Aggie Town Hall: Episode 4
Apr 13, 2020 | General
Welcome to another weekly Aggie Town Hall, it's presented by CHI St. Joseph Health, the official health care provider of Texas A&M Athletics.
Mike Wright: Hello again, everyone and welcome to another edition of the Aggie Town Hall presented by CHI St. Joseph Health--The Official Healthcare Provider of Texas A&M Athletics. Our Athletic Director Ross Bjork joins us each week at this time. We're joined also by the voice of the Aggies, Andrew Monaco, and from 12th Man Productions it is Will Johnson. It is your questions and some that may have popped up in the course of the week that Ross will answer directly.
Andrew, we will start with you, and your first words here for Athletic Director Ross Bjork.
Andrew: Belated Happy Easter to everyone, by the way. Mark Presswood from the Fighting Texas Aggie Class of '82, he's from Fort Worth, says Ross if, as expected, the nation opens up in phases, is the NCAA coordinating a plan with the federal and the state governments?
Great question. And howdy everyone and hope everyone had a great Easter on this nice, crisp Monday afternoon here in Aggieland. You know, that's a great question, and it's one question that was pondered to me a few weeks ago, essentially along the lines of who's going to make the decision that we can play games, that we can return to activity, all those things? And I think each day that goes by provides a little more clarity, but then also provides some uncertainty in some ways. I was just watching Governor Abbott give a press conference this afternoon where he's talking about how do we reopen the State of Texas? So the question is, who's gonna make the decision? Are we coordinating with local governments? Absolutely. We have to. We have to coordinate with local health officials, university leaders, local governments. I don't know to what extent the NCAA will be dialed into each locale. They'll probably take their guidance from more a national level. And then I think us locally then have to say, you know, is Bryan-College Station ready? Is the state of Texas ready? Is the SEC footprint ready? Obviously, we know what's happening in Louisiana. So it's gonna be a multilayered, multifaceted decision-making process that we all go through. Right now, sitting here on April 13th, we don't have that answer yet. My kind of line is, where are we on May 1st? I want to see where we are May 1st and then I think we'll be able to start rolling out decisions and timelines and hopefully provide some clarity. But it's a great question, and one that we're asking ourselves every single day just as well.
Will: Ross, the bulk of the questions center around what you might expect today, one the start of football season, and yes the uniform topic. That is not going away any time soon. So how about this one from Michael Forst, Class of '90, he's from just down the road in Brenham. You've kind of gotten questions along the lines of this when we unveiled the all-maroon baseball uniform and it had the white pinstripes on it, but let's hit it again with football. He asked when will the new jerseys be made public for our enjoyment and delight?
Yeah, you know, I was actually pulling at my calendar here, and this Saturday would have been the Maroon & White Game, right? This would have been spring game weekend. We were playing Alabama in baseball, it would have been perfect weather, with what's happening here this week.
Mike: That's depressing.
It is, and it's sad to be thinking about. You know, we've been in this thing now five weeks. We would have had spring football culminating this coming Saturday. So it is sad, but our plan was to unveil the uniforms this weekend. We don't have a spring game to do that. And so now that we've had the coronavirus and there's been some wrinkles in the process, I'm hoping that sometime mid-summer is when we can kind of unveil all the uniforms. And the other thing about it is, when you have these uniform unveilings, you want to show them on our current players. Well, our current players aren't here. They can't be here, right? And so we can't really utilize them in the unveiling process because we're all distant right now. But we'll showcase them in the right manner. Maybe it's in a virtual sense, as we go through the spring and summer, but hopefully by mid-summer we can get our uniforms out there so our public and our fans could see them.
Mike: Regarding the uniforms, if push comes to shove and we have to debut these uniforms, would you volunteer as a former athlete to dress out? Maybe just one more time?
Maybe we could do that. You know, I was used to these big giant shoulder pads as like an old-school fullback. They don't really have those anymore, so we'd have to modify the shoulder pads a little bit. But we could try something out, that's for sure.
Andrew: Did you have a neck roll?
I didn't have a neck roll, I had what's called a cowboy collar, kind of fit right inside the shoulder pads so it didn't stick up too far. But that's what I had.
Mike: I'm always intrigued, was it this hot of a topic where you came from last, Ole Miss? Where people started here dwelling on the uniforms so early? Because it's happened here every year and I find myself getting caught up in the chatter.
Oh yeah. Anytime you talk uniforms, helmets, you know it's gonna be a big topic. It's that whole mystery of what are they gonna look like? Is it a throwback? Is it a new wave? Those kind of things. So, uniforms are a hot topic no matter where you are.
Andrew: This question came in late -- put the beveled logo on the helmet. It looks silly to have an old logo on the headgear and a different one than the one on the field.
You know, the bevel...the bevel is a whole other town hall meeting, right? We could have a town hall meeting on just the bevel. The bevel has its place. I think we were talking one day in the studio about how in some colors, it looks okay. And other colors, maybe not as much. But that's a good point about what's on the field versus what's on the helmet. Duly noted.
