Millsaps College in Jackson, Miss., has the "most interesting student section in America," and AD Josh Brooks has "figured out how to pack his stadium for every game," according to Andy Staples of SI's CAMPUS RUSH. ADs at all levels of college sports "worry about finding ways to keep fans coming to games," but the D-III school has been "drawing close-to-capacity crowds" since Brooks arrived at Millsaps in '14. The season-opener against Belhaven Univ. drew a "standing-room only crowd of 4,100," in part due to Millsaps "throwing college football's largest student section foam party." Students stationed behind one end zone during the Sept. 3 game "played in foam, socialized along the fence or luxuriated beneath their particular student organization's tent." The other end zone featured a "kids' zone, with a bounce house, an inflatable slide and an inflatable pugil stick area." Brooks, who has three kids under the age of 7, "knew parents would bring their children to games if they knew the kids could have fun in a safe environment." Children are admitted to games for free. Millsaps also features a beer garden, something Brooks believed "would be a hit because he knew that deep down, fans want a place to socialize with other fans outside the constraints of assigned seats." Brooks knew selling alcohol "would face some opposition" at the Methodist school, but he got the backing of the school president and the "party on the deck began." Brooks said of his ideal addition, if he had the budget, "I'd build a Ferris wheel in the end zone. Why not have all that stuff? We're in the business of entertaining" (CAMPUSRUSH.com, 9/25).
