NCAAbbs

The events of the last 2 weeks have reinforced the belief that the AD's office and Shirley Raines have no intention of ever allowing an OCS to be built. IMO, this is the strategy that we will see unfold in the coming months. I will try to look at each point and give my reasons for believing that everything that is being done right now has the ultimate goal of NOT having an OCS. Here is what the university is going to do in the next 2-5 years.

1 - Get the weight room built
2 - Get the indoor practice facility built
3 - Get state of the art locker rooms built at the LB

THE WEIGHT ROOM
For starters, the poorly designed pledge cards demonstrate a complete lack of competence. Also, not having any contact info on the original cards would seem to indicate that a very shortsighted person or group felt that they would limit the drive to the HH.

They probably didn't have contact info on the cards because the only people that received a pledge card would either be a HH member or a known associate of a HH member. It is my opinion that someone, or a group of people "rocked the boat" and insisted that the cards be improved so that the masses could be solicited.

Reasons The Weight Room Fund Raising Was Set Up To Fail:
- Poorly designed pledge cards
- No "sticky" story on the official website
- Tiny popup on the website that says NOTHING to get the fanbase excited about what the actual weight room will look like. Nothing about how beautiful it will be, how much it will help recruiting, how it will measure up to other weight rooms across the country, NOTHING.
- No mass media coverage
- No use of key public figures (RC, FedEx, Byrd, Morris, Lansden, Winn) promoting it.
- RC not mentioning it on the radio

INDOOR PRACTICE FACILITY
This will be a key to getting better recruits and the project will happen because the money will be there. This will be the final nail in the coffin to an OCS because between the weight room, HOF and the indoor practice facility; the school will have raised around $20 million for these projects. This will make it an easy sell for Shirley, RC, Rose, etc, when they come out and say that there is STILL no money for an OCS and times are tough.

LOCKER ROOMS AT LB
Few recruits actually go into the stands, or use concessions or washrooms. The main thing that they care about in the stadium is the locker rooms. The school will either get the city to build state of the art locker rooms or they will pony up the cash themselves. I am betting on the dumb second option.

NO OCS: THE BOTTOM LINE
If you were going to build an OCS you would put it in the master plan. I am sure that we will never see this. $20 million is probably what will be needed for all of the above improvements/renovations. This will put a huge crimp into future fundraising plans for football.

Also, if you had any intention of building an OCS you would attach the weight room and practice facility to it. The idea is to spend a lot of money on campus for practice facilities which commits the school to using these facilities, while spending no money on an OCS.

Great weightroom facilities, indoor practice facility and locker rooms will make it easy for Shirley and RC to sell us on the idea that there are a lot of older stadiums than the LB out there. In that respect they are right. The sightlines are great and today you can't build a stadium where the angle of the stands is so steep.

The only problems are that we don't get the benefit of receiving all revenues, we are paying rent, and not having the stadium on campus will forever limit donations. This is all stuff that we have gone over countless times.

The AD's office will set up similar pledges for the indoor practice facility and other projects. Even though the money won't be easy to come by without the media being used and no publicity; the projects will be pushed through anyway. The school will then try to use this to make themselves look like heroes while at the same time squashing an OCS.

This is all a sham. UCF built a stadium for $55 million. Even if we have to pay $15 million for land or other expenses; we could build a stadium on campus for $100 million that is $30 million nicer than UCF's. For $30 million you would get nicer seating with around 15,000 chairback seats, and no aluminum bleachers. You could also have a lot of brickwork on the exterior; which would be a lot nicer than the girders and metal beams at UCF. If we manage to find the extra $50 million to build a truly fantastic stadium; build an almost exact replica of Papa John's but have it sunk into the ground like SMU's stadium to cut costs. Papa John's was built for $67 million 10 years ago. There is no reason why we can't build the stadium I described for $150 million.

The stadium would make money immediately. We are paying over 500k per season to rent the LB. This covers operating costs on a new OCS. In exchange for this even steven trade we would get revenue from naming rights, all concessions; parking, and renting out the venue for other events.

Yep until football gets a sugar daddy we will never have an OCS

So our football program needs it's own T. Boone Pickens?

DING DING DING we have a winner!

Tiger nation will just have to do it in spite of them.

I agree completely but not because we NEED a sugar daddy. The money can be raised without a sugar daddy but as long as there isn't a sugar daddy, the school can continue to lie and try to fool everyone into thinking that it's not doable.

A sugar daddy wants to know how his/her money is being spent, therefore accountability. Until then, SR and RCJ can miss behave all they want.

