Kansas State University Athletics
Ask the AD Transcript - November 21, 2019
Nov 21, 2019 | Athletics
ASK THE AD - GENE TAYLOR
November 21, 2019
Welcome to another edition of "Ask the AD", Brian Smoller with the Director of Athletics, Gene Taylor. We're glad you could join us as we try to answer some of the burning questions from K-State fans over the last few weeks. It's been about a month since we did that. We had a lot of great questions this week. We didn't get all of them into this week's show, but we'll do our best to answer as many as we can."
Gene: "Seems like it's been longer than a month, but maybe it's just the way the football season has gone so fast so far."
Brian: "It has been, and now we're already in the throes of basketball. Football season is rolling along. Of course, we all know the Cats are headed to a bowl, which is great. Buy your bowl tickets now. That's our obligatory plug. The Cats are coming off a tough one against West Virginia this last weekend."
Gene: "Yeah, tough loss to West Virginia, but really a great day. We obviously were able to celebrate Coach Snyder and part of the 150th anniversary of college football. Really nice celebration for Coach Snyder and his family. One of the things we did was we went to the Cats logo. It caused some question by some of our fans. A lot of them put it back to an era that wasn't the most successful, but it was an opportunity for us to put a new logo out there, kind of a regeneration of a logo. It had a lot of success. It was well received by recruits and by our fans. We sold a lot of apparel. One of the things I probably should've clarified early on is that we are not replacing the Powercat with Cats. It's just an alternate logo. One of the things we probably could've done a better job of is when we introduced the logo, we showed a video of the Powercat being ripped off. Some people felt that was not the best way to present it and felt that sometimes it might've been a little disrespectful to Coach Snyder, and that's not what we wanted to do. Understanding that the Powercat is who we are and who we want to be, we apologize to anybody that was upset. But it was successful. We did have a lot of folks, recruits bought into it. Whether we'll see it again, I don't know, but the Powercat is who we are, and we'll continue to use that as our main mark."
Brian: "I had a former football player, that played in a time here where we didn't win a whole lot of games, that said in some respects it helped remind people that there were players who put in a lot of blood, sweat and tears that didn't win a lot of games."
Gene: "They were representing that logo at the time and were actually part of Coach Snyder when he first got here in 1989, so it was good that we made the move. We could've made the move a little bit better."
Brian: "Are there plans for expansion of the Big 12 or anybody leaving the conference?"
Gene: "I can tell you that in the meetings I sit in with ADs and the Presidents and Chancellors, we're a very tight conference right now. Presidents are on the same page. Our athletic directors are on the same page. We have not talked about conference expansion. I have not heard of anybody even contemplating moving. We are always talking about what's next for the conference, whether it's TV rights or whatever the case may be. It's really a bunch of everybody on the same page, trying to move the conference forward. We feel we are really strong as the 10 of us together and adding to that right now we don't think is the best move for the Big 12 Conference."
Brian: "With the new indoor football practice field taking up parking on the east side, is there a plan to expand asphalt parking into other areas to take over for that?"
Gene: "We're still probably a couple of years away from that becoming a reality just due to fundraising. We're starting the south end zone project this year just down the road here in a couple of months. In terms of how we address it when we do get there, we are looking at other opportunities for expanded parking…expanded parking areas, expanded lots, lots that we currently don't run that we might be able to take over and be a part of it. Areas that depending on where we put the indoor football practice facility, could we create some new areas? All of that is being looked at, because we know we'll be adjusting some parking and we want to make sure that nobody loses any opportunity to park close to where they are now."
Brian: "In terms of the construction affecting the 2020 season, it seemed to be a misperception that was out there that the indoor football facility is coming next season."
Gene: "The indoor football facility won't affect it. Now, we will have construction during the course of next football season for the south end zone. Parking should not be affected, but you'll see construction going on in between the games and on Saturday you'll walk in and there will be steal girders up. But it should not affect parking for 2020."
Brian: "For the more experienced fans in our fanbase who want to get up and down to the view level on the east side, are there plans for elevators, ramps or escalators?"
Gene: "That's a great question. I actually had a fan call me this week who was pretty frustrated about that. The group they sit with had a couple of folks that have been around for a long time and have a difficulty getting up. That's something we need to look at. I don't know that escalators are not currently in any of our plans. Could they be? Absolutely. Could we readjust how we handle the elevators during the operation? I think those are some initial things we'll look at to give priority to some of our older fans and maybe handicap fans. That elevator is always going to go to the view level first, but those are some operational things we can at least address early. In terms of escalators, not yet, but you never know."
Brian: "About a parking garage on the east side of Bramlage…I suppose it could be on the east or west side. He even went as far as to talk about a covered walk or a warm way to get in from that parking garage to Bramlage being a money maker. What are your thoughts on this?"
Gene: "Again, nothing we've really looked at. Parking garages are very expensive. My understanding is the revenue doesn't really pay it off as quickly as people would think. They are very expensive per stall to build. Nothing we've looked at, but are there some areas potentially as the university looks at parking opportunities that we could tie together? Maybe so, but nothing within the confines of our master plan that we're currently looking at."
Brian: "Regarding the NCAA allowing players to make money off their likeness, what challenges do you see associated with that new law?"
Gene: "It's really complicated and convoluted, as you said. Right now, the California law that he's referencing doesn't come online until 2023. In the meantime, we think there are about 23 or 24 states that are looking to put a law into effect, effective 2020. Name image and likeness is an opportunity that student-athletes might have to profit off their abilities as a student-athlete or maybe in an area they have talent, if they're a musician or an artist that they can profit off of in some way, shape or form. It gets really complex. It becomes an equitable thing. It becomes a recruiting thing in how do you make it fair between states and schools? There are so many things to talk about, but the question is we need to move quickly in the NCAA. We need to move quickly as an institution, because if we don't come up with something, we're going to have 50 states with 50 different laws. That's not what we can have, because it gets way more difficult to recruit and be the collegiate model of which we are."
Brian: "The most encouraging part that most recently came out from the NCAA group that got together is it seemed everyone agreed that something had to be done. I know it was framed in a way that California's law forced that action, but it seemed like that conversation had already been started."
Gene: "It's been started for a while. If you think back to some of the things we've moved when we went to the autonomy area of the NCAA legislation, which means we the power of five have an opportunity to pass legislation that doesn't have to be for everybody else. We now feed athletes whenever we want. We have the cost of attendance. Full scholarship student-athletes get anywhere from an additional $400 - $600 a month at various places around the country on top of their tuition fees. They're pretty well taken care of. Can we do more? That's what we're looking at, and how do we take care of it for all sports and not just football and basketball?"
Brian: "Appreciate the time."
Gene: "Thank you very much, appreciate everybody. Go Cats and looking forward to an exciting rest of the fall and winter season."Â