When you get into that arena, all of a sudden you're part of the Havocs and it's OK to act crazy and wild. It's abnormal to not be abnormal."
The method behind the madness is laid out on cue sheets, which begin with GCU Arena doors opening to a prescribed playlist an hour before game time.
The fog machine hits students as the team hits the floor. Songs and messaging coordinate with the Arena's video ribbon and video board until the traditional Purple Pregame Party hits 11 minutes before tipoff with cheerleaders taking over the floor, Havocs' bodies swaying in unison and public address announcer Paul Danuser belting out, "GRAND CANYON UNIVERSITY, ARE YOU READY TO GET THIS PARTY STARTED?!?!"
A team introduction video and Danuser's starting lineup announcements spark the Arena into a frenzy.
"His voice changes everything," said GCU graduate Emily Sanda, the athletic events specialist who sits by Danuser with cues for 15-20 people on headsets as the game entertainment coordinator. "He has everything to do with the atmosphere of the Arena. There's nothing like the atmosphere at GCU.
"Whenever I go to other games, there's something about GCU Arena that you don't feel other places. A lot of that has to do with how Paul's voice brings everyone in."
Helen Bleach, GCU Vice President of Event Services and Arena Operations, is the master puppeteer throughout the week. She coordinates multiple, intertwined efforts to no fanfare but plenty of satisfaction to see each cycle of students be treated to Arena memories.
The trickle-down of creativity can start with Havocs leaders when they conjure up popular theme nights (Electrolope, Disney, Purple Out, Christmas) that are carried out in the Havocs' attire, the groups' performances and the Arena visuals, executed by Hap Hopper, GCU's digital systems director.
From other schools to industry conferences, Genung-Koch constantly is asked about how others can plug into GCU-type fan electricity.
"I say, 'My favorite topic,'" she tells them, adding, "We all love team so much that being a part of this is so much more fun than doing it on our own."
Genung-Koch said her dancers perform a new timeout routine each game, something that she has not seen another college do. She teaches technically trained dancers how to focus on entertaining, just as her husband learned that searching for popular karaoke songs led to a band playlist that stoked the environment more than when he started his 10-year tenure with classic rock jams.
There are band standards that systematically light the crowd's flame ("Livin' on a Prayer," "Crazy Train," "Sweet Caroline" and "Listen to Your Heart"), but the target audience remains the east-side lower bowl of Havocs.
The student section, led by student leaders and supervised by Weeks, is credited with fostering an environment that has helped GCU men's basketball go 100-32 at home in its Division I era.
"The big difference with GCU is we focus on what the student experience is going to be like, and that's why people want to come," said Hubbard, whose cheer clinics draw hundreds of high school students whose specific GCU interest is tied directly to the game-night atmosphere. "It's the students-first aspect."
Thunder, a dunking, joking Antelope mascot, draws the rare disengaged student out of a shell by making connections without words. The Havocs have learned when the crowd needs energizing electronic dance music or a singalong Drake hook.
Most students don't need to be convinced or trained to hang on every point and pull section-covering banners overhead. Newcomers learn student section choreography as if it were a game of Dance Dance Revolution. Newcomers are drawn by social-media
posts or tabling pitches.
It is Lope Nation's culture to love a basketball game atmosphere that represents the University. GCU Arena fills for Lope-a-Palooza, a Welcome Week pep rally, and students camp out for four days in anticipation of meeting each year's new GCU basketball teams at Midnight Madness. They act as party precursors to the signature scenes that grow GCU's reputation.
"We're extra in every way, and that's such a positive thing because we have a game day that's like no other," Weeks said.
Reprinted from the November issue of GCU Magazine.
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All of that, combined with some of the nation's best college basketball, makes for a GCU Arena game-night atmosphere that has drawn national renown for producing a party, which is wrapped inside a rave, which is glued to a game.
The most raucous show in Phoenix packs purple into 7,000 GCU Arena seats regularly each winter because Grand Canyon basketball is not the only show. "I guarantee you will leave entertained," GCU Director of Bands Dr. Paul Koch tells every first-time guest.
Much like the Lopes basketball coaches' and players' advance work that is required for a win, the greatest teamwork happens on GCU's campus for dozens of lead-up hours each week. Talent toils and minds motor constantly among the campus leaders connected to game entertainment, which unfailingly provides Lopes fans 2½ hours they will remember beyond basketball.
From band to dance to cheer to DJ music to video displays to Thunder the mascot, the ambiance stirs the Havocs student section into a frenzy that entertains the rest of the Arena crowd as much as themselves.
"Even after we've had a significant game-day culture for the last five or six years, I still get goosebumps and chills and tears of joy every time I see the student section, the crowd engagement and the passion that our students have for our sports teams," said Jesi Weeks, who has gone from small crowds as a GCU cheerleader (2009-13) to sold-out seasons as the GCU Spirit Programs manager.
Weeks is part of a group of campus leaders who begin meeting about the next basketball season's in-game entertainment once Spring Commencement is over.