Will: Getting back to football. You mentioned waiting until May to get a little closer to making decisions on a football season. We do have a question about what's your take on the 2020 season starting on time? But maybe it's better to go further into that by saying the optimism remains, doesn't it?
It sure does. I think we're still in that window, to have the optimism at this point time that we can start a regular season on time. We have to think that way. But we also have to think in reality as well. As each day goes by, we get closer to toe having that timeline perhaps interrupted. But we're focused on it. We believe it can happen. All of the social distancing, the curve is being flattened. We see that around our country, around the world. We know that all this is working. We don't like it. We don't like to miss our spring game this Saturday, like we were just talking about. But it's the reality. It's what we have to deal with. And so we're remaining optimistic. But we also know that as we get into the late April, early May period, mid-May, that you're going to have to start mapping this out. And so that's what we're really focused on, is how do we return to activity? But we're remaining optimistic. Absolutely.
Mike: In wrapping up, two things that dovetail into that. Not only football starting for the fall, but you had an exciting trajectory that was underway with Bird Kuhn and her crew for volleyball. We've always got a perennial challenger with Coach G and soccer, and course Pat Henry with the national titles with our track and field and cross country teams. Those things tip off and get under way at the same time. And then you've got the basketball programs that always are headed toward the tournament, the men certainly excited for this year. You have to keep all of that in mind when we are planning for the upcoming new student year, don't you?
That's exactly right, you know. Think about football. If football's impacted or adjusted in any which way, what do you say about basketball? Basketball practices we can start around October 1st. We're playing exhibition games in early November. So you have to start thinking about the later you get into some of these fall sports, you start impacting those winter sports and all that is top of mind right now. Actually, I was on the phone with Coach Bird this morning because they're having coaches calls about what their schedule might look like. It's not just a football conversation. It's all of your fall sports, then that rolls into your next wave of sports that start. So it's an evolving target. It's moving constantly. We have to stay on top of it and stay organized. And that's what we're trying to do every single day here.
Mike: It is one thing to remain optimistic, and we all are. There's not a person that you visit with that isn't understanding the outlet from a fan's standpoint that sports had. I don't think it's something we'll ever take for granted again. But as leaders, as administrators, and as those working in this department, you've got to look at what the scenario could be around the corner. What if you do have to delay into a winner or an early spring? You're always looking for worst case scenarios. But you have to do that in a leadership role.
That's exactly right. Expect the best, but plan for otherwise. That's the way you have to look at it. That's what we're trying to do every single day, while remaining optimistic.
Mike Wright: Hello again, everyone and welcome to another edition of the Aggie Town Hall presented by CHI St. Joseph Health--The Official Healthcare Provider of Texas A&M Athletics. Our Athletic Director Ross Bjork joins us each week at this time. We're joined also by the voice of the Aggies, Andrew Monaco, and from 12th Man Productions it is Will Johnson. It is your questions and some that may have popped up in the course of the week that Ross will answer directly.
Andrew, we will start with you, and your first words here for Athletic Director Ross Bjork.
Andrew: Belated Happy Easter to everyone, by the way. Mark Presswood from the Fighting Texas Aggie Class of '82, he's from Fort Worth, says Ross if, as expected, the nation opens up in phases, is the NCAA coordinating a plan with the federal and the state governments?
Great question. And howdy everyone and hope everyone had a great Easter on this nice, crisp Monday afternoon here in Aggieland. You know, that's a great question, and it's one question that was pondered to me a few weeks ago, essentially along the lines of who's going to make the decision that we can play games, that we can return to activity, all those things? And I think each day that goes by provides a little more clarity, but then also provides some uncertainty in some ways. I was just watching Governor Abbott give a press conference this afternoon where he's talking about how do we reopen the State of Texas? So the question is, who's gonna make the decision? Are we coordinating with local governments? Absolutely. We have to. We have to coordinate with local health officials, university leaders, local governments. I don't know to what extent the NCAA will be dialed into each locale. They'll probably take their guidance from more a national level. And then I think us locally then have to say, you know, is Bryan-College Station ready? Is the state of Texas ready? Is the SEC footprint ready? Obviously, we know what's happening in Louisiana. So it's gonna be a multilayered, multifaceted decision-making process that we all go through. Right now, sitting here on April 13th, we don't have that answer yet. My kind of line is, where are we on May 1st? I want to see where we are May 1st and then I think we'll be able to start rolling out decisions and timelines and hopefully provide some clarity. But it's a great question, and one that we're asking ourselves every single day just as well.
Will: Ross, the bulk of the questions center around what you might expect today, one the start of football season, and yes the uniform topic. That is not going away any time soon. So how about this one from Michael Forst, Class of '90, he's from just down the road in Brenham. You've kind of gotten questions along the lines of this when we unveiled the all-maroon baseball uniform and it had the white pinstripes on it, but let's hit it again with football. He asked when will the new jerseys be made public for our enjoyment and delight?
Yeah, you know, I was actually pulling at my calendar here, and this Saturday would have been the Maroon & White Game, right? This would have been spring game weekend. We were playing Alabama in baseball, it would have been perfect weather, with what's happening here this week.
