Former Gonzaga All-American Adam Morrison is featured in one of the several AT&T commercials airing during the NCAA Tournament “featuring beloved Zags past and present,” according to Justin Reed of the Spokane SPOKESMAN-REVIEW. Morrison in the ad is seen wearing his college jersey, sitting on the beach with his phone -- “similar to how he was sitting" after breaking down following a loss to UCLA in the 2006 tourney. After watching a replay of himself after the loss, former NBAer Greg Oden “reaches down to help him up.” AT&T was “unable to secure a Morrison jersey because none was ever made” before the current NIL deal that exists now. Morrison said of what he wears in the ad, "That literally was my college jersey that I wore my junior year. I had it in my closet, tucked away somewhere, and I had to go find it.” Reed noted Morrison has been “offered commercials in the past, but most of them portray his UCLA moment in a negative light, so he would always give a firm no.” Morrison is not the “only AT&T advertising reference to the Bulldogs this year.” Former Gonzaga C Chet Holmgren is seen “hanging out in a vehicle that retrieves golf balls at a driving range.” The other reference involves game footage of current Gonzaga F Drew Timme (Spokane SPOKESMAN-REVIEW, 3/22).
MONEY MAKER: In Spokane, Garrett Cabeza wrote Gonzaga’s tournament success in recent decades has “vaulted the school into the national spotlight, and big companies ... want a piece of it.” In addition to Morrison and Holmgren appearing in AT&T ads, Spike the Bulldog has been seen "in Nissan ads." Gonzaga Sports Properties GM Mark Livingston said that the school's brand has “always been great locally.” It then “grew regionally to the Seattle and Portland areas, and now, nationally” (Spokane SPOKESMAN-REVIEW, 3/22).
