The TCU Rangers football spirit group is increasing its recruitment of female students for the fall in order to better represent the diverse student population, a Rangers leader said.
Cy Goudge, TCU Rangers recruitment chair and a junior geography major, said he has been recruiting both male and female students for the upcoming school year by contacting student groups, including fraternities and sororities and the Student Government Association. He said that rather than focusing on a specific gender, the organization is looking for “personable, quality” students who are involved on campus and have leadership roles.
“When we first formed the organization back last March…the idea was that it would be an athletics fraternity, so we did not recruit women,” Goudge said.
However after the group became an organization rather than a fraternity, he said they began to actively recruit women.
Goudge said the group of 27 men, housed under the athletics department, has several responsibilities during football games, including raising the American and Texas flags before the game, sounding the Frog Horn for all TCU points scored and raising the football nets in the south end zone for field goals. In addition to these responsibilities, Goudge said the group is hoping to work with a community service organization next year, but he said he is unsure exactly which one.
He said the intent of the group, which was founded by students Carter English and Kelly Barnes, is to foster tradition and student pride for the university and the football team.
Co-founder and current Vice President Kelly Barnes said he wanted to get people “fired up” and more involved in football.
“The primary goal of the Rangers was to increase student attendance to try to get people excited about the ball games, and I think adding women is part of the natural process of that goal,” Barnes said.
Goudge said the organization’s members will be working on exactly how the group will adjust internal leadership roles, which include a president, vice president, executive board and three chairs, for the incoming class to incorporate “equal power” between male and female students. He said he estimates that 40 men and 30 women will apply this year based on the interest of the organizations he has spoken to. As of Monday night, Goudge said, the group had received seven applications from women. He said there would be no cap on the size of next year’s group.
There was no formal recruitment process with applications and interviews in the fall for last year’s members, who were selected based on referrals from the co-founders, he said.
Goudge said that women who are invited to join the organization would design their own uniforms for the game.
“That we have decided to put in the hands of the women because I don’t want to design a women’s uniform and have them hate it,” he said. “They will be able to choose what they want to wear.”
Ryan Ross, a junior finance major and group member, said he wants to have fans look down onto the football field and see student leaders of all kinds as members of the Rangers. Ross said he hopes this change will allow all interested students the same opportunity to get involved with the organization.
“We really want Rangers to be something that the whole school can be proud of and something that the whole school can relate to and get behind,” Ross said.
Current sophomores and juniors with at least a 2.5 GPA may apply. Applications can be obtained by e-mailing Goudge and must be turned in with a resume by March 5.
