Ask the AD | January 28, 2021 - Kansas State University Athletics

In the latest edition of Ask the AD, Gene Taylor takes a variety of questions from fans and touches on the upcoming spring semester. The full transcript is below. You can also watch and listen to the episode through the links on this page.

Brian Smoller (BS): Welcome to another edition of Ask the AD. Brian Smoller with Director of Athletics, Gene Taylor. We're glad you could join us for this installment of Ask the AD. Plenty of fan questions to get to and comments through Facebook and Twitter and also emailed in to Gene, as well. So let's get right into it. First up is football and the message that came out here a week or two ago about the football game being moved to Stanford. There are questions about that, the first being since the football game against Stanford has been moved to Dallas, will season ticket holders get a priority chance to purchase them or will it be open to the public and/or limited capacity? What's your take on the Stanford game, how we got there and now fans and season ticket holders, what's it mean for them?

Gene Taylor (GT): Yeah, thanks Brian. I appreciate it and appreciate the questions always. I know we've talked a little bit about it in various interviews I've done as to why we did it. Obviously, it was an invitation from the Cowboys and that kickoff classic that they have. So to be a little part of that was something really special. Obviously we have a lot of alumni in Dallas. It's a big recruiting area, not only for the university itself, but also for Coach Klieman. And then the fact that we had eight games at home already, that's not a typical number of games. We usually try to keep it at seven for a lot of reasons. But once we felt that we had the seven games, the guarantee was something that was really, really important to us based on what we went through last year from the financial perspective. There were just a lot of reasons to take it. It puts us in pretty good company for teams that have been a part of that particular kickoff event. The fans, I know some of them are frustrated with it, but I do think it's going to benefit us in the long run. But to answer his question specifically, we're still working with the Cowboys on the ticket situation in terms of what tickets we get, where we get them or the pricing of the tickets. Our fans and our season ticket holders will get priority through their Ahearn priority points process, and we're going to treat it very much like a bowl game. They'll get the first priority to purchase the tickets and then order them. It's all going to be a part of our season ticket package when we push that out to our fans. The deadline will be June 15th, so there will be a lot more information coming. But our season ticket holders and Ahearn Fund members will continue to get priority just like a normal bowl game type of game.

BS: Hard to predict today exactly what full capacity, limited capacity will be come that time of year. We hope it will be full capacity. That's the intent by the time that rolls around. More capacity and attendance coming up here in the program. A follow up question about games here at Bill Snyder Family Stadium, and specifically about the new Shamrock South End Zone and will there be an unveiling ceremony for that?

GT: Yeah, we certainly don't have any details on that. It's a great question, and it's going to be such a beautiful facility for us and an addition that we're really going to celebrate that when the time is right whether it's next year if it gets done on time which is supposed to be the first part of August. If there's an opportunity to do something before the first game or part of the first game weekend, we'll have to kind of see that. But we're definitely going to celebrate that facility in a ribbon cutting or some sort of celebration, because it's going to be a tremendous part of Bill Snyder Family Stadium and Bramlage Coliseum.

BS: Speaking of the football stadium, does the athletic department have future plans, if and when things get back to normal, to host concerts in the stadium? I know it's been talked about before given all the improvements being made. I guess that could go for both football and basketball, what's your take on concerts here?

GT: There have been a couple different places where we've hosted concerts in the football facility or been in a place where the venue was a regular part of you shared it with basketball etc. It can be an opportunity for additional revenue. It's certainly an opportunity to do something different when a stadium is not being used, in particular, football. I know we hosted one here before I got here. So it's something that's never off the table if it's the right thing to do. Concerts are tricky. You have to be part of a good promoter that has to be the right kind of concert to make the kind of money that's worth the effort. It's a lot of work, but if you pull one off, it can be a lot of fun and an additional amount of revenue for a program. It's not easy, but it really has to be the right time, but we'd certainly look at it if the right opportunity came along.

