Ask the AD - June 24, 2021 - Kansas State University Athletics

Brian Smoller (BS): "Welcome to another edition of Ask the AD, a vaccinated edition. Brian Smoller and Gene Taylor with you. Finally together in the same spot after a year of doing zoom Ask the ADs, we're able to load up on a bunch of questions and get right to them. Ask the AD, of course, brought to you by Mammoth Sports and I guess by Moderna in some respects. Get those vaccines so we can get closer back to normal. Alright we'll jump right into the questions here. We got a lot loaded up and a lot to get to after a couple of months off from Ask the AD. The first one comes from Facebook and it's about the master facility plan. I know people are excited and getting ready for football this fall. We've seen the construction continue on the Shamrock Zone and a bit of Bramlage Coliseum but not just about the master facility plan overall but about the football stadium, the practice facility for football and the volleyball arena."

Gene Taylor (GT): "It's a great question and we haven't talked about it in a while, like you said, and obviously the Shamrock Zone will be completed and ready to go for this fall, which will be a tremendous addition to Bill Snyder Family Stadium. Right now we're still in the planning stages and going through what's called design development for those others, the volleyball venue Olympic Training Center and the indoor football facility. We're going to wrap that up this summer and then begin to get approvals for the next step. So the next step would be potentially putting construction documents out on the market, getting construction companies to bid on. We don't know yet when we're going to be able to start, hopefully sometime in 2022, but a lot of it's going to depend on materials. There's a lot of material shortages out there. The cost of the project so I can't promise anybody, but our goal is to at least get the Olympic Training Center and volleyball venue started sometime in 2022. And if we can do both, great. If not, the football indoor may have to wait a little longer."

BS: "Now what so far we've seen from the Shamrock Zone has been pretty great. We've done a lot of video tours. Here at the end there will be a video tour at the end when it's all done and completed of the new legends rooms so to speak and the way it looks, but the Shamrock Zone I guess your thoughts on what you've seen of it to this point?"

GT: It's gonna be beautiful and we've had a chance to take a lot of our donors and fans and just our staff through it and the progression as we've all watched it from the beginning. And now as you go into it with it's finishes and furniture and it's just really striking in terms of the ceiling heights and just the look and feel of it. It's very warm, it's very inviting. A lot of TVs. If you miss a game, there's TV coverage in there, but I think it's just going to be a great addition not only the Shamrock zone itself but obviously the club area and inside of Bramlage, the new entrances, and then the south concourse is going to be tremendous for fans from a concession standpoint, restroom, the flow from east to west side, all those things and then it's going to close in the stadium and is going to make it even louder than it has been."

BS: Powercat Porch and there are still some tickets available for the club on that Shamrock Zone so you can find out more information through kstatesports.com. We did get one question emailed to us if the Shamrock Zone meant that we're going to be scheduling Notre Dame anytime soon?"

GT: "Probably not anytime soon but hey, maybe. Maybe that'll attract them to come play us at some point."

BS: "Back to Facebook for the next question. Any changes to the sports venues as we come back into full capacity for the fall? Any changes to any of the venues such as admission, parking, reentry, tailgating and so forth?"

GT: "All that is going to stay the same. We're gonna go back to 2019. We're gonna allow tailgating and we're gonna allow exit and reentry. You touched on a little bit, we are adding what's called the Powercat Porch as part of the South endzone renovation and that's going to be an area where fans, general fans can go in and get an adult beverage and watch the game. They won't be able to see the game from there but it'll be a really nice addition. But everything else is going to be very similar with the one probably big thing is you're going to see the band move into the student section this year with a lot of conversation to really bring the band back into the student section and help continue to liven up the feel that area and our fans and then take the old band section and turn it into general admission seating area."

BS: "Yeah, that'll be coming here in the fall, starting with the 2021 campaign should be a lot of fun as Chris Klieman and the guys get ready to go as they're working through individual workouts and camps this summer. From Twitter, speaking of football, we'll get back to football in a moment, now to baseball. Pete Hughes' ballclub just finished off a great spring and a great finish, strong finish, just missed the NCAA Tournament. We had a question about the purchasing of baseball jerseys. All the new ones are so cool, but there's nowhere to buy them."

