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Gopher AD Mark Coyle was on the Sports Huddle on WCCO Sunday morning.
(I was riding my exercise bike at the time, so was not taking notes. a few bullet points from memory)
*Fundraising for the Athletes Village is up to $135 million. (goal of $166 million) continuing to raise money.
*Also working on facilities for other sports, including improvements to Maturi Pavilion for Volleyball. Improved Golf facilities.
*Volleyball opens season ranked 3rd in NCAA. Tickets hard to find. added air-conditioning. McCutcheon best coach in country.
*Flash sale of $10 Football tickets sold out - over 7,000 sold in 24 hours. Expect good crowd for SDSU game.
*PJ Fleck has brought new enthusiasm to entire athletic department. very visible. supports other teams.
*Likes direction of both Men's and women's basketball programs. Pitino has gone to NCAA in 2 of last 3 years. NCAA run last year was great, brought fans back to program. Program going in right direction. Whalen did great job with no coaching experience, and is recruiting very well.
*talked about his relationship with new B1G Commissioner Kevin Warren. Warren was on the search committee that helped hire Coyle. They speak often. Twin Cities will continue to work to host NCAA events. Holding D1 Wrestling Championships at US Bank Stadium, Women's Basketball Final Four coming.
*8pm kickoff time for SDSU game was set by TV.
*Future football scheduling - better non-conf opponents including BYU, Colorado, North Carolina, Mississippi State. Idea of going to 10-game conference football schedule brought up - Coyle said he likes conference games, seemed amenable to 10 game sched. Talked about NCAA telling teams that strength of schedule would be factor in making FBS playoffs, but feels B1G has not received enough credit for its schedule - not getting B1G teams into playoffs.
(That's what I can recall off the top of my head.)
P.S. later in show, Mona asked Sid and Max for gopher Football predictions. Sid said 7 wins. Max said 10 wins. Mona said - if they're going to have a break-through year, this is it. also, announced that the Sports Huddle will go to a regular 9:00am to Noon schedule after the State Fair.
(I was riding my exercise bike at the time, so was not taking notes. a few bullet points from memory)
*Fundraising for the Athletes Village is up to $135 million. (goal of $166 million) continuing to raise money.
*Also working on facilities for other sports, including improvements to Maturi Pavilion for Volleyball. Improved Golf facilities.
*Volleyball opens season ranked 3rd in NCAA. Tickets hard to find. added air-conditioning. McCutcheon best coach in country.
*Flash sale of $10 Football tickets sold out - over 7,000 sold in 24 hours. Expect good crowd for SDSU game.
*PJ Fleck has brought new enthusiasm to entire athletic department. very visible. supports other teams.
*Likes direction of both Men's and women's basketball programs. Pitino has gone to NCAA in 2 of last 3 years. NCAA run last year was great, brought fans back to program. Program going in right direction. Whalen did great job with no coaching experience, and is recruiting very well.
*talked about his relationship with new B1G Commissioner Kevin Warren. Warren was on the search committee that helped hire Coyle. They speak often. Twin Cities will continue to work to host NCAA events. Holding D1 Wrestling Championships at US Bank Stadium, Women's Basketball Final Four coming.
*8pm kickoff time for SDSU game was set by TV.
*Future football scheduling - better non-conf opponents including BYU, Colorado, North Carolina, Mississippi State. Idea of going to 10-game conference football schedule brought up - Coyle said he likes conference games, seemed amenable to 10 game sched. Talked about NCAA telling teams that strength of schedule would be factor in making FBS playoffs, but feels B1G has not received enough credit for its schedule - not getting B1G teams into playoffs.
(That's what I can recall off the top of my head.)
P.S. later in show, Mona asked Sid and Max for gopher Football predictions. Sid said 7 wins. Max said 10 wins. Mona said - if they're going to have a break-through year, this is it. also, announced that the Sports Huddle will go to a regular 9:00am to Noon schedule after the State Fair.