<b>Scaling up spirit: Athletic conference realignment, organizational identity and athletic band in higher education</b>

Collegiate athletics--and the surrounding Game Day experiences and traditions--are closely linked to institutional identity and school spirit at many U.S. higher education organizations. Increasingly, athletics is also a highly dynamic and visible site of organizational striving. How might spirit and striving harmonize, or clash, as “athletic striving” occurs? This qualitative case study explores the nascent impacts of one institution’s athletic striving on athletic band members during an initial post-conference-realignment football season. In probing the perspectives of student band members through focus groups with returning band members and interviews with band staff and administrators, this work investigates “spirit work” and student experiences during organizational striving. Findings suggest an empirically rich role for band members within the milieu of higher education athletic striving. By surfacing significant positive, negative and mixed “striving experiences” for band members, this work also provides myriad practical and empirical insights.