Watch college basketball the past few weeks and you may have seen a commercial for the Infiniti Coaches Challenge.
Shown in that commercial is Georgia State coach Ron Hunter, rocking a black racing suit with a big Panthers logo on the back.
Follow college basketball on social media this weekend you may see a promo for Dove Men+Care. Featured in that video will be Hunter.
He has become quite the media darling, increasing the exposure for Georgia State and himself. And he says he owes it to the odd confluence of last season when he tore his Achilles while celebrating his team’s Sun Belt championship, the miraculous victory over Baylor in the NCAA tournament and his emotional response after the season-ending loss to Xavier when discussing coaching his son, R.J., for the final time.
“Two goals I had when I got here: make Georgia State relevant in the state and nationally,” he said. “I didn’t know that one of the ways I would do it would be through TV and commercials.”
In addition to commercial appearances, he provided analysis for Turner Sports coverage of the NCAA tournament last year and again this year.
Hunter said he did some local commercials and TV appearances when he was the coach at IUPUI for 17 season. But the move to Georgia State and Atlanta before the 2011-12 season, combined with the team’s success, opened casting doors for a national audience.
His Q-rating boost started with his participation in the Infiniti Coaches Challenge in 2013. It was a campaign that asked fans to vote on one of 48 coaches participating in a bracket-style tournament. Hunter finished ninth in his region.
He participated in the campaign again this year and while he again didn’t win, he earned more votes than Duke’s Mike Krzyzewski and North Carolina’s Roy Williams.
“Difference between then and now is huge,” he said. “It shows the difference in what happened with our program.”
Most recently came the Dove Men+Care campaign, which was filmed in February at Georgia State. A Dove spokeswoman said Hunter was among the coaches selected because “the brand sought to spotlight men in this March Madness campaign that are real, down to earth and respected men in their sport, and Ron Hunter is a coach who exemplifies this. He is equally proud of the care he shows for his players and within his community both on and off the court.”
Hunter said he typically donates any compensation that he receives for ad appearances to Samaritan’s Feet, a North Carolina-based charity that he has been involved with for several years.
There have been other opportunities that Hunter has passed on because he didn’t think they would help Georgia State. Some he has recommended to R.J. Hunter. Some featuring fathers and sons he has pursued.
The fame is a bit of a double-edged sword for Georgia State.
Should the Panthers restart its success next season after a 16-14 finish this year, Hunter’s increased visibility may make him attractive to other schools. He said he received feelers for jobs last year. There are other current vacancies at schools with arguably higher profiles than Georgia State’s that fit the type of school that Hunter is drawn to: urban underdogs with potential.
“Rarely see mid-major coaches get this kind of attention,” Hunter said. “A lot of it has to do with what we’ve done on the court, what we’ve done off the court. I think it’s great for Georgia State.”
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