Cliff: De Carolis preview Comments
Here’s the link to the interview with Oregon State AD Bob De Carolis that ran in Thursday’s GT.
The following are a few questions and answers that didn’t make it into the long interview.
Are there any football schedule changes for big-money games like Penn State ?
“Penn State called. They wanted us to come out one more time. They knew we needed money, but we are not going to do that. There’s a broker out of Virginia who is trying to get college games in NFL stadiums throwing around huge dollars. We told him we wouldn’t be interested in that until 2013 or 2014.”
Are you still trying to get the Rodgers brothers back to Texas?
“We tried. Part of the problem is you have to play it next year for both of them. We would have to buy someone out. That would add to the cost. It just hasn’t worked out.”
What about Mike Riley back to Alabama?
“We’ve talked about the whole SEC thing. He wouldn’t mind going back there, but I have some trepidations. I’m not afraid of team that’s good. The travel is tough. You are in a humid environment. And I always worry about hurricane season. The SEC will play anyone, but they are not coming out here. They pay you to go there. So we’ve looked in the Big Ten, but not the SEC.”
What about the track facility?
“The first phase is building a track with no amenities. The site would be the intramural field behind the soccer field. We’ll put in a turf infield to handle soccer. That’s $3.5 million. When we get that, we’ll try to bring back the men. We need a $5 million endowment to pay for the program. Phase III is another $2-3 million to finish off the facility – stands, parking lot and all the fluff. That last piece is a nationally competitive cross country course.”
Will this take different donors than you need for football?
“Absolutely, the track and boathouse are going to have to be funded by people close to those sports. We’ve been very aggressive with all our projects – south end zone, the Sports Performance Center, the outside of Gill Coliseum, the women’s basketball locker room, we are doing the medical center and the academic center. They are going after everybody on everything. Then you have this whole economic situation.”
What have you found out from the university about its money help?
“We’ve been asked to do a doomsday budget back in the spring. At that time they talked about a cut of 30 percent ($750,000) in general fund. That’s back off from 15 percent. That’s because of a new tax that passed. We budgeted for 20. At the same time, the university raised tuition. Who pays for tuition for the student-athlete? We do.”
Here’s another link to the off-beat Q&A with DT Sioeli Nau. As preview, he’s afraid of dolls after seeing Chucky.
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