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TOLEDOROCKETS.NETYour source for information on Rocket Football! |
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By Brian Nowicki Last week University of Toledo Athletic Director Mike O'Brien announced a $5 million donation from Chuck and Jackie Sullivan that will be used to help finance the renovation project of Savage Hall. With that in mind, I figured it was time to pay a visit to Mr. O'Brien for another Q&A style interview. Can you comment on Chuck and Jackie Sullivan's $5 Million donation to the Savage Hall renovation project? O'Brien - We couldn't be more pleased with the generosity of Chuck and Jackie. They have been friends of the University for years and have been donors for a number of years. Chuck has donated to athletics and other parts of the campus, alumni and college of business. In addition (to the $5 Million athletics donation) they have donated $1 Million for scholarships on campus. Their donation has meant so much because now this project becomes a reality instead of just a study that is collecting dust. This is going to happen. Last week you mentioned that the Savage Hall renovation is the first step towards the creation of an athletic complex that will be unrivaled in the MAC. Can you talk about the vision of this athletic complex? O'Brien - The athletic complex is this entire area. The Savage Hall name will remain. The lastest plan from Moody Nolan includes the renovation of Savage Hall, in addition for office space, and in adjoining indoor facility. That complex is what we would like to name after the Sullivans. Also, the track outside could be considered a part of the complex and the Sullivans were apart of getting that done as well. The offices that the athletic department sits in today will no longer exist. They will be where the locker rooms and weight training room will be. What is the overall goal of the "Building Champions" Athletic Capital Campaign? O'Brien - Our minimum goal is $15 Million. We are hoping to raise between $15 Million to $20 Million.  When do you expect construction on Savage hall to begin?O'Brien - The issue will go to the Board of Trustees in November to be approved. Once that is done we will initiate the process with the architects. We hope to start the actual groundbreaking sometime this next spring (2007). Is the idea of an indoor practice facility part of that Athletic Capital Campaign? O'Brien - The University is currently looking at different options for the indoor practice facility. I am so pleased with what is occuring on campus with the aggressiveness of the new UT team already. While the indoor facility is very important to us, we are going to see how the various options come out first and talk to Coach Amstutz about it. How can the average fan, that may not have a lot of money to give, be included in the fundraising process of the Athletic Capital Campaign? O'Brien - We are going to get out to the masses and talk to various groups about the campaign. No matter the amount of the gift, they are all important to us. We want as many Rocket fans and friends to be involved as possible. Town hall meetings and Downtown Coaches and so forth. There are going to be various naming opportunities in this facility, whether it is conference rooms, weight rooms, or locker rooms. Some places do individual lockers where it says this locker was sponsored by 'fill in the blank' so you can see there is going to be all kinds of naming opportunities. With a renovated Savage Hall in the near future, is there an increased amount of pressure on the men's and women's basketball coaches to get their teams into the NCAA Tournamanet? O'Brien - I think there is always pressure on our coaches. When you are at the Division I level there is always pressure, whether you put the pressure on yourself or the pressure from the department. It is our goal every year to be in the postseason, so that is not going to change. You talked about a new weight room as part of the athletic complex here. Will that weight room just be used for the men's and women's basketball teams? O'Brien - We have a weight room over at the Larimer Athletic Complex, which many of our sports teams currently use. We will figure out which teams will use which weight room, but this will be the weight room for many of our sports. With the addition of the Health and Science Campus, has the idea of establishing a sports medicine and human performance research facility been kicked around? O'Brien - Yes. That is more of a question for Jeff Gold over at the Health and Science campus, but he wants the care and treatment of our student-athletes to be the very best it can be. I look forward to some things along this line to change as well, and I say that as a positive thing. The men's basketball team will play Iowa and Kansas this season. Are there any other big name programs on the schedule this season? O'Brien - Scheduling home games for MAC teams has been pretty difficult so we are now working around a triangle, where a certain school would come here and then go to another school in the Midwest. We have some home games, but the contracts just have not been signed yet. Our schedule is going to be as good as it has been in a long time. You recently announced a home and home football series with Ohio State. Any idea as to how the tickets will be sold for the 2009 "home" game at Cleveland Browns Stadium? O'Brien - The allotment that we will receive for that game is well over 50,000. Ohio State will receive 12,500 tickets and then the rest will go through our ticket office. I just met with the Browns and Ohio State last week as we begin this process. It is our home game. (To purchase tickets) you will have to be a season ticket holder or a contributor to the Rocket Fund for all tickets that we will sell. Both Ohio State and Toledo will have student sections and student pricing as well. Can we expect any new football series' announcements in the near future? O'Brien - Yes, we will in the near future. We are working right now with one. All we have to do is complete the discussion on guarantees. I think it will be an exciting announcement for Rocket fans. Is it a school from a conference that gets an automatic bid into a BCS bowl game? O'Brien - Absolutely. A school from a conference that has never played at Toledo before. With Kansas and Bowling Green at home this year and Iowa State and Purdue next year, do you see an opportunity to bring in temporary seating to increase the capacity of the Glass Bowl for those games? O'Brien - Possibly, however we have been told that we cannot put temporary seating on the field anymore (North End Zone) because of security. If there would be a need for temporary seating we can only put them up around the concourse of the stadium. Do you see the need for an increase in permanent seating capacity at the Glass Bowl in the foreseeable future? O'Brien - I hope so with the scheduling that we have. This starts with our football program. There are things that we can do with our scheduling because of how successful our football program has been. Coach Amstutz, his staff, and the team do such a tremendous job. We are known nationally relative to football, and that is why we can do some of the things we can do with our scheduling. In terms of expansion, there are some things that we need to do to improve that and we are doing that. Is the possibility of expansion there? Yes. With signing the home and home series with Ohio State, do you think that will help Toledo in scheduling other big name programs? O'Brien - It's possible. Some simply do not want to play us. There are others that will only do a 2 for 1 deal where we go there twice and they come here once. Everyone now playing a 12th game has helped. However, there is still a significant number of schools that will not play us, and I understand that. I'm told no and I just go to the next phone call. Will the University of Toledo start exploring the option of playing schools at a neutral site? O'Brien - It has to be the right school. The attractiveness of Ohio State is the tradition of Ohio State football. There is no question in my mind that the game at Cleveland Browns Stadium is going to be a sellout. The football game is the reason we are in Cleveland. However, for three years we can now market that area that the Rockets are coming to Cleveland. It's about recruiting students and student-athletes in the Cleveland area. And also having alumni and other events. It's more than a game and that is why I think it is a significant day for the institution. There is a lot of excitement about two in-state schools playing each other on a neutral field. There is a lot of excitement coming from the Browns and their fanbase. They are getting calls from their fans now, inquiring about the game in 2009. How is the Athletic Department progressing with plans to improve the APR scores of athletic teams at UT that were below the 925 standard set by the NCAA? O'Brien - We have really improved. This year's APR score was above the cut of 925 as a whole department. Football in the past has been below the APR score of 925. This past fall and spring, we know that score was above 925. The NCAA will announce that this fall. We know the recovery plan is in effect and is working. Savage Hall Renovation Video Have a question or comment for Brian? Email |