Ask the AD - April/May edition
CARBONDALE, Ill. - This is the latest installment of our monthly feature called, "Ask the AD." If you have questions for Saluki Director of Athletics Tommy Bell, feel free to submit them by e-mail.
Congratulations on your one-year anniversary at SIU and welcome back! What has been your biggest accomplishment to date, and your biggest challenge?
Thank you! As I look back on my first year, I'm most excited about the team of talented, dedicated people we've assembled. For example, I'm even more convinced that Nick Hill is the right man to lead our football program back to championship contention. We have a new development staff made up of former Salukis who are all passionate about customer service. There are many hard-working professionals in the building who take good care of our student-athletes and who strive to produce the best possible product for our fans. It's a pleasure to work with them and there's a sense of energy and optimism in our building. Other points of pride -- I'm pleased we finished second in the All-Sports trophy, which shows the depth of talent we have among our coaches and athletes. Also, our cumulative GPA reached a school-record 3.236 this spring. The uncertainty of the budget situation is by far the biggest challenge, and we are constantly looking at ways to streamline our operations and invest our resources wisely.
Most of the Valley teams have announced their exempt tournament for the upcoming season, but SIU has not. Can you update us on the status of where we're playing and what teams are involved? When will the non-conference schedule be released?
We are contracted to play four games as part of the Lone Star Classic, beginning with a home date against a non-Division I team followed by three games in Austin, Texas (Nov. 21-23). The field for the tournament has not been announced yet, but it will consist of similar mid-major programs. Under the leadership of Commissioner Doug Elgin, the MVC is making a renewed push for schools to beef up their schedule strength. I have been working closely with Coach Hinson on the remainder of our schedule and it is shaping up nicely. We're still looking for one more new home-and-home series before we can announce the full non-conference schedule.
Why do you feel SIU has been unable to effectively recruit from a junior college in SIU's backyard (John A. Logan College)? Their coach is a former SIU basketball player.
Historically, we've had mixed success recruiting players from John A Logan. As you noted, head coach Kyle Smithpeters played for SIU. In fact, he was here during my first stint at Southern and it's nice to see that he's built JALC into a national power. I believe our coaching staff would like to make inroads at the school and I know they are making every effort to do so.
After the Spring game, I noticed a lot of the players had green turf fiber build-up on the back of their shoes. Has there been any investigation as to why the turf has degraded?
According to our Assistant AD for Facilities, Tad Dunn, the turf just completed it's sixth year, and we test its integrity on a regular basis. The turf has a 10-year life expectancy and we will continue to closely monitor.