Kansas State University Athletics
Ask the AD Transcript - February 15, 2019
Feb 15, 2019 | Athletics
BS: Welcome to another edition of Ask the A.D., Brian Smoller with the Director of Athletics Gene Taylor. I am glad you could join us. We have a lot of stuff to get to. What's the latest on the master facilities plan and renovations to Bramlage?
GT: It was a great question, I have actually been updating people as I go around and talk to folks. It is a big project obviously the whole masterplan is undertaker. What we have been is taking it to donors and finding out where their interest lies. We are finding out there is a lot of interest in the south end zone project. We are not ready to announce anything yet and have a lot more individuals to visit with. There is also a lot of interest in the volleyball and olympic training center. There is also some interest in the indoor practice facility for football. We have to figure out where the donor interest lies and then from there if we can get enough gifts then we'll announce when the project starts. We hope to announce a project soon.
All of the money is going to come from donations, then whatever we can finance is going to be based on the timeline of donor gifts at this point. The south end zone project has a piece to Bramlage with the Legends Room so there will be a touch of Bramlage if that is the project we ultimately end up doing.
BS: You can also of course see the massive facility plan through K-StateSports.com. It is not something you would hold true and fast to K-State for the next 10-15 years to give you an idea of some of the stuff that is out there. So we go from that into football, the next question asks about new uniforms. There was a photoshoot done here recently and there were some comments on social media about where are the new uniforms. I do not know if people understand the process for new uniforms, it takes a while.
GT: It takes a while. I would say there is an interest from Coach Klieman to look at some alternate uniforms and potential helmets. It is a process because us and Nike have to present and work with Nike on terms of what that uniform might look like and design. You are out a little while before you can actually get that design implemented and put into production. We are probably a little ways out on whether or not we can do any helmets or anything in the future. Our equipment staff and coaches are probably talking about that but it is still a little out but there is some interest in doing some of that in the future. It will probably be a couple years before you can get a whole uniform change.
BS: If there is any idea or thoughts on beer sales during games?
GT: Not yet, we have talked about it last fall and came out a bit that we looked at it. We are kinda still monitoring what is going on around the conference in particular. Oklahoma State introduced it this year in football and there are a lot more basketball venues that are beginning to sell alcohol. We visited Texas this week and they have alcohol sales there. We will continue to look at it. If we move into it maybe Bramlage will be the first step we take just because it is a two hour game and there is not a lot of tailgating. That may be what we look at first but we are still talking about it.
BS: If there is any ideas for a secondary logo?
GT: I have not really thought about it. I saw the question. Obviously we use a lot of K-State and the Powercat logo. I think we do have secondary logos available to our licensing and opportunity to view those I know baseball does use the KS. I prefer K-State personally but that does not mean we are not going to look at it if it is becoming more popular out there and more used.
BS: How about those Hawaiian shirts they are giving away this weekend?
GT: They are awesome. They were designed specifically for our students. Obviously we have done some marketing and promotional ideas specifically to our students. Something like this and the lavender jerseys last year. We are working with our K-State Superstore and I would tell you we do not know exactly when but those will eventually be on sale to the public. I can make my family happy because they want the opportunity to where them collectively. They are a good looking shirt and we are excited about them. The students will get them this weekend and eventually you will be able to get them through the K-State Superstore.
BS: Our next question asks us if there be a video board for baseball and will the trees be replaced behind the left field wall?
GT: The video board is something we all want to happen and obviously the construction costs are a little higher than we thought so we have more fundraising to do. We hope and we plan to have a video board as part of the project. It will not be this spring. So if we have it in it will be next spring. In terms of the trees, we will eventually put those back in some way shape or form. It will not be right away because of construction, but one thing we have done is started on the landscaping. Lastly, I am sure we will have some trees back there.
BS: Finally Mike Davis from Twitter asks if we can get Eric Stonestreet a purple suit and sit on the bench as the minister of culture?
GT: I actually had a couple other people that want to apply for that. Eric might be the best candidate to wear the purple outfit as the minister of culture. I think he is way better looking than Matthew McConaughey too.
BS: A couple of notes here to wrap things up. Basketball is in the troughs of Big 12, hoping for postseason play and hopefully a strong finish for both.
GT: Men are playing extremely well right now and are 5-1 on the road. They have beaten every Big 12 team in a row. Women had a couple of big wins back to back. They had a tough loss the other day but obviously Baylor is really good. Both position themselves for a potential postseason run and they're in the thick of things. There have been great crowds at Bramlage the last few weeks and a big game this weekend.
BS: A couple of notes here to wrap things up. Basketball is in the troughs of Big 12, hoping for postseason play and hopefully a strong finish for both.
GT: Men are playing extremely well right now and are 5-1 on the road. They have beaten every Big 12 team in a row.
BS: The All-In campaign for the Ahearn Fund is wrapping up, trying to get donations for student-athletes and on the other side, donations for facility projects.