BS: Speaking of football and celebrations, Darren Sproles just announced here last week about going into the College Football Hall of Fame. Great video with Coach Snyder giving him the information. Coach Klieman was on there, as well. We saw the reaction from Darren. We had a fan that reached out through Twitter that says, can we retire Darren Sproles' number 43 jersey, not just put it in the Ring of Honor but retire it? I'm not for retiring many numbers, but he is 43 and no other player should wear that number. Your thoughts about retiring numbers where no one else can wear them?

GT: I think a lot of people have gone away from the retirement. They've just recognized them like we have with the Ring of Honor. A lot of players that wore that number want the opportunity to have somebody else wear it if requested. Darren is certainly worthy of every honor and every accolade that we can give him. That weekend that he's back for our Hall of Fame induction, whenever we decide that is going to be this fall, is when we'll recognize him for the College Football Hall of Fame induction. You're right, that call was really cool to be a part of. To see his reaction was certainly something special. But all those things, I think retirement of jerseys is something you really have to take a look at in terms of how they stack up, because then technically that number is never supposed to be worn. I think people have kind of gotten away from retirement and gone more recognition so that number can still be worn by athletes that want to be a part of the program.

BS: K-State fans and long K-State fans, there are certain numbers like that that just invoke memories of past players. The No. 7 clearly with Michael and Colin who played quarterback and No. 4 with Terrence Newman. Even on the basketball side, it carries over as well. Baseball is getting cranked up. Hard to believe with snow on the ground that we're talking about baseball, but preseason Big 12 polls are coming out soon and the preseason players and pitchers of the year awards were just announced. Jordan Wicks, our very own left hander that is the preseason Co-Big 12 Pitcher of the Year, a preseason All-American. Pete Hughes is pretty excited about this baseball club. We had some fans reach out about baseball stadium capacity for fans this year.

GT: You're right. There's a lot of excitement with our baseball program. A lot of talk about our pitching staff and just the team in general. That was a team that obviously had their season cut drastically short last year, so I know those players are really excited to get this thing started. We're going to talk to the county, which we've done with all of our teams, both winter sports and fall sports. We'll do it for the spring sports, but we're going to look to hopefully have 25 percent capacity at baseball games because it's an outdoor facility. Once we get that decision that we think will be supported by the county, then we'll give priority to our season ticket holders to make sure they are a part of that 25 percent before we offer it up to anybody else. If there's a chance we can have more or adjust as the season goes along to increase it, we'll certainly do that. We still have a lot of uncertainties about crowd size and people gathering, but again with baseball being an outdoor facility and venue, I think our chances of having at least 25 percent are pretty good.

BS: Well, it should be a fun year for baseball. Some of the home teams coming to Manhattan for K-State this year include a couple of Big 12 teams ranked in the top 10 nationally to begin the year. Texas Tech and TCU are expected to be national title contenders. Should be a very good season for K-State baseball, we hope anyway. Those who didn't get to enjoy the new amenities of Tointon Family Stadium last year in the pandemic shortened season will get to experience that this year.

GT: I'm glad you brought that up, because I had forgotten that we only had a couple of games in there, and there were a lot of fans because it wasn't the warmest part of the season that really had a chance to enjoy it. It's a beautiful facility and anxious to get a lot of baseball and a lot of good weather this spring.

BS: Alright Gene, well we appreciate the time. As always, keep those questions coming through email to Gene Taylor, also through Twitter or Facebook. We'll get them in the next Ask the AD. We'll be ramping up into the close of basketball season. More information about the Big 12 basketball tournament at that time, the NCAA and all that. We'll get into NIL I'm sure. All those things on the next installment. Thank you again for the time and for stopping by today.

GT: Thanks Brian. Appreciate everybody.

BS: Another edition of Ask the AD in the books. Like I said, keep the questions coming. Until next time, for Gene Taylor, I'm Brian Smoller. Thank you for watching.

Kansas State University Athletics

Ask the AD | January 28, 2021

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