McLane Stadium first to offer collegiate replays on fans' mobile devices

USA TODAY put it best: "Baylor fans who attend games at the school's new $260 million McLane Stadium will get to experience something no other collegiate fan base has experienced before."

With the new Baylor In-Game App (pictured above) and special high-density Wi-Fi throughout McLane Stadium, Baylor is transforming the gameday experience for Bear fans and providing an array of experiences that will be the envy of fan bases everywhere.

[DOWNLOAD THE APP: For iPhone/iPad || For Android devices]

When it debuts on August 31, McLane Stadium will be the first to offer all fans inside the stadium the ability to select and stream instant replays from multiple angles on their phones or tablets. The Baylor In-Game App, available for both iPhones and Android devices, will also offer live video, live stats, and links to social media, the team roster, schedule, even parking directions. Yinzcam, which partnered with Baylor to produce the app, makes these custom apps for professional teams across the nation, but Baylor is the only college to offer these benefits -- and all for free.

To ensure that all fans are able to enjoy this "immersive fan experience," Baylor is also offering free high-density Wi-Fi. Gone are the days of seeing the Bears make a great play and struggling to text, tweet or brag about it to friends not at the game. Baylor spent an additional $2 million to equip McLane Stadium with a Wi-Fi network capable of handling gameday wireless traffic. Extreme Networks which, like Yinzcam, counts numerous professional teams among their client list, provides the Wi-Fi system equipped to support the tens of thousands of Baylor fans using their mobile devices throughout the game.

[MEDIA COVERAGE: Yahoo! Sports || USA TODAY || Waco Tribune-Herald]

And if the prospect of all these new mobile opportunities seems foreign to you (we know not everyone uses their mobile device as much as some of us do), fear not -- McLane Stadium will feature "Wi-Fi coaches" inside the stadium to help you connect, to answer questions from the simple to the complex, to guide you through the app and to troubleshoot if you encounter a problem. The Wi-Fi coaches are a notable example of how McLane Stadium can be used educationally for Baylor, as well as athletically.

Baylor Management Information Systems students from the Hankamer School of Business will gain valuable experience serving as the coaches. Customer service won't merely be something they discuss in class; it will be something they experience on the front lines of game day. The specially trained students will work in pairs at locations around the stadium to answer fans' questions and solve their problems before and during games (up to halftime); you'll recognize them by their bright yellow vests clearly marked "Wi-Fi Coach."

[WATCH Baylor Athletics video about McLane Stadium's quantum leap in stadium technology || See a video preview of the app]

So come confident and ready to utilize everything you can find at McLane Stadium, but nowhere else in the college landscape. The details are all covered, right down to making sure you learn how to use them to their fullest potential.

Sic 'em, McLane Stadium technology!

Vote for your favorite #BaylorEverywhere photos!

About a month ago, we asked you to show us how you find #BaylorEverywhere by using the hashtag with your Tweets and Instagram photos. It's been interesting to see how people see Baylor out and about.

For some, it was literal -- the discovery of a street called Baylor in another city, or a Baylor license plate in another state, or a Baylor poncho for sale in Mexico. For others, it was more abstract -- an arm curled like a "Sic 'em" in Baltimore, columns like those of Independence in Spain, or the natural beauty of a green-and-gold field.

[Find your friends and vote for your favorite #BaylorEverywhere photos]

For many of you, it wasn't so much finding Baylor outside Waco as it was how you took Baylor to the world -- Bears wearing Baylor gear or doing a "Sic 'em!" at famous spots across the globe. Perhaps my favorite were the young alumni who carried one of the Baylor/Texas flags with them on a trip across Europe, posing for pictures with the flag in Rome, Budapest and Hungary.

Now we want to know your favorites. Take a look through this photo gallery and vote for your favorites by liking individual photos; we'll write up the winners at a later date, and they will receive a Baylor prize pack.

Meanwhile, keep using the #BaylorEverywhere hashtag with your Tweets and Instagrams; we'll continue to share new favorites across Twitter (both @Baylor and @BaylorProud), Instagram (@BaylorUniversity) and Facebook.

Sic 'em, Bears!

Oklahoma and Arkansas select Baylor professor to settle long-running dispute

The Illinois River, a tributary of the Arkansas River, runs for 145 miles through Arkansas and Oklahoma. For decades, the two states have fought over pollution in the river, with Oklahoma blaming Arkansas for polluting the river with elevated phosphorus from municipal waste water and poultry fertilizers, which leads to an increase in algae growth.

In 1992, a lawsuit between the states reached the Supreme Court, which ruled that the upstream state (Arkansas) must uphold the water quality rules of the downstream state (Oklahoma). Over the last 20 years, the two sides have worked together to reduce the amount of phosphorus found in the river's waters, while at the same time failing to reach agreement on what a proper or acceptable level of phosphorus really would be.

Finally last year, the states agreed to come to a conclusion on an appropriate phosphorus level for the river. That's where Baylor comes in; the six-person Arkansas-Oklahoma Scenic Rivers Joint Study Committee selected Dr. Ryan King, associate professor of biology in Baylor's College of Arts and Sciences, to determine what level of phosphorus results in the undesirable algae growth, which affects some of the fish and insects that inhabit the river.

"Our study's findings will help settle the debate over the proper phosphorus level in the river, and once it has been selected, both states have agreed to accept the results of this scientific study without challenge," says King, who directs the students and faculty in Baylor's aquatic ecology lab. "I feel honored to be selected for this project as the methods and results will make a significant impact not just for this area, but for the other states that are struggling to develop numerical criteria for phosphorus levels in streams and rivers."

Sic 'em, Dr. King!

'Invitation to Excellence' celebrates 25 years of introducing high achievers to Baylor

Regardless of the season, hardly a weekend goes by without at least a few high school students visiting the Baylor campus as part of their college decision process. Naturally, those crowds are bigger at certain times of year; spring break is popular for college visits, as is summer. Baylor's Fall and Spring Premieres also draw large crowds.

Invitation to Excellence, on the other hand, is not about large groups. The program -- which celebrates its 25th anniversary this year -- brings only a select group of high-achieving students to campus each year. Here, they enjoy an entire weekend of getting to know the campus as well as students and professors from the department, school or college they plan to join.

Interested high school seniors should apply now to attend one of this year's Invitation to Excellence weekends, scheduled for Oct. 24-25 and Jan. 23-24. The event is specifically designed for students who have scored a 1300 or better on the SAT or a 30 and above on the ACT and who are interested in a major from the Hankamer School of Business, School of Engineering and Computer Science, College of Arts and Sciences, or Honors College.

For more details and to apply, visit the Invitation to Excellence website.

Sic 'em, future Bears!

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