GT: It's critical. Our funding is critical. I had a meeting today where we talked about how we generate our revenue for our department. Our revenue is self-generated so every dollar we get is going to be critical for our success.
GT: It was a great question, I have actually been updating people as I go around and talk to folks. It is a big project obviously the whole masterplan is undertaker. What we have been is taking it to donors and finding out where their interest lies. We are finding out there is a lot of interest in the south end zone project. We are not ready to announce anything yet and have a lot more individuals to visit with. There is also a lot of interest in the volleyball and olympic training center. There is also some interest in the indoor practice facility for football. We have to figure out where the donor interest lies and then from there if we can get enough gifts then we'll announce when the project starts. We hope to announce a project soon.
All of the money is going to come from donations, then whatever we can finance is going to be based on the timeline of donor gifts at this point. The south end zone project has a piece to Bramlage with the Legends Room so there will be a touch of Bramlage if that is the project we ultimately end up doing.
BS: You can also of course see the massive facility plan through K-StateSports.com. It is not something you would hold true and fast to K-State for the next 10-15 years to give you an idea of some of the stuff that is out there. So we go from that into football, the next question asks about new uniforms. There was a photoshoot done here recently and there were some comments on social media about where are the new uniforms. I do not know if people understand the process for new uniforms, it takes a while.
GT: It takes a while. I would say there is an interest from Coach Klieman to look at some alternate uniforms and potential helmets. It is a process because us and Nike have to present and work with Nike on terms of what that uniform might look like and design. You are out a little while before you can actually get that design implemented and put into production. We are probably a little ways out on whether or not we can do any helmets or anything in the future. Our equipment staff and coaches are probably talking about that but it is still a little out but there is some interest in doing some of that in the future. It will probably be a couple years before you can get a whole uniform change.
BS: If there is any idea or thoughts on beer sales during games?
GT: Not yet, we have talked about it last fall and came out a bit that we looked at it. We are kinda still monitoring what is going on around the conference in particular. Oklahoma State introduced it this year in football and there are a lot more basketball venues that are beginning to sell alcohol. We visited Texas this week and they have alcohol sales there. We will continue to look at it. If we move into it maybe Bramlage will be the first step we take just because it is a two hour game and there is not a lot of tailgating. That may be what we look at first but we are still talking about it.
BS: If there is any ideas for a secondary logo?
GT: I have not really thought about it. I saw the question. Obviously we use a lot of K-State and the Powercat logo. I think we do have secondary logos available to our licensing and opportunity to view those I know baseball does use the KS. I prefer K-State personally but that does not mean we are not going to look at it if it is becoming more popular out there and more used.
BS: How about those Hawaiian shirts they are giving away this weekend?
GT: They are awesome. They were designed specifically for our students. Obviously we have done some marketing and promotional ideas specifically to our students. Something like this and the lavender jerseys last year. We are working with our K-State Superstore and I would tell you we do not know exactly when but those will eventually be on sale to the public. I can make my family happy because they want the opportunity to where them collectively. They are a good looking shirt and we are excited about them. The students will get them this weekend and eventually you will be able to get them through the K-State Superstore.
BS: Our next question asks us if there be a video board for baseball and will the trees be replaced behind the left field wall?
GT: The video board is something we all want to happen and obviously the construction costs are a little higher than we thought so we have more fundraising to do. We hope and we plan to have a video board as part of the project. It will not be this spring. So if we have it in it will be next spring. In terms of the trees, we will eventually put those back in some way shape or form. It will not be right away because of construction, but one thing we have done is started on the landscaping. Lastly, I am sure we will have some trees back there.
BS: Finally Mike Davis from Twitter asks if we can get Eric Stonestreet a purple suit and sit on the bench as the minister of culture?
GT: I actually had a couple other people that want to apply for that. Eric might be the best candidate to wear the purple outfit as the minister of culture. I think he is way better looking than Matthew McConaughey too.
BS: A couple of notes here to wrap things up. Basketball is in the troughs of Big 12, hoping for postseason play and hopefully a strong finish for both.
GT: Men are playing extremely well right now and are 5-1 on the road. They have beaten every Big 12 team in a row. Women had a couple of big wins back to back. They had a tough loss the other day but obviously Baylor is really good. Both position themselves for a potential postseason run and they're in the thick of things. There have been great crowds at Bramlage the last few weeks and a big game this weekend.
BS: A couple of notes here to wrap things up. Basketball is in the troughs of Big 12, hoping for postseason play and hopefully a strong finish for both.
GT: Men are playing extremely well right now and are 5-1 on the road. They have beaten every Big 12 team in a row.
BS: The All-In campaign for the Ahearn Fund is wrapping up, trying to get donations for student-athletes and on the other side, donations for facility projects.
GT: It's critical. Our funding is critical. I had a meeting today where we talked about how we generate our revenue for our department. Our revenue is self-generated so every dollar we get is going to be critical for our success.
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