Ask the AD -- October Edition
11/01/2010 | 12:00:00 | General
Nov. 1, 2010
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
During football games, why are there no instant replays following close calls?
The conference policy for both football and basketball is that a potentially controversial play can be shown one time, in real time (not slow motion). In basketball, if the officials have to go to the scorer's table to check the TV monitor, then a replay may not be shown at all. With it being our first year of having a video board, our crew is making steady improvement with the snap decisions that must be made in regard to replays.
The Salukis played USF in football a couple times in the late '90s. Is there a chance the team could play a game in Florida again? Besides USF, we have FIU in Miami, FAU in Boca Raton and Central Florida in Orlando.
Well, it is possible, but the guarantee payment would have to be significantly higher than what it currently is. Presently, our philosophy in scheduling FBS and BCS opponents is to secure a game with a team within driving distance, thereby saving the money associated with a chartered flight. A chartered flight for a football team to Florida would run around $100,000, and that eats up the guarantee, which we desperately need to assist in funding our department's overall sports program.
Why is Greg Starrick, who made 95 percent of his free throws while playing for SIU, not a free throw shooting coach?
In terms of who assists in coaching the team, that decision is ultimately up to the head coach. Also, there are NCAA restrictions as to who and how many individuals can be involved with coaching a team.
Why was there no Maroon Madness for basketball this year?
We would have loved to do it this year, but we could not guarantee that SIU Arena would be ready for fans to safely use it. Our main focus was to get the arena completed for the season. There will be "finish up work" going on right up to the first regular-season game on Nov.16. We debated doing it at Davies Gym, but thought the presentation would be substandard. Look for Maroon Madness to occur next year and beyond in the renovated SIU Arena.
The current three-hour window for tailgaiting is ridiculous. I drive in from out of state and I have three hours to unload, set-up, get the grill going, grill, and then shut it all down. Tailgating begins at other schools on Friday afternoon. Why does SIU continue to make tailgating more and more difficult?
Timely question. We did a survey of all MVFC schools and found that our policy was much more restrictive than our counterparts around the league. We met with school officials, and beginning with the South Dakota State game, we increased the tailgating time two hours, allowing fans to enter the lots and tailgate five hours before kickoff. We are going to have a meeting at the end of the year with Athletics, campus administrators and the police department, and then make the best, informed decision we can. I hope you enjoy the extra time for the remaining games this year.
Are NCAA or other rules in place to prevent more than one Saluki dog at a game? Is a leash required for the dogs? Perhaps the owners could be at the north end of the stadium, and the dogs could run toward them?
There is no NCAA rule that I am aware of that limits the number of on-field mascots at a college game. Tamara Cook is our Saluki dog liaison, and we rely on her for recommendations related to our live mascots. With instances of mascots getting loose at other schools and the potential problems if one were to get "off leash," her recommendation is that we stick to one mascot. Our policy is similar to the University of Tennessee, Texas A&M and the University of Georgia, all of which have just one live mascot on the field.
In regards to the women's basketball poster in all black uniforms, when did our school colors change from maroon to black?
Our school colors are still Maroon and White. I believe when you see the new arena, you will see that all the seats are now Maroon, where they used to be multi-colored. Most everything in the facility is accented with our school colors. In speaking with Missy Tiber, she told me that the reason for the black road uniforms, which are trimmed in maroon and white, was that Nike did not carry our true Maroon color. Rather than settle for something that didn't quite look right, the decision was made to order black uniforms.
