Aggie football's Kat Castner details Maroon & White game festivities

Key notes from Kat Castner interview

• Huge weekend coming up. The rain is tending up and down every other day. Hopefully, we get some good weather.
   
• I'm very much a behind-the-scenes person, but you guys make me feel comfortable.
   
• Yeah, it’s very important for Mike Elko. It’s a chance for the fans to see your team next year. This year, we have a lot of different things. Fan giveaways, our Legends game with former players. There will be a concert we're pairing up with Bryan-College Station to do a concert at Aggie Park. We have concessions, 60 percent off some select items. The retail store will be open, so lots of good stuff going on.
   
• The Aggie Football Club is a new initiative we just started. It’s a chance for fans to get a different experience than getting players after the game. It's purposeful. We try to pair our players with the fans. It’s autographs, photos, a lot of other things, but a chance to connect with, as you mentioned, Mario Craver, DJ Hicks, Marcel Reed and others. Some of the new guys as well, like Wilkin Formby and Tyree Adams.
   
• It's funny you ask because we discussed that today, the process of drafting the players for each team. We were trying to come up with a cool idea, but tomorrow they will draft in Mike Elko's office. Then on Wednesday, we’ll put out the full team list. It will be about four to five guys choosing the teams and breaking them up, and then it's a battle the rest of the week. We have practice tomorrow, Thursday and Friday. It becomes a competition as you would imagine. 
   
• The biggest thing with Coach Elko is bringing alumni back. This game is now in its seventh year. We want to take another step in highlighting them, so we paired with the Letterman’s Association to do a pregame Legends meet and greet. This one will start at about 11:30 a.m. in the Hall of Champions. If you go HERE, there's information about how to reserve a ticket. 
   
• We just did media training with the athletes, and that's my goal with them. We want them to be a good representation of the Aggie community, so we want to set them up for success.
   
• It’s an opportunity for fans to see freshmen as well. We have some talent, and it's a chance for them to see the freshmen and how they mesh. The staff does a good job of picking the right people for our program.
   
• Yeah, I was with Elko at Duke. We created a great relationship and he had always spoken of his time here. When I got here, I was like, “Coach, I’m an Aggie now!” He was like you are not an Aggie yet. You have to go to Midnight Yell and all the different things. When time allows me, I'm trying to branch out. Look at baseball this past weekend. Just the passion that Aggies have for this institution is something you have to be here to experience. I've taken the family to Midnight Yell. The passion just jumped out at me.
   
• Going on your second point, a big emphasis is for us to get out the brand out there, but it starts with winning, but how do you market and promote the program when things aren't going well? So I have to stay somewhat balanced with our guys. It's definitely a balance of building relationships. I value relationships and personal connections.
   
• The Maroon & White game is free admission; the gates open at noon. If you go to 12thman.com, we will have a parking description. We’ll have fan giveaways like student sport passes and five pairs of season tickets. We are also doing autograph memorabilia.
   
• We will select one fan to kick a field goal for $50,000. We paired with Aggie Federal Credit Union. I'm not sure when they will happen. We are allowing photos on the field post-game.
   
• This atmosphere this weekend was amazing, but Elko is out in the community and wants their teams to have support from the football program. It was an awesome environment out at baseball. It's a Texas A&M thing. We have some awesome sports here to highlight.