Most "sugar daddies" (to use that disrespectful term for generous supporters) also want to know their money is going toward a school that the alumni and fans care about. That is just one reason why we badly need to improve our participation percentages in such areas as alumni association membership, academic and athletic donations. Another important reason is that those percentages are criteria used by USN&WR university ratings. I strongly recommend giving at least a small amount to a broad spectrum - the percentages generally count more than amounts.

One of the sugar daddys cares more about a strip mall than he does football

OK...so where is the grassy knoll and the second gunman?

I want the OCS also but this poison pill idea is far fetched.

Too careful? Maybe.
Short-sighted? Likely.
Underhanded, covert, and conspiratorial? I don't think so.

I just can't wait until both of them have left their positions.

Well you can dream on because. Surely and Elvii aren't going anywhere anytime soon

I'm no conspiracy theorists, but some folks will tell you that some folks at the University have been trying to kill football for over 30 years.

Another major problem with the school. Many on this board claim that they've never been asked for money in their lives. In order to achieve maximum potential for all of the areas that you are talking about, the school needs to be organized and efficient about making people aware of what is going on, and asking for money. I'm not in Memphis, but by all accounts, the school gets an F in these important areas.

Thats interesting seeing as how there prob arent many, if any, people at the University that have been in any position of power for anywhere near 30 years

We are currently in the middle of the most successful period in Memphis athletic history and all people can do it bitch because someone else has a toy they do not have. Other than the desire to have the a status symbol no one has given a good reason to spend school money for something that the city is paying for currently. They just assume that the area which they think the OCS can be built is available and is not scheduled to be used in other parts of the University's master expansion plan.

You keep trotting out the same lame argument about this supposed toy. First of all, school money won't be spent. Private money will be spent. School money is being spent on RENT at the Liberty Bowl. That is an expense. An OCS would be privately funded. This is as simple as it gets, but I am certain that this concept is beyond comprehension for you.

Currently; rent at the Liberty Bowl costs the same as maintaining an OCS. The difference is that we would get to keep all revenues. At the end of a 10 to 20 year period; we will have the stadium paid for and will reap net revenues from said stadium. With no stadium of our own we will continue to pay RENT. Again, I repeat that rent is an expense with the hopeless goal that maybe one day you will understand this concept.

Now that we have established that the cost of running a stadium is about the same as renting a stadium, we get into revenues. With an OCS we would get to keep all revenues. These include but are not limited to concessions, parking, naming rights, advertising, revenues from suites, revenues from seat licenses, revenues from renting out space to merchants, etc.

The Liberty Bowl is an eyesore that has been poorly maintained, hinders recruiting, which hurts the program and decreases revenues. A new OCS would improve every area of the program, and would make it easier to win games which will bring in more revenue.

Also, having an OCS will allow hundreds of thousands of visitors to connect to the school and will lead to a huge increase in donations.

The school has always had to dip into its reserves to fund the football program. Having an OCS will give the school the opportunity to not have to do this. In 15 years when the program is running a net profit and the school does not have to bail out the football program, perhaps you will be able to get it into your thick skull that an OCS is a good idea.

ask Tommy if he would rather have a OCS or the LB...

After reading this thread along with some of the other threads about the so called plot to set up the weightroom campaign to fail, I am uncertain how some of you people lead a happy life. No offense but damn, some of ya'll just always seem to find the negative in EVERYTHING and can't seem to comprehend the concept of supporting your program AND its administration. Hell I'm only in my mid twenties and I learned long ago that if you are constantly focusing on the negatives and can't try to find something positive then you will most likely find yourself very unhappy and quite possibly unsuccessful.

I also figured out long ago, that a public forum isnt necessarily the best place to second guess and undermine the efforts of your leaders. What good is accomplished by constantly trashing the Memphis administration? More often than not, the net effect is usually negative. I know its a hard concept for many Memphians and Memphis fans to understand but sometimes its necessary to embrace the positives(even if they are few and far between) and publicly support your leaders while questioning and pressuring them in private. I think some of us would find our efforts alot more effective if we werent constantly bashing RC and Shirley publicly but hey thats just me.

+ 2

Couldn't have said it better myself. Wait! I have said exactly that!

Let's focus on the current situation.

You run a sales department. You have one salesman. He excels at dealing with your "big" customers. However, he usually doesn't pay much attention to your smaller customers. Your business gets to a point to where the large companies are going through a slow sales cycle, and you won't be able to close any large deals for a bit.

Your marketing department comes up with an idea to go after these smaller customers by going to a trade show, where your salesman is the keynote speaker at an product showcase.

