The Mountaineer Maniacs have a new leader.

Chris Northrup, a junior sport psychology student, was named the director of the Mountaineer Maniacs for the 2012-13 school year, replacing current director Steve Staffelino.

Northrup was the community service director of the Maniacs last year and was a community service chair the previous year.

"It’s always been a dream and goal of mine to be involved since I’ve been a freshman here," Northrup said. "I can’t wait to work with the students to bring different people with different backgrounds in to promote the different sports."

Northrup said his biggest focus this year will be improving attendance for both revenue and non-revenue sports.

"Over the past few years, we’ve struggled with attendance," he said. "We’re going to implement a couple different strategies."

He said the Maniacs have been considering a text alert system and sending weekly newsletters to members.

The Maniacs had just fewer than 4,000 members this past season, and Northrup hopes that number will increase next year. He estimated about 700 people have signed up this week.

Northrup also wants to define what it means to be a Mountaineer Maniac, he said.

"We want to set an example and self-police the behavior," he said. "Obviously, at any university, it’s difficult to police everybody."

Northrup said he thought has behavior at sporting events improved over the last year and there "were no incidents that were out of the ordinary."

He also said the Maniacs hope to continue the T-shirt amnesty program, which allows students to redeem an inappropriate shirt for a gift certificate.

There has been speculation after poor student turnout to football games in fall 2011 that the 12,500 student seats might be reduced. Northrup said he is not in favor of any reductions.

"Our athletic director does one of the best jobs in the country giving our students premier seats," Northrup said. "Upperdeck on the 50-yard line, that doesn’t happen at most universities.

"As far as a reduction, I think that this year with the quality of teams that are going to come in, I’ll be shocked if every game doesn’t go into the lottery."

He said the transition to the Big 12 conference will give WVU a chance to rid itself of the "bad fan" label.

"I think it’s going to be our time to show the nation that West Virginia fans are very welcoming," Northrup said.

Playing in the Big 12 will also create difficulties for the Maniacs to travel to away games. Northrup said the Maniacs will probably take a trip to the Sept. 15 game against James Madison at FedEx Field outside of D.C.

"It’s more feasible since it’s not going to be an overnight trip," Northrup said. "It’ll be fun to see a game in an NFL stadium."

Northrup said he will also keep an emphasis on community outreach programs. He said the "Meal a Month" program, where Maniacs serve a meal at different soup kitchens around Morgantown, is going to continue.

The Maniacs will also purchase two season tickets to men’s basketball and football games to create a "Tickets for Veterans" program. The tickets will then be given away to veterans.

"I want to make the state as a whole to be proud of what we represent," Northrup said.