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 Greetings, Saluki Nation!
We are only three games into the football season and already you can feel a sense of excitement and optimism about the direction of the program under rookie head coach Nick Hill. This football team plays with passion and pride, and as a result, people are rallying behind it. We had a great Family Weekend crowd of 11,150 for the Murray State game. Our next three opponents are all nationally ranked, so we'll soon find out just how good this year's team can become.
 If you attended either of our first two home games, I'm sure you noticed the festive atmosphere taking place at the new Saluki Row on the fenced-in fields next to the stadium. There's so much energy and excitement on Saluki Row, and all you need to get in is your game ticket! It's become the premier pre-game hangout, where you can bring your whole family, visit with diehard Saluki fans, meet celebrities like Olympian DeAnna Price, enjoy live music and activities, eat delicious foods, the list goes on, and of course, get fired up for the big game! We've had huge crowds come through and have received lots of positive feedback about the big-time atmosphere.
 The new Saluki Row is the brainchild of Assistant AD Jason Fairfield, and the person who oversees the logistics is Jason's assistant, Bryce Williams. Kudos to both of them, along with former golfer Drew Novara, who is a graduate assistant in our development office. (If you own a local business or belong to a group and want to reserve a private tent on Saluki Row, please call Bryce at 618-453-1803. Right now, we're almost sold-out for Homecoming, but there's still room at the games on Oct. 8, Nov. 5 and Nov. 19.)
 The Murray State football game marked our very first ESPN3 broadcast of Saluki Football. When you watch one of our telecasts, you can take pride in knowing that the entire production is being handled by SIU students, under the direction of instructor Dennis Galloway and Athletics' staffer Shane Gibbons. This includes the cameramen, graphics operator, audio technicians, replay operator, and a host of other job duties that go into making an ESPN-caliber broadcast. We had about 25 students working on the Murray State broadcast and it is truly an all-day affair of running cables, testing equipment, set-up/tear-down. Matt McCandlish, an advisor from ESPN, was in our production truck for the Murray State game, and offered glowing praise for our production team. Southern Illinois University is on the cutting edge when it comes to video production and the opportunities for students to get invaluable hands-on training.
Something else you might have noticed at the football games are sporadic issues we're having with our video board. Yes, I know it can be annoying to look up and see flickering lights instead of the down and distance. A fan asked me why we don't trouble-shoot the board ahead of time. In fact, we do troubleshoot the board, the week of the game, all the way up to kickoff. What we've found is that we're getting some water penetration into the board's electronics. We have replacement parts in stock, but in some cases, we must ship a damaged part back to the manufacturer for repair, which involves a 2-3 week turnaround. Our video board was manufactured by Canadian-based company OES Scoreboards. Even though the board is only six years old, OES no longer manufactures this particular display. This compounds the problem of getting the board fixed quickly. Our facilities team, led by Tad Dunn, are diligently working to keep the scoreboard fully functional.
Another note on Football - I was recently named to the Division I Regional Advisory Committee, representing the Missouri Valley Football Conference. The role of the committee is to assist the Division I football championship committee in the evaluation of teams throughout the season. The championship committee receives our input and then assembles the 24-team field for the FCS Championships. I'm thrilled to serve in this capacity!
 Turning to Volleyball, the team is 13-5 overall and 3-0 in the MVC after last night's gutsy win at Missouri State. The victory over the Bears was a character win, coming back from an opening-set 25-13 loss to win in five sets. It was the largest comeback win by our program since 2002.
Two of our losses this season were against Top-25 teams, Michigan State and Western Kentucky, and the combined record of the five teams we lost to is 56-10. Head coach Justin Ingram continues to schedule aggressively, and that's why his team was selected as an at-large participant in the NCAA Tournament last year. It's also why, last Friday night, we were able to hang the school's first-ever NCAA Tournament banner in Davies Gym. What a tremendous accomplishment!
From the Ask the AD e-mail box, Robert inquired about Saluki Stadium and whether any provisions were made for expanding the seating capacity in the future? The answer is, yes, the stadium was modularly designed for the possibility of future expansion. We have no plans to expand the stadium, however. The only reason for expansion would be if we were filling the stadium on a regular basis (there has been only one sell-out - the opener in 2010) or if we were moving to the Football Bowl Subdivision (we have no plans to do so).
Another person asked if we have ever considered offering a group tour of Saluki Stadium and SIU Arena to the public? We have offered tours in the past but don't have any scheduled at the present time. Group tours in-season are difficult because the facilities are used by student-athletes on a daily basis. However, we could certainly do a group tour for current or prospective season-ticket holders during the off-season. I will discuss this with our development and ticketing team.
With Saluki Pride,
Tommy Bell
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