Your salesman comes out, tells a few jokes, talks about himself for a bit, and sits down. Never once mentions the product. Not one little bit. Now, when he is in a room at an after hours mixer with existing customers, he knows how to "talk it up".

As the sales manager, how would you feel if the employee didn't mention the product while he had a captive audience- a group of people that are there, therefore you must assume that they are interested in your widget, service, whatever it is.

I guess I'm being too "negative" again, but I really want those of you that are blowing this off to take a look at the scenario I've presented and tell me why the boss wouldn't be pissed off.

If you are an alumnus or a true fan, why would the school have to "sell" you on anything?
Bottom line: if you or any of you die-hard OCS guys had any talent in managing an athlectic department you'd be an AD somewhere now, right?
I'm going to laugh so hard, and be so thankful, when the U of M gets into the Big East without spending a dime on a new stadium. And 15 years down the road when the LB has lived out it's life, I hope the Tigers play in a new, big-azz dome downtown; one they share with an NFL expansion team. (If I'm going to dream, I'm going to dream big.)

I'm not disputing the fact that RC should have talked the project up on the radio this morning. I personally have been less then impressed with how the campaign has been handled so far. That doesnt mean I buy this "set up to fail" conspiracy and think that such an attitude is just product of so many Memphis fans infieriority complex.I, like many others, choose not to bash our administration in public because I am smart enough to know that doing so will only make things worse. I would rather focus on the fact that they have supposedly raised 250k in 18 days and do my part to help out.

some of us don't believe there is a conspiracy, we just think RC is a dolt...

If you were the AD or in the AD's office and you wanted this campaign to succeed, would you do everything exactly the same way that they have?

Stammers is right: R.C. is incompetent and uncaring and lazy, and dare I say it after his Elvis focus this morning, self-centered beyond belief. I have lived 56 years, and I know when I am being led down the yellow brick road. I simply don't trust the intentions of these folks who refuse to lead.
I am not an AD, but I have run a successful business for 35 years, and it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out you have to put a place for donor's addresses on pledge cards. And you have to approach the media to get the word out. And you have to inform your "true fans and alums" about what you plan to do with their money when they give it. Duh.
No negativity here, just a frustration with our do-nothing AD and Pres. who do not love the university as much as we do. I have been fooled too many times in my long life by jokers who claim to have my best interest at heart. Just ask yourself, what would you do if you were running this campaign for something absolutely vital to our football program, in the words of Tommy West? Get on the radio and talk about Elvis???????????????????

Here is what is inside the miniature button on the official website...

FOOTBALL WEIGHT ROOM FUNDRAISING CAMPAIGN
The University of Memphis Athletics Department is about halfway to its goal of fundraising money for a 12,000 square-foot weight room for the Tiger football team. The weight room is part of a $10 million campaign that will also include a covered indoor practice field. The 12,000 square-foot weight room would be connected to the existing Murphy Athletic Complex on the facility's east wing, which will let players move from the locker room, to the weight room, to the indoor field without having to leave the complex. The indoor practice facility (Phase 2) will be constructed on Field One, the eastern-most of the four 100-yard practice fields.

The current Murphy Athletic Complex last underwent additions in 2003, when a locker room and theater-style meeting rooms were added to the complex.

The Football Weightroom Fundraising campaign is being headed by former Shelby County Mayor Bill Morris. Allie Prescott and Scott Forman are also serving on the committee.


If any of us tried, we could not possibly, deliberately write something so bland, boring, uninformative, and uninspiring. The project is very exciting and the school has managed to make it seem like the most unimportant, nondescript waste of time. There is nothing in that letter that conveys the importance, the scope and the magnitude of the project. There is nothing in the letter that talks about how beautiful the weight room will be and how it will be as good as any other school's in the country. There is nothing about how important the practice facility is to us. There is nothing about how the projects are part of our desire to be the best we can.

While I'm at it, a lot of the stuff the school does is half assed, disorganized and amateurish.

- DeAngelo Day
- Larry Finch Appreciation Night
- Pledge Fund Card
- Big East pamphlet
- Fundraising article
- OCS study
- Not publicly stating that they wanted an OCS
- Making sure companies adhere to brand standards
- Making sure our teams wear our school colours
- Not caring that the Grizz screwed them on ticket counts
- Not making sure all concessions are open for all Tiger games
- Not returning Charlie Lea's phone call
- Not holding the city to LB improvements promised years ago
- Allowing the city to run our football program
- Not soliciting donations from alumni and supporters

Great comments. No matter what happens on the radio, on Highland, or on this board in the end it is up to us, the day to day normal fans to step up and make a 3 year committment from our heart.

