Aggie Town Hall: Episode 9
May 18, 2020 | General
Mike Wright: Hello again everyone and welcome to the Aggie Town Hall. It's featuring our athletic director Bjork and it's presented by CHI St. Joseph Health, the official healthcare provider of Texas A&M Athletics. Along with the voice of the Aggies, Andrew Monaco, from 12th Man Productions, Will Johnson, I'm Mike Wright. We'll go to Will for question number one for our AD Ross Bjork.
Will Johnson: All right, let's fire away. First question comes from David Lamb, sent in through Twitter using the #AskRoss hashtag. David contemplated getting football and basketball season tickets but went with single game tickets instead, due to what he calls a lack of quality out of conference games. Can we immediately improve our OSI games?
Come on, David, we need you (smiling)! We need you part of the 12th Man by buying those season tickets. Invest in the program. But really, David, we appreciate what you do for the program, and I think that just is really what we can ask for, is do what you can based on your situation. And so we definitely appreciate that. To answer the specific question, can we immediately improve, I think it's subjective. One, 'immediately' means that you have to get out of any sort of contracts that David doesn't agree with. And we're contracted with our non-conference schedule as far as the power five opponents all the way through 2029. We just did a deal with the University of Louisville. Actually, 2030, excuse me. '29 and '30 with the University of Louisville. And then really, scheduling comes down to what are the objectives for us here? And this philosophy was put together before I got here, but I agree with it for sure. You have to do everything in your power to make sure that you're a playoff team. And with the SEC schedule the way it is, playing eight conference games, playing a power five team and then the other three games, honestly, we can play an FCS team. We can play two other group of five games. That scheduling formula works to be a playoff contender, to win the SEC Championship, and that's what it's all about for us is winning those championships, while at the same time making sure that we have the fan experience. But I believe that if we put the right product (on the field), we're winning at a high level, we're being competitive, that we can have folks invest in our program. And so you won't see an immediate change. The improvement piece again, that's subjective. What if Miami comes in here in a couple years from now and they just went to the playoffs? And Notre Dame comes in here a few years from now and they just made the playoff? What if that happens? Arizona State? Then it could be subjective. Oh, wow, that's a great non-conference schedule. They're playing Notre Dame at home and they just made the playoffs. So things are going to change. But we really have to win at the highest level, and that's the first objective, especially playing in the SEC West. But we appreciate your support, David, for coming to those few games a year.
Mike: Ross you mentioned Miami. We don't know what they're gonna be then. We just came off a two-year run with Clemson, and if I recall Will, you may be able to help me on this little bit, we booked Clemson before they really became a perennial national power. So some people I don't think would have put them in the top at the time. So, Ross, this is a little bit of a risk no matter when you book.
Right. It's a moving target, absolutely. And you're right. Clemson, I believe the Clemson series would have been scheduled probably in 2013, 14, 15. Somewhere in there. And you're right. You just you never know about scheduling and what teams evolve. Our biggest deal is, let's take care of ourselves. Let's invest in the program ourselves. And that's what we're after.
Andrew Monaco: Ross, from Brandon Carlin, Class of 2021 in Friendswood, what's your favorite memory as athletic director at A&M?
Wow. Favorite memory. There's been so many. Next Saturday, so I guess that's May 23rd, will be the one-year anniversary of my announcement as the athletic director. So it was a Thursday night. It was kind of late in the evening. I guess the plan was to release the information the next morning but news got out on that Thursday night, so we had to make a press release on that Thursday night. So I'm coming up on my one-year anniversary of being announced, and then I started on July 8th. It's hard to pick one, but I would say the first Midnight Yell practice that I went to as athletic director. It was a beautiful night. It was on a Wednesday because we were playing Texas State on Thursday. So it's on Wednesday night, over 30,000 people. The yell leaders offered me a chance to say a few words, and you just have goose bumps, because you see all those people, you see the 12th Man, you see the spirit of Aggie Land, and it all just kind of sinks in right there in that one specific moment that okay, you have a big responsibility. You're here in Aggieland. You're the Texas A&M athletic director. It all sort of hit home. So that's going to be I think just a defining and favorite moment that I have. But I'm sure there'll be others, and they'll come, and we'll cherish those just the same.
Mike: Ross, related to the schedule David had a question moment ago related to that. Do we have plans to replace teams that, for whatever reason, are not ready to play this season and may have to cancel as a result? If so, do we have any teams that are possible replacements that we may be speaking with?
Here's the deal. Everything's evolving, everything's fluid. Nothing is concrete at this point in time. I think I gave an interview to the Austin American-Statesman with Kirk Bohls, who wrote a nice column, and I said that every interview that we give has two asterisks and three caveats. The scheduling piece...have we been in touch with the athletic directors at Fresno State and the University of Colorado because they've seen some recent conversation in the news? Yes, we have. They've both assured me that we're playing football, that they're playing football. 'We're playing our games'. And that's really all you can go off right now. And then I don't know how many ADs I talk to in a week, probably anywhere from 10 to 20, and some of them may be text messages. Some of them may be on-the-phone conversations. We're all aware of what's happening out there in terms of the possibilities and the what ifs and so you just stay in touch. You stay in touch with your colleagues. You stay in touch with the industry. But there's no replacement teams. There's no scenarios out there where we've said okay, if this happens that this team plugs here. It's way too early and that's too speculative. We're just not there at this point in time. It's a great question because it's out there in the news, but nothing has been decided and it's really, really fluid...other than we're planning on playing college football and that's what we're going off of and operating accordingly.
