San Diego State coach Sean Lewis showed Thursday evening that he is willing to give the shirt off his back to bring fans to SDSU football games this season.
“Whatever it takes to fill and sell out Snapdragon Stadium,” Lewis said. “Even if it’s one shirt at a time.”
The coach’s spontaneous gesture was an unscripted moment enjoyed by the 100 fans and SDSU staffers gathered at Novo Brazil in Mission Valley for the most recent stop in SDSU’s Coaches Caravan circuit.
The event included comments from athletic director John David Wicker as well as coaches from five sports. A Q&A followed, where Lewis and basketball coach Brian Dutcher fielded the usual questions about roster changes, ongoing NIL challenges, playoff expansion and the like.
Coach Sean Lewis speaks to fans during SDSU Coaches Caravan event. (Kirk Kenney / San Diego Union-Tribune)
Then one fan asked about the short-sleeved gray shirt Lewis was wearing.
“Where can I get one of those shirts?” the fan inquired. ”That’s the first one I’ve seen with the Pac-12 logo and the SDSU logo.”
“These are coming to the bookstore at some point soon,” said Lewis, who immediately shifted into salesman mode.
“Have you got your season tickets?” Lewis asked.
“Not yet,” said the fan, Del Cerro’s Greg Shaffer.
“I tell you what,” Lewis said. “Buy your season tickets, and I’ll give you this one off my back.”
The offer was met with shouts, laughs and cheers from the crowd.
“With my body, I’m keeping my shirt on,” Dutcher quipped.
Lewis had the shirt off moments later and handed it to Shaffer at an adjacent season-ticket sales table.
Within a few minutes, Shaffer had a pair of tickets in the front row of Section 206.
Shaffer said he has been a basketball season-ticket holder for more than a decade. He had football season tickets at the old Mission Valley stadium, but did not follow the Aztecs to Snapdragon.
San Diego State fans Greg and Irene Shaffer with football coach Sean Lewis. (Kirk Kenney / San Diego Union-Tribune)
With the Aztecs coming off a 9-4 season, moving to the Pac-12 and tickets prices lowered slightly, Shaffer was close to pulling the trigger on season tickets.
Lewis made him an offer he couldn’t refuse.
“I was flabbergasted that he made that offer,” said Shaffer, thinkng, “Yeah, I’ll buy two season tickets if I can get a shirt like this. I wasn’t expecting that. It was great.”
Don’t be surprised if Lewis has a stack of shirts when the Coaches Caravan continues next week.
They visit Karl Strauss Brewing Company in Costa Mesa on Wednesday; the next day, they’ll head to Novo Brazil location in Otay Ranch.