I agree that we have to do it ourselves, but we shouldn't have to. There is an AD who is paid good money to facilitate these things; to HELP us.

So, I emailed R.C. today and brought up alot of the points and gave him some ideas of how to market the weight room project better. Surprisingly, he already emailed me back. This is what I got back...

AKA, thanks for wasting your time writing that email. I have not read past the second line and we will not take any of your ideas into consideration.

Not exactly the response I was hoping for considering my email was so in depth. Oh well. My buddy is actually R.C.'s assistant and I just told him to tell R.C. to market it more. He hasn't even heard of the project yet and he is a football fanatic so obviously he was agreeing with me that it needs to be marketed more, even in areas outside of Memphis. So I hope he talks to him.

+3

Jenkz, precisely my point. If your friend has not even heard of the campaign and he is R.C.'s assistant, what does that tell you????

How can some of you come on this board and express any confidence in our A.D. and his office when we hear things like this? I cannot sit still and just wait and trust that R. C. has secret things in the works that we peasants are not privy to, and he has the best interests of our football program at heart. I cannot imagine the frustration our coach must feel. Call me negative, if you wish, but I think some of you are naive.

Regardless, we on this board are all pulling in the same direction, so let's continue to pull! Spread the word about the campaign.

Since you managed to skip it the first time I said it I'll say it again- I have been less than impressed with how RC has handled this fundraising campaign. I am not disputing the widespread opinion that things should have and still need to be done better.

All I am saying is the constant public criticism of and bitching about our administration accomplishes nothing! Its about the same as "wishing" it would be done different. Ever heard the saying "Sh*t in one hand, wish in the other and then let me know which fills up first"? Substitute the word b*tch, whine, or complain for 'wish' and there you have it.

I know its hard to hold it in sometims but it really does nothing but hurt the program by all this public criticism. Criticize in private, support in public and you just might make some headway.

+1

That just ended the debate for me.

Now this is actually (well, someone by the name of Willie has to sign off on the project) in the works as part of a two-year, $9 million dollar renovation. I don't know if "state of the art" will describe the finished product for the Tigers' locker room, but it will be a vast improvement over the current situation.

If the University wanted it done right, they would help fund the project like they did at the Pyramid and FEF in regards to their locker room facilities...both in the hundreds of thousands-range in funding. That's the difference though in basketball & football and that way of thinking about the importance of each will continue to hamper this athletic program's ability to ascend to that "next level" in college athletics.

This is at least the second or third time that you have mentioned that your "buddy" is RC's assistant and I'm calling BS on that one. No matter how badly they have handled this fundraising campaign there isnt a person on here that can convince me that RC's assistant doesnt know about this project. I know far to many people in the athletic department that knew about this project months before it was announced for you to convince me that the AD's assistant doesnt know about it.

and exactly why should the university pay for locker room improvements but the SHC and LBC not?

one big difference is that in return for the university footing that bill, they got exclusive use. thats not the case at LBS.

I'd have no problem if the University puts in 75% of some additional funds while Erhart and Company put in 12.5% and Fred Jones puts in 12.5%. Of course, I'd do everything I could to try to get the City to pay for it first.

You can call BS all you want to. His name is Anthony LaRocca. Moved down here from New Jersey, and is a sophmore this year. We were pledge brothers last fall. If you continue to doubt me, you can look him up yourself and ask him personally.

These were the text messages we exchanged....
Me:You still R.C.'s assitant?
Him:Yeah, why?
Me:Tell that man he needs to market the football weight room project better.
Him: What is this? LOL
Me: You didn't know about that?
Him:Nope, so I guess you are probally right. I will tell him when I see him again.

I don't really need to argue with you. Its pointless. I'm right. You called BS and lost the game. Congrats.

I know this is gonna tick some people off, but Tommy needs to take the intiative on this if RC and Surely wont. He has a lot more stroke now with his new extension. He should consult with the master on this Mr John Calipari. Its HIS program now

No I actually know who this kid is you are talking about and can assure you he isnt anyone's assistant. He is the son or nephew or something of one of the Ambassadors. Im told he works for RC at football games or something but doesn't work for RC as an ''assistant'' in his office or any other time other than on GAMEDAYS. Which doesnt make him anywhere close to being RC's assistant. Your not the only person on the board that knows people over on Normal.

By the way, Anthony's dad/uncle(whichever is the Ambassador) is prob part of the group that the school was able to raise $1.5 million from before they even announced it to the public.