GT: "It's a great question. There's a couple of reasons for that. One, we obviously have a Nike agreement and Nike retail is who we have to go through if you want the true Nike jersey and they're way behind on getting product out to the retail market so as much as we'd like to get those, I think we could do some copy jerseys without the Nike logo. They wouldn't be quite as authentic, so we got a little time before we get to those and right now we don't sell any jerseys with anybody's name or number on them, because as we get into the name, image and likeness issue. I think our jerseys always just have a one or 00 or the year we're in so we try to stay away from that but the baseball jerseys are a little bit more of a challenge from a retail perspective right now."

BS: "For the general fan that may have heard of the NIL stuff that's out there that obviously takes up so much of your day and everyone else in college athletics everyday, what's the synopsis of where we're at with that?"

GT: "I don't think we have enough time Brian. I'm serious. It's very, very complicated and it's coming quick. We had the Supreme Court decision which isn't directly related to name, image, likeness, but basically come July 1 every student-athlete will be able to profit off their name, image and likeness, things they haven't been able to do before. If they're a musician, they can now make money by putting stuff out there as an artist. They can do that. They've never been able to do that. The social media, if you have a lot of followers, you're going to be able to make money off of that. You might be able to do a corporate sponsorship now and be paid for appearances and autographs. There's a lot to unpack there. We could spend a whole Ask the AD about that but it's gonna come fast and furious. July 1st, you will see athletes across the country that will be coming out with deals that may surprise some fans."

BS: "It seems like the consensus is for the most part, allowing student athletes to do this is not necessarily in question, it's more of the regulation and the enforcement of all that."

GT: "There's a lot of ways I think it's good and we want to support our student athletes and that's what we're doing now is educating them, talking to them about how to do it the right way. There's going to be tax implications for them. There are going to be attorneys, they're going to deal and it's going to be a very new world for some of our athletes."

BS: "Well let's get to the lighter side of uniforms and rely on Scott Wildcat to pull us back into the lighter side. His question is asking about alternate football uniforms so this may harken back to what you mentioned about Nike being behind a little bit. Alternate football uniforms, will there be any for 2021?"

GT: "I don't think for 2021. No, I think that's another challenge is just we did look at some opportunities, but with the COVID issue and all the things and the slow production, you're not going to see anything new for the 2021 season."

BS: "What about beyond that?"

GT: "Possibly, you have to be almost a year ahead so if you're ordering for 2022 you almost need to be doing it now so I'm not sure where we are with that."

BS: "Alright, last question is someone who is at K-State in the master's program studying sports management trying to get into the college athletic administration role. What's your best advice on how to become an AD at a Power-5 school? His dream school is K-State clearly. Challenges today I'm sure as being a Power-5 AD are different than they were when you started but what would be your best advice?"

GT: "The world in college athletics has changed but it's changed since the day I got into it in various ways, shapes or forms but you know I would just tell him to just work hard. If you want to get to be a Power-5 AD, get as much experience at that level, but also make sure you have a wide range of experience. Don't just stick in one particular area if you can. If you can do some internships in different areas. Eventually as you get later in your career, you're going to want to settle in at the Power-5 level and stay at that level. It's much easier to go down a level than it is to go up, and that's just fair/unfair. We got a lot of talented ADs at the DII level, the DIII level, but for them to move up to the Division I is really, really difficult but just work hard and do everything you can and learn as much as you can. Eventually you'll get there."

BS: "Every path is different, no doubt, it does seem that the more you understand about each aspect of college athletics, be it the academic side or the operation side, ticketing or whatever seems to help."

GT: "Fundraising. Generating revenue is a big piece, as well."

BS: "Appreciate the time. It's good to see you face to face instead of the TV."

GT: "Thanks to our fans. Can hardly wait to get you in Bill Snyder Family Stadium in September and really looking forward to a great year."

BS: "Yeah, Refill the Bill coming up here in the fall, looking forward to it. For Gene Taylor, Director of Athletics, I'm Brian Smoller. For our entire crew, thank you for watching Ask the AD, brought to you by Mammoth Sports."

Kansas State University Athletics

Ask the AD - June 24, 2021

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