The GCU game-night atmosphere placed a high bar, but the groups involved are like high jumpers who keep pushing the bar higher with each successful leap.
"There is a lot of forethought to make sure we don't get stagnant," said 10th-year GCU Dance head coach Jacque Genuch-Koch, who is married to the band director. "We love the idea of building tradition but, at the same time, that's not necessarily what GCU is."GCU is always pushing the envelope, looking to do the next big thing and being the forerunner to what the industry standard of game day looks like."
The work means 34 GCU dancers learning about 25 timeout routines and the 100 Thundering Heard Pep Band members nailing down more than 50 songs that tap into thousands of booming voice boxes.
"I'm incredibly nervous at the beginning of games," said Havocs President Josh Gillespie, a GCU senior. "We put in all this work and prep into the entertainment part, so I really want it to go right. But once you see the payoff and the students engaging, it's so much fun. You just drink it all in. It's the coolest thing ever, and I get to be a part of it."
Every involved group creates its game entertainment with the Havocs in mind.
Dance and Cheer save some of their artistry and technique for competitions to focus on material that engages the Havocs during a basketball game. The DJ and the band play songs that get students dancing, jumping and singing … often all at once."We like doing super-hard skills and death-defying acts, but our first job is to make sure what we're doing is helping the game go along," said second-year GCU Cheer head coach Keegan Hubbard, whose 53 cheerleaders practice 12 hours per week. "We help lead the Havocs, who create the environment themselves.
"When you get into that arena, all of a sudden you're part of the Havocs and it's OK to act crazy and wild. It's abnormal to not be abnormal."
The method behind the madness is laid out on cue sheets, which begin with GCU Arena doors opening to a prescribed playlist an hour before game time.
The fog machine hits students as the team hits the floor. Songs and messaging coordinate with the Arena's video ribbon and video board until the traditional Purple Pregame Party hits 11 minutes before tipoff with cheerleaders taking over the floor, Havocs' bodies swaying in unison and public address announcer Paul Danuser belting out, "GRAND CANYON UNIVERSITY, ARE YOU READY TO GET THIS PARTY STARTED?!?!"
A team introduction video and Danuser's starting lineup announcements spark the Arena into a frenzy."His voice changes everything," said GCU graduate Emily Sanda, the athletic events specialist who sits by Danuser with cues for 15-20 people on headsets as the game entertainment coordinator. "He has everything to do with the atmosphere of the Arena. There's nothing like the atmosphere at GCU.
"Whenever I go to other games, there's something about GCU Arena that you don't feel other places. A lot of that has to do with how Paul's voice brings everyone in."
Helen Bleach, GCU Vice President of Event Services and Arena Operations, is the master puppeteer throughout the week. She coordinates multiple, intertwined efforts to no fanfare but plenty of satisfaction to see each cycle of students be treated to Arena memories.
The trickle-down of creativity can start with Havocs leaders when they conjure up popular theme nights (Electrolope, Disney, Purple Out, Christmas) that are carried out in the Havocs' attire, the groups' performances and the Arena visuals, executed by Hap Hopper, GCU's digital systems director.
From other schools to industry conferences, Genung-Koch constantly is asked about how others can plug into GCU-type fan electricity.
"I say, 'My favorite topic,'" she tells them, adding, "We all love team so much that being a part of this is so much more fun than doing it on our own."Genung-Koch said her dancers perform a new timeout routine each game, something that she has not seen another college do. She teaches technically trained dancers how to focus on entertaining, just as her husband learned that searching for popular karaoke songs led to a band playlist that stoked the environment more than when he started his 10-year tenure with classic rock jams.
There are band standards that systematically light the crowd's flame ("Livin' on a Prayer," "Crazy Train," "Sweet Caroline" and "Listen to Your Heart"), but the target audience remains the east-side lower bowl of Havocs.
The student section, led by student leaders and supervised by Weeks, is credited with fostering an environment that has helped GCU men's basketball go 100-32 at home in its Division I era.
"The big difference with GCU is we focus on what the student experience is going to be like, and that's why people want to come," said Hubbard, whose cheer clinics draw hundreds of high school students whose specific GCU interest is tied directly to the game-night atmosphere. "It's the students-first aspect."
Thunder, a dunking, joking Antelope mascot, draws the rare disengaged student out of a shell by making connections without words. The Havocs have learned when the crowd needs energizing electronic dance music or a singalong Drake hook.
Most students don't need to be convinced or trained to hang on every point and pull section-covering banners overhead. Newcomers learn student section choreography as if it were a game of Dance Dance Revolution. Newcomers are drawn by social-media
posts or tabling pitches.It is Lope Nation's culture to love a basketball game atmosphere that represents the University. GCU Arena fills for Lope-a-Palooza, a Welcome Week pep rally, and students camp out for four days in anticipation of meeting each year's new GCU basketball teams at Midnight Madness. They act as party precursors to the signature scenes that grow GCU's reputation.
"We're extra in every way, and that's such a positive thing because we have a game day that's like no other," Weeks said.
Reprinted from the November issue of GCU Magazine.
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