The Wolfpacker: An Independent Magazine Covering NC State Sports
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1000643
36 ■ THE WOLFPACKER in Weisiger Brown. We need the finances to be able to do that as well." Would the solution for diving be part of a new outdoor pool? "Yes, it would be outdoor." You had five new coaches this year, in- cluding Kevin Keatts. The other four also made postseason play, three of them after their teams had not reached the postseason the year before. Men's golf advanced past the regional for the first time since 2012. How would you assess their efforts? "They are killing it. I think we are proving that we are pretty good at selecting coaches. It starts there. If you make the wrong hire it's never going to be what it could be. It's grati- fying to see them achieve early on. "There's an old southern saying that goes something like this: if a dog is going bite you, he'll bite you as a pup. That's what I see in these coaches. "They come in, and even in the beginning you can see the dramatic improvement. That bodes well for the future." How would you describe the state of the budget? "We still have an operating budget that is in the bottom 25 percent of all Power Five schools. That's not where we want our budget to be, but we continue to overachieve with the money we have available. All of us are mind- ful of how we spend our money to make sure we get the best bang for our buck. "When the ACC Network begins in 2019- 20, our sincere hope is that it is going to drive more revenue that will be available for our operations, but it hasn't happened yet. We are in the process of beginning our broadcast studio construction at the Murphy Center, and we're also going to renovate the sports medi- cine unit there beginning in January. That will be about $2.5 million. It's the only area of Murphy Center that has not been renovated. "The broadcast studio is about $6.6 mil- lion." The recent ACC payouts to members were about $5 million shy of the rest of the Power Five leagues, what's the solution? "It's at the bottom of the Power Five. It's not where you want to be for a per-school distribution. The Big 12 does not have any more money in its entirety, but it has only 10 schools to distribute it to, and they are getting more per school for that reason. "Again we are counting on the ACC Net- work. We have to have it if we are going to continue to be able to compete effectively against the Big Ten and the SEC." The SEC payout was $15 million more than the ACC. What is the effect of that difference? "Just look at what they are doing. Kentucky just finished construction of a $49 million baseball stadium. We are not there yet." Is there an expectation of how much money might be coming from the ACC Network? "Not yet. It's too early. They are working on the distribution right now with various outlets." When you receive updates on the net- work does it sound promising? "They don't want to talk about it in those terms until we get much closer. I wouldn't expect them to be talking about it that way until next January, sometime in the winter." You mentioned the network studio and the sports medicine renovations. What are your future plans for facilities? "We have a long list of what we need. I want something for baseball. We need to start working on Doak as soon as it's pos- sible from a phased-in perspective. You do phase I, then phase II and phase III. I think it's a charming ballpark when it's full. We just need to continue to improve it. "You talk to any sport coach here, and they have a wish list for facilities. Tennis has four indoor courts. We need six — that's how the game is played. "They need an outdoor pool with that diving well so we don't have to drive to Greensboro to dive. You choose any sport, and they have a list, and they are not unrea- sonable lists. "The funding is secure now for the rest of the indoor practice facility, to finish that, and also for Vaughn Towers. The only piece that is left to finish is Reynolds. As soon as the Wolfpack Club feels like they are in a posi- tion to take on a new facility project, we'll talk to them about those. "They are also working with the fact that their scholarship bill has gone up consider- ably, as they have all across the country, with the cost of attendance and increases in tuition. They are working on plans to be able to best manage that, and we're helping them. I think that's going to all come together. "I do believe that baseball should be next." You've lost two parking lots at Carter- Finley Stadium. Any progress on replacing those? "We had about that number of spots in other lots that were available, so we're able to replace them. We're just not going to be able to replace them all in the same place, so the environment changes. I don't think you can duplicate what we have, but we did have Construction has started on the ACC Network studio located in the Murphy Center. It is a $6.6 million project. PHOTO COURTESY NC STATE MEDIA RELATIONS ANNUAL REVENUE AND EXPENSES