Ask the AD -- August Edition
08/30/2007 | 12:00:00 | General
Aug. 30, 2007
This is the latest installment of our monthly feature called, "Ask the AD." If you have questions for Saluki Director of Athletics Mario Moccia, feel free to submit them by e-mail.
E-Mail a question to Mario Moccia
Any idea how much money is sitting in the Saluki Way fund? I assume this money is sitting somewhere drawing a pretty good interest rate?
It has been reported that we have around $900,000 in cash collected for Saluki Way and another $600,000 in pledges for a total of $1.5M. Now that we have a much better idea of what the total project will cost, I hope to accelerate the process to get the drawings in our hands and begin visiting prospects for donations. I consulted the SIU Foundation and found that, according to SIU Foundation Board policy, the investment revenue from restricted current funds is retained by the Foundation in support of their advancement activities.
Are you still considering a point system?
Not only are we still considering it, we have it completed. Our Associate AD for External Operations, Chet Savage has worked with both the University Foundation and Ticketmaster to make this a reality.There remains a little bit of fine tuning to be done, but we finally have the ability to "rank" our donors in order by points. We will let all SASF donors know their point total and ranking within the SASF before the MVC tournament.
What is the criteria for selection to the Preseason NIT field? If invited, is this a tournament that would interest SIU?.
I did a little historical research and couldn't find anything specific from a selection standpoint. It appears the NIT Board of Directors who select the field have historically been good about giving smaller budgeted teams (i.e. mid-major) an opportunity to participate. If we were asked, I am sure we would give it serious consideration.I would assume we will regularly be asked to participate in one of the many prestigious early season tournaments, as long as we continue to be successful.
A few months ago you had answered a question regarding the potential of moving football back to I-A. You voiced concerns about expense and adding a woman's program. It would seem that the additional revenues generated by attendance and media monies, not to mention bowl potentials could justify this. I base this on the 28,000+ attendance at Huskie Stadium recently. I also would like to mention that, with the addition of Temple to the MAC, there would seem to be a natural opportunity that could benefit SIU and the MAC. I would love to hear your thoughts on this..
There would for sure be additional expenses with going to the Football Bowl Subdivision and the revenues could/should increase, but to what level is the unknown. Northern Illinois, which had some very successful seasons, does have Chicago within a one-hour drive to its campus, and therefore always has the ability to sell-out a game. With a smaller population base that is more spread out, I am unsure of how many people we could get to attend on a regular basis. Now with that said, we are going to be looking at Western Kentucky to see how their transition to the FBS goes. The two conferences that would make sense would be the MAC or the Sun Belt. I am concerned that some of these schools are on much less solid financial footing than we are, as the cost of these football programs is very high. I believe that the money from bowl games and TV that is generated in these conferences, while more than the Gateway, is not the big windfall that many of us are led to believe.
Congratulations on your recent contract extension and your commitment to Southern! With the new agreements for Coach Lowery and Coach Eikenberg, we look to have secured Saluki success far into the future. I was curious as to the status of football and Coach Kill. Will we be announcing a new agreement with him as well?.
Thank you. I am looking forward to fulfilling my contract and being in the AD's chair when the new facilities are complete. I have spoken to Coach Kill on several occasions during the off-season, and we focused on his assistant coaching staff during this time. I will be keeping an eye on this topic, and we will do everything we can at the appropriate time to keep Coach Kill on the Saluki sidelines.
You said in the July edition of "Ask the AD" that your in-laws are from North Carolina, and I know the basketball team is coming once again to Charlotte, but is there any chance the Salukis could make it to eastern NC? Would love to see the Dawgs in Chapel Hill, Raleigh, Durham, or even Wilmington..
Well UNC, NC State and Duke probably aren't going to make an appearance in Carbondale for a return game, so I don't think those towns will see the Salukis, but we would love to entertain a game on the east coast. I am good friends with the recently hired AD at UNC-Wilmington, Kelly Landry Mehrtens (one of the few African-American female AD's in the nation), and we have discussed a game, as they had an opening recently, but our schedule was filled. I love Wilmington, so this could be a possibility, as they have had a very successful program.
Recently I have heard the handicapped section will be moved to the concourse level once the arena is updated. Is this true? If so, I would like you to consider allowing those with disabilities to remain close to the court. I think moving those individuals to the concourse level will not sit well with many people..
I have asked our architects from 360 to hold a type of "town meeting" with our wheelchair access fans as well as our SASF donors once the plans become more finalized. At the present time, the arena isn't very friendly to our patrons in wheelchairs, so I know that we can provide an upgrade for them with companion seats, better sightlines and easier access.When the arena is renovated, it will become compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), and that law for the most part will dictate where the wheelchair access seating will be placed.
With NDSU & SDSU entering the Gateway, do you foresee the NCAA allowing more than 16 teams into the Playoffs, or is the Gateway going to be faced with always having 1 or 2 very good teams left out of the national championship playoffs?.
The NCAA is currently looking at possible expansion in two formats -- one with a 24-team bracket and one with two play-in games -- for a total of 18 teams. There would be cost increases associated with the 24 -team option, but I believe most football coaches and ADs would be in favor of this. I believe that the Gateway deserves a minimum of three teams each year, but yes, with the addition of SDSU and NDSU, that is a serious infusion in potential playoff teams to an already stacked conference. There was no timetable given on when expansion would take place, but it could be as early as the 2008 football season.
When are we going to see more in-depth renderings of what the arena and football stadium are going to look like? You have a lot of anxious Saluki fans waiting to see the designs.
No more anxious than the AD. I just got a package from 360 architecture and will be going over it this week with the entire University team. What we really need to do is get the buildings down to a workable budget number and lock that in with the University leadership. Then we can produce the final renderings. What I want to avoid at all costs is to keep running designs out in the public with constant changes. I know it is a bit frustrating, but we are going as fast as we can and hope to have these available as soon as possible. I have spoken in the past saying these are our "sales tools," so I desperately would like them completed as well.