Good point Jeb. I should have been more clear in my statement. I was commenting as if the Tigers were going to fund a Locker room facility for their sole use. There is the space (especially in the Gate 4 renovation) to build a University-specific locker room as the visiting locker room and other "green room" facilities are moving to the North endzone.

I'm all for the University paying a significant portion of the new locker rooms at the LB if it is for U of M use only. Hell I wouldnt even mind the University paying for the whole cost of the new locker room and giving the SHC and Liberty Bowl Game the opportunity to rent the locker room from us for their respective games each year rather than using the current LB locker rooms.

What exactly is going on at with Gate 4?

It's his uncle. And yea, he is R.C.'s assistant on gamedays, but he also gets paid to do things not on gamedays for RC, which makes him "close to an assistant". Did I ever say I was the only one who knew anybody who worked for the AD? No, so what are you trying to prove. Look arguing about whether he is or isn't an assistant isn't relevant. The point is, the kid works for R.C. and the AD (everday), is a football fanatic, and didn't have a damn clue about the weight room project. Unacceptable. So if he doesn't know about it, what does that tell you about the "average" fan. They don't have a clue about a project for a new weight room. Thats what really matters.

I'm not gonna argue with you about this but my point is as simple as this- a student who works for the AD on gamedays is not a good measure of the "average fan" and him knowing or not knowing about a fundraising project isnt exactly relative to whether or not most fans know about it or whether they have done a good job promoting it.

I've said all along that they should do more to publicize this project and that they have missed many opportunities already but I could simply care less whether or not your rich friend who works 7 days a year for the Memphis AD knows about this project or not.

I'll bet your friends uncle who is an Ambassador knows alot more about the things happening in and around our athletic dept than your friend who is "close to an assistant" to the AD, whatever that means. So maybe you should go to him, rather than your ''close to an assistant'' friend for your inside info next time before coming here and spouting off about your knowledge of whats going on or whats not going on.

Right on, Jenkz. Keep making that point and maybe someone will listen.

PKP, would you believe me if I told you that on the day the Committee voted on the recommendations of the Heery report, that a copy of the report itself was sitting on Shirley's desk, stamped "Confidential", unopened? That is what I was told by her Assistant. Shirley was, of course, out of town.

I am not going to continue to beat a dead horse, but I am convinced the rank and file are going to have to make the campaign happen. If some of you want to hide your head in the sand, so be it. And I can't begin to imagine what R. C. does at the football games that requires an assistant. All I see him do is walk around clueless on the field.

Yes I would believe you. I would even believe that some members of the committee hadn't even completely reviewed the whole thing before that committee voted. But I dont buy that because a kid who works for RC on gamedays(which I also dont quite know what he would need an assistant on gamedays for?) that they have been doing a bad job marketing this thing. I have the fact that RC was on the radio and didnt mention it to show me that they have missed many opportunities to marketh the new weightroom project. On the other hand, we have also heard reports that they have raised 1.75 million for the project in less than what a month and a half?

Realisticly speaking, I'd say that while they may not be raising money at a record pace, they also arent necessarily doing that bad either, even with the countless missed opportunities that have been pointed out. If they keep it up, at this rate, they will have raised the necessary money in less than 3-4 months which again, in my opinion isnt all that bad. I am sure that they could do better but I'm just happy we should be getting a new weightroom for our football team regadless of how it happens. If it takes a year to raise the money, I might change my mind but until then..

It would be awesome to have an OCS in between the fieldhouse and library. Then all of the big main buildings like the Administration building, new University Center, Bookstore, Concert Hall, and Library will be located around the student courtyard. will be centrally located on campus

I never said he was an average fan. I said he was a super fan. He's a hardcore Memphis Tigers fan and he had no clue about the project. What I was saying is if he didn't know about it, how would the average casual fan know about it. You completely missed what I said. He works for the AD...plain and simple. He is R.C.s bitch, aka assistant. He runs errands for R.C. all the time, not just gamedays. Why you keep trying to argue about him is beyond me. Like I said earlier, what his job is is irrelevant. What matters is that he works in the AD office everyday and had no clue about it. What does that tell you? They AREN'T doing a good job or marketing. Period.

RC was the ad at Temple. Does anything more need to be said. He took the football program and done nothing with it. He is doing the same thing here. Why are you all acting if this is a surprise that he does nothing to promote football? At bowl games, he looks so uncomfortable talking about football, it is unreal. RC is just like the big east commissioner, a bb guy and nothing more.