Thursdays With Greg Byrne - 5/14/09
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FOOTBALL SEASON TICKET PRIORITY DEADLINE UPON US Our Sept. 5 football home opener against Jackson State may still be several months away, but the deadline for exercising your priority in the purchase of your season tickets to see Dan Mullen’s first Bulldog team play is just one day away. Friday, May 15 is the deadline to use your priority point total to determine the location of your football season tickets. Seat allocation at Davis Wade Stadium at Scott Field will begin immediately. Ticket orders received beginning Monday, May 18, will be filled on a first-come, first-served basis. The response to season ticket renewals has been strong, but we still have a way to go before we reach our ultimate goal - selling out the football stadium in season tickets. We have a great home schedule in store for you in 2009, from the season-opening historic match-up with Jackson State all the way through to the season-ending Battle for the Golden Egg against Ole Miss. Along the way, we have attractive non-conference opponent Georgia Tech, homecoming foe Houston, plus SEC games against LSU, Florida, and Alabama. Single-game tickets will not go on sale until July 15, but the hope is that after our season-ticket sales campaign is complete, some games will already be sold out. * * * OUR GOAL: 7 HOME FOOTBALL GAMES EACH SEASON As we have mentioned previously in this column our goal is to have seven home football games each season. Obviously, there are several aspects to this we must consider. First, our scheduling philosophy focuses on two things - having seven home games in as many years as possible, and scheduling in a way that gives our football program the best opportunity to become bowl eligible. We currently are in position to have seven home games in 2009, 2010 and 2012. At the moment, 2011 is the only future year where we are seemingly locked into six home games. Universities are able to count one win against a Football Championship Subdivision (formerly I-AA) team each year toward bowl eligibility, thus it is our intent to schedule one FCS team each season. In 2009, our FCS opponent is Jackson State. Football Bowl Subdivision (formerly I-A) schools are asking for, and in some cases receiving, $1 million as a guarantee for playing road games. We currently gross just a little over $1 million in revenue for a home game. Thus, it is challenging for us to schedule straight-up guarantee games with FBS opponents. A solution is to schedule home-and-home series, where each school plays a home game against each other in a two-year agreement, where no guarantee payment is necessary. The drawback is that if the other three non-conference games are home-and-home series, we would alternate between seven and six home games. However, many FBS opponents are willing to take a smaller guarantee if they can get an SEC opponent to play at their place. For instance, the recent three-game agreement announced by South Alabama calls for two games in Starkville and one in Mobile. In the additional game played in Starkville, we are paying USA $350,000. These are called two-for-ones (two game at one site, one at the other). Two-for-ones give us the best chance to schedule seven home games each season and, at the same time, schedule in a way that gives our team the best competitive opportunity to become bowl eligible. Two-for-ones also give us the best chance of being fiscally responsible on what we pay as game guarantees. * * * SIGNING RENARDO SIDNEY: THE RIGHT THING TO DO There has been much discussion in the national media and on web site message boards regarding our signing Renardo Sidney to a national letter of intent to play men’s basketball at State. We wanted to take a moment to provide our line of thinking with respect to this young man and his desire to be part of our men’s basketball program. We are always going to be above board in our recruiting practices and do our due diligence on all matters related to eligibility and compliance. Any issue that surfaces that could be harmful to Mississippi State will be addressed openly and directly. We will always be aggressive in athletics while still following SEC and NCAA rules, just like our SEC peers. Every situation is different, but