PiPress: Gophers AD Mark Coyle on fundraising, facilities and the future

[BleedGopher]

per Shipley:

Pioneer Press: Have you borrowed the $89 million approved to complete funding on the Athletes Village project?

Mark Coyle: We have raised $94 million in that “Nothing Short of Greatness” campaign; about $81 million of that is toward Athletes Village. My understanding is that the university, as a fallback, will issue debt to cover that, but obviously we continue to fund-raise, so the more we raise, the better. We want to raise the money for that.

PP: How do you feel about the arms race in general in major college sports? You guys are spending a lot of money to keep pace, and maybe exceed pace, with this Athletes Village, but are you concerned at all with how money is being spent — on coaches, on facilities, just in general in college athletics?

MC: Well, you know, I heard (football coach) Tracy Claeys talking when I got here, on the Gopher Road Trip, and he says, ‘It’s not an arms race; it’s an investment in kids.’ And I truly believe that. Are they facilities? Yes. But are they an investment in kids? The answer is definitely yes. And over the last 24 to 36 months, there’s been a huge emphasis by the NCAA on the student-athlete welfare side and their experience as a student. When you create an Athletes Village — with the leadership center, performance center, a nutrition center — those are all things that are going to benefit our students. So I don’t look at it so much as an arms race but rather an investment in students, and that’s an investment in the future, for all of us.

http://www.twincities.com/2016/09/09/gophers-ad-mark-coyle-on-fundraising-facilities-and-the-future/

Go Gophers!!

 

[Ignatius L Hoops]

Pioneer Prees Interview with Mark Coyle:

http://www.twincities.com/2016/09/09/gophers-ad-mark-coyle-on-fundraising-facilities-and-the-future/

Bleed Gopher posted this interview on the basketball board but there are a few football nuggets including this (please note John Shipley's manufactured anonymous outrage running through out the interview):

PP: What’s the Lineman Center?

MC: There were conversations about a lineman facility. So, they have the indoor football facility, and then this basically is just an extension, which is some more area for practice. We work with Capital Planning on any alternates to the Athletes Village. Our football coach has talked about the need for something like that, and obviously if we can support our programs, we want to do that. At the same time, we want to balance all the other needs we have with our programs.

PP: Stuff like a Lineman Center is the kind of thing that makes a lot of people pull their hair out. They say, “Are you kidding me? We’re building this huge facility and now you need a Linemen’s Center?” What do you say to that?

MC: Keep in mind, the indoor practice facility can be used for multiple sports (baseball, softball, soccer and men’s and women’s track). You know, the football team doesn’t use it 24-7, so there will be opportunities for all of our sports to use that facility. Our current indoor football facility is used by different sports throughout the year. It just provides us with more practice space for all of our teams.

 

[#2Gopher]

Well we have to get the first part paid for first. Maybe if the fee that goes to the scholarship program would have gone towards the Athletes Village we wouldn't have lost so many season ticket holders. But lets not get going again on the fee. I know that there are several reasons...one is simply the cost of a total season ticket package.

 

[Pompous Elitist]

Interesting part for me was that the department receives about 7 percent of their budget from the university, a not insignificant amount, which coincidentally is roughly the amount of Richard Pitino's buyout.

 

[gopherfannnn]

It's interesting that supposed football fans would be feel the need to be budget conscious and even budget conservative.
This is what makes me pull my hair out.
Let the administrators and the non-football fans worry about that.

 

[Pompous Elitist]

It's interesting that supposed football fans would be feel the need to be budget conscious and even budget conservative.
This is what makes me pull my hair out.
Let the administrators and the non-football fans worry about that.

You cannot be serious.