Blue White Illustrated

pay for facilities or to fund debt serv- ices." With more than 650,000 living alumni and an enthusiastic fan base, Penn State has the ability to meet those goals, Bar- bour said. "We talk about it from a fundraising standpoint, but it applies to any point at which our fans engage with us. Whether that's buying a ticket or buying mer- chandise or any of those places, [there are] opportunities that we have for rev- enue production," she said. "This whole thing of dollar signs in somebody's eyes or whatever, there's only one reason that we try to raise money or that we sell a ticket or that we sell a T-shirt or a spon- sorship or whatever, and that is to use those resources to be successful in 31 programs. "It's going to take all different forms. Some people are going to participate at a seven- or an eight-figure level. Some people are going to participate at a three- figure level. It all matters. It all counts. We just have to make sure that it's very clear how people can participate." ■ increasing seat width and improving legroom, but Barbour said she expects the stadium's capacity to remain above 100,000. Penn State has been among the na- tional leaders in football attendance an- nually but has not sold out Beaver Stadium with regularity in recent years. Last season's average attendance was 99,799, or 93.6 percent of capacity, ranking sixth nationally and third in the Big Ten. Barbour pointed to the recent an- nouncement that Ohio State would be adding premium seating while reducing Ohio Stadium's overall capacity by roughly 2,600 seats. The $42 million project is expected to be completed dur- ing the next four years, and school offi- cials are not concerned about reducing capacity after decades of growth. Ohio State athletic director Gene Smith said "the capacity race is over," and Barbour agrees with her fellow Big Ten AD. "It's about driving value for our fans, and I would have to absolutely concur with [Smith's comment]," she said. Barbour praised the work that Popu- lous has done, saying that "the end product is going to be as good as the process, the input and the collaboration along the way, and it's been outstand- ing." Although the university had not re- ceived the complete master plan as of mid-August, officials have been review- ing the feedback they've received from fans during the past nine months – feedback that is helping guide Popu- lous's recommendations. At the top of fans' wish list are better concessions areas and restrooms, as well as improved entrance and exit flow. Barbour said Penn State's aim will be to "benefit every fan in the stadium," and in order to do that, "our concession stands and our infrastructure need to be modernized." Progress is key metric in football evaluation College sports are a results-oriented business, and athletic director Sandy Barbour acknowledged that reality in discussing her expectations for the foot- ball program this coming season and be- yond. "Every football coach in America is on the hot seat," Barbour said. "Every ath- letic director in America is on the hot seat." Barbour and James Franklin are enter- ing year three of their respective tenures at Penn State. The Nittany Lions won seven games in each of Franklin's first two seasons as head coach, and while the team's 14-12 record during that span was its worst in any two-year period since it compiled a combined record of 7-16 in 2003 and '04, there were a num- ber of mitigating factors, notably the scholarship reductions imposed by the NCAA only 18 months prior to Franklin's arrival. Barbour said that when she looks at the program, her focus is on improve- ment. "It's about progress. It's about controlling the controllables," she said. Among those "controllables" are aca- demic performance and community service, areas in which she said Franklin and his staff "have hit it out of the park." As for the team's on-field perform- ance, Barbour said its results have been affected by the hurdles it has had to face. "I believe very strongly that given some of the restrictions, given some of the challenges, that what we've done on the football field is pretty darn good," she said. "Is it acceptable as the long- term state of Penn State football? Ab- solutely not. Of course it's not. I wouldn't have come here if I felt that I or we as a community were going to feel that that was acceptable. "But first of all, the number one per- son leading that charge is James Franklin. James Franklin wants to win a national championship, and I believe that we're going to have the opportunity to do that. Is it going to be this year? Probably not. But that's why you play it. That's not the expectation this year. The expectation is: Are we building to that? Are we showing progress? Are we mak- ing progress toward being a Big Ten and then ultimately national championship contender?" Barbour said she did not want to set any firm win-loss benchmarks to deter- mine whether the program is headed in the right direction. Progress, she said, will be defined by more than just the Nittany Lions' record. "This is going to sound like a cop-out, but you know it when you see it," she said. Barbour admitted she was bothered by lopsided losses, saying that runaway scores like those against Ohio State (38-

• Cover