any time a situation arises involving a student-athlete or signee, we will pursue the matter in a thorough and appropriate manner, and expect full cooperation from all parties involved. That is the course we took with Renardo Sidney. There is a misconception out there on some fronts that we jumped in at the last minute on Renardo when he opted not to attend various West Coast schools. The truth of the matter is that Renardo grew up in Mississippi and only moved to California a few years ago. Our coaching staff was well aware of Renardo and has been recruiting him from the beginning. Renardo has a tremendous future in the sport of basketball. We think that Mississippi State is the right place for him to reach his goals. * * * MSU STUDENT-ATHLETES WALK AT SPRING GRADUATION A total of 36 Bulldog and Lady Bulldog student-athletes completed the requirements for spring 2009 commencement and earned their degrees this May. We are proud to salute the following graduates: In baseball: Chad Crosswhite, Grant Hogue (Magna Cum Laude), Brooks Lewis, and Russ Sneed (Cum Laude). * * * CONGRATULATIONS GO OUT TO MEN’S GOLF; SOFTBALL We are excited that our men’s golf and women’s softball teams have been extended invitations to participate in NCAA play, beginning over the next few days. Coach Clay Homan’s men’s golf team opened play at the NCAA Regional at the University of Texas this morning. Coach Jay Miller’s softball squad will begin NCAA Regional action against California, tomorrow at 4 p.m. CT, at Florida State University in Tallahassee. * * * MSU ATHLETES CONTINUE SOLID CLASSROOM WORK You can take a great deal of pride in the performance of our student-athletes in the classroom as well. Men and women student-athletes at Mississippi State produced a 2.91 grade point average during the recently concluded spring semester. Our combined GPA for men and women have now exceeded 2.9 in eight of the last 10 semesters - quite a feat! Women’s sports had an aggregate 3.17 grade point average, their 26th consecutive semester above a 3.0. Men’s sports posted an overall GPA of 2.75. Both tennis programs again turned in the highest marks. The women posted a 3.48, while the men turned in a program-high 3.52. On the women’s side, golf (3.40), soccer (3.27), softball (3.16), and volleyball (3.21), all eclipsed the 3.0 threshold. Track (2.96) and basketball (2.97) not only improved their GPA by .10 from the fall semester, both are obviously on the verge of breaking the 3.0 mark as well. For the men, golf (3.17) surpassed a 3.0, while football (2.62) produced their third-highest grade point ever. Baseball (2.96) is also on the brink of breaking the 3.0 average. * * * FULFILLING MY COMMITMENT TO THE UNIVERSITY When I accepted the Director of Athletics position at Mississippi State a little over a year ago, I made a commitment to the university and to the President’s office to finish my master’s degree program. On Saturday, May 2, I walked with the other graduates and received my master’s degree from the College of Education. * * * We appreciate what you do for Mississippi State Athletics and want to encourage you to get others involved. There are three things you can do to help Mississippi State reach its desired goals -
In men’s basketball: Kyle Robinson.
In women’s basketball: Marneshia Richard (Magna Cum Laude), Donnisha Tate.
In football: Robert Ambers, Adam Carlson (Master’s), Dorsett Davis, Michael Gates, De’Mon Glanton, Anthony Littlejohn, Gabe O’Neal.
In women’s golf: Jillian Jones (Cum Laude).
In soccer: Mary Kate Ayers, Margaret Gallagher, Anna Goblirsch (Summa Cum Laude), Meredith Jacobson (Summa Cum Laude), Kevyn Shelledy.
In softball: Courtney Bures, Courtney Patridge.
In men’s tennis: Ryan Farlow (Summa Cum Laude).
In women’s tennis: Martina Banikova (Magna Cum Laude), Elna de Villiers (Cum Laude), Renee Joseph (Summa Cum Laude), Daniela Juskova.
In men’s track: Kiley Aguar, James Cassell, Delandus O’Neal, Kyle Roberts (Cum Laude), Jonathan Rono.
In women’s track: Brittany Detzel, Ashlee Drake (Summa Cum Laude), Abbey Graham.
In volleyball: Jamie Joyner (Magna Cum Laude).
1. Buy Season Tickets
2. Financially Support the Bulldog Club
3. Get Others To Do The Same
Thanks for taking the time to read this update.
Go Dawgs!
Greg Byrne
byrne@athletics.msstate.edu