Mike: That's depressing.
It is, and it's sad to be thinking about. You know, we've been in this thing now five weeks. We would have had spring football culminating this coming Saturday. So it is sad, but our plan was to unveil the uniforms this weekend. We don't have a spring game to do that. And so now that we've had the coronavirus and there's been some wrinkles in the process, I'm hoping that sometime mid-summer is when we can kind of unveil all the uniforms. And the other thing about it is, when you have these uniform unveilings, you want to show them on our current players. Well, our current players aren't here. They can't be here, right? And so we can't really utilize them in the unveiling process because we're all distant right now. But we'll showcase them in the right manner. Maybe it's in a virtual sense, as we go through the spring and summer, but hopefully by mid-summer we can get our uniforms out there so our public and our fans could see them.
Mike: Regarding the uniforms, if push comes to shove and we have to debut these uniforms, would you volunteer as a former athlete to dress out? Maybe just one more time?
Maybe we could do that. You know, I was used to these big giant shoulder pads as like an old-school fullback. They don't really have those anymore, so we'd have to modify the shoulder pads a little bit. But we could try something out, that's for sure.
Andrew: Did you have a neck roll?
I didn't have a neck roll, I had what's called a cowboy collar, kind of fit right inside the shoulder pads so it didn't stick up too far. But that's what I had.
Mike: I'm always intrigued, was it this hot of a topic where you came from last, Ole Miss? Where people started here dwelling on the uniforms so early? Because it's happened here every year and I find myself getting caught up in the chatter.
Oh yeah. Anytime you talk uniforms, helmets, you know it's gonna be a big topic. It's that whole mystery of what are they gonna look like? Is it a throwback? Is it a new wave? Those kind of things. So, uniforms are a hot topic no matter where you are.
Andrew: This question came in late -- put the beveled logo on the helmet. It looks silly to have an old logo on the headgear and a different one than the one on the field.
You know, the bevel...the bevel is a whole other town hall meeting, right? We could have a town hall meeting on just the bevel. The bevel has its place. I think we were talking one day in the studio about how in some colors, it looks okay. And other colors, maybe not as much. But that's a good point about what's on the field versus what's on the helmet. Duly noted.
Will: Getting back to football. You mentioned waiting until May to get a little closer to making decisions on a football season. We do have a question about what's your take on the 2020 season starting on time? But maybe it's better to go further into that by saying the optimism remains, doesn't it?
It sure does. I think we're still in that window, to have the optimism at this point time that we can start a regular season on time. We have to think that way. But we also have to think in reality as well. As each day goes by, we get closer to toe having that timeline perhaps interrupted. But we're focused on it. We believe it can happen. All of the social distancing, the curve is being flattened. We see that around our country, around the world. We know that all this is working. We don't like it. We don't like to miss our spring game this Saturday, like we were just talking about. But it's the reality. It's what we have to deal with. And so we're remaining optimistic. But we also know that as we get into the late April, early May period, mid-May, that you're going to have to start mapping this out. And so that's what we're really focused on, is how do we return to activity? But we're remaining optimistic. Absolutely.
Mike: In wrapping up, two things that dovetail into that. Not only football starting for the fall, but you had an exciting trajectory that was underway with Bird Kuhn and her crew for volleyball. We've always got a perennial challenger with Coach G and soccer, and course Pat Henry with the national titles with our track and field and cross country teams. Those things tip off and get under way at the same time. And then you've got the basketball programs that always are headed toward the tournament, the men certainly excited for this year. You have to keep all of that in mind when we are planning for the upcoming new student year, don't you?
That's exactly right, you know. Think about football. If football's impacted or adjusted in any which way, what do you say about basketball? Basketball practices we can start around October 1st. We're playing exhibition games in early November. So you have to start thinking about the later you get into some of these fall sports, you start impacting those winter sports and all that is top of mind right now. Actually, I was on the phone with Coach Bird this morning because they're having coaches calls about what their schedule might look like. It's not just a football conversation. It's all of your fall sports, then that rolls into your next wave of sports that start. So it's an evolving target. It's moving constantly. We have to stay on top of it and stay organized. And that's what we're trying to do every single day here.
Mike: It is one thing to remain optimistic, and we all are. There's not a person that you visit with that isn't understanding the outlet from a fan's standpoint that sports had. I don't think it's something we'll ever take for granted again. But as leaders, as administrators, and as those working in this department, you've got to look at what the scenario could be around the corner. What if you do have to delay into a winner or an early spring? You're always looking for worst case scenarios. But you have to do that in a leadership role.
That's exactly right. Expect the best, but plan for otherwise. That's the way you have to look at it. That's what we're trying to do every single day, while remaining optimistic.
Fightin' Texas Aggie Band Halftime: Florida
Saturday, October 11
Fightin' Texas Aggie Band Halftime: Mississippi State
Saturday, October 04
Fightin' Texas Aggie Band Halftime: Auburn
Saturday, September 27
Fightin' Texas Aggie Band Halftime: Utah State
Saturday, September 06