Will: On Friday, the SEC is going to take it under a vote, I believe it's with presidents of universities, maybe chancellors as well, a vote will happen to see when student-athletes can come back to campus and start training, correct? What do you foresee there? And also, kind of like we've said, are these student-athletes safest and in the best place if they can get back together here on campus with their teams?
Let me address the last part. We have said consistently for the last several weeks that as the state of Texas opens commercial fitness centers, as Texas A&M opens up our recreation center, which we did this morning at 10 a.m., we believe that our student-athletes are better and we can protect them, and they're in a safer environment in our own weight rooms. However, we have an SEC prohibition until May 31st. What I would say, to just highlight May 22nd is really unfair, and that news report came out last week. It's an ongoing dialogue. Everyone around the SEC table wants to do what's right for the student-athletes. Each state, each university is somewhat in a different phase of where they are to reopen, and we all want to be sensitive to that. We want to be fair, while at the same time understanding that here in Texas we're ready. We have a plan. We have a phased-in, first-wave plan that if we if we can open up our weight rooms, that we'll have a plan to analyze our student-athletes, to really analyze our coaches and our athletic staff. We're ready to go. And so we'll see what happens this week. But it's an ongoing dialogue. It's not just one singular vote or date. It's what information do we have? How prepared is each university? And let's do the right thing in the health and safety of the student-athletes. So that that's how we're focused on it.
Andrew: Ross this weekend there was an article in The Wall Street Journal about fan experience, if you will. Can you take us through a scenario as it stands now, how to organize the aspects of the game day experience and make that a full fan experience?
There's actually another article that I thought was timely as well that came out in Inside Higher Education, which featured a lot of A&M material in there as well in some comments from me. My plan all along has been let's have a full experience. We want full stadiums. We want the full experience for our student-athletes. It may look different, it may be modified differently. That Wall Street Journal article covered a lot of different ranges and scenarios of what ifs. And really, at this point in time, that's really what it is, the what-if scenarios that could happen. That might happen. We don't know what we'll have to deploy in terms of the risk mitigation categories that we're all studying right now. You'd be amazed at all the things that get proposed to us via email, social media, all kinds of technologies, all kinds of operational plans and signage and things like that. We take that, we evaluate it. We see what would work, what may not work, what's appropriate. The bottom line right now is we have a lot of smart people working on this. We have a lot of smart people here at Texas A&M. We have a fan experience working group who is putting all of these different elements together to say what's best for Texas A&M based on where we are come really mid-August when we start playing some soccer matches. And then obviously everyone's focused on the football piece as well. And that's really what it is. We're going to make the right decisions. We will have the best protocols in place. I can't fathom how we would operationalize making people separate in a 102,733-seat stadium. So we have to be very careful, very smart and that's the approach that we're taking in having all this information on the table. So it's fluid, right? It's moving. And we're on May the 18th and fortunately we don't have to make these decisions today. We still have time to gather all the best intelligence and we'll do that as things unfold.
Mike: Another person indicated they read the article in The Wall Street Journal. 'Every fan will want to engage and have fun, just like we always do. If opening day of college football was next week, you'd sell out every ticket in the stadium. Good luck, sir.' I loved the spirit that he brought to that. Talk a little bit about this Aggie fan base, maybe in comparison of some others you've seen. And what can they do right now to help get us closer to the reality that we will play on that opening day as scheduled?
Well, the best thing to do is let's all be safe. Let's all protect those in the vulnerable populations. The curve has different elements to it right now. We all heard at the beginning, let's flatten the curve, but now that testing has become more prevalent, what will the curve look like? We can all do our part. We can stay safe. We can protect one another. We can wear our mask. We can sanitize. We can wash our hands. We could do all those things. And then, we can support the Aggies. I love that attitude. I think that's what it's all about. Part of that Inside Higher Education piece is I wasn't here during the 9/11 aftermath but I saw that picture of Kyle Field, and what I described in that article is, I said that's what I envision. There's going to be this pageantry, this togetherness, this passion, that when we do come back together, let's use that. Let's use that to our advantage. And let's really capitalize on being away from each other, but then the power of coming back together. Let's combine those two things into the best environment in all of college sports and that could be Kyle Field. So that's what I envision. I love that spirit. And we need to keep that in mind as we go through the next 3 1/2 months as we prepare for the seasons.
Note: Aggie Town Hall will not take place next Monday, Memorial Day (May 25). Stay tuned to social media for updates on the next edition.
Will Johnson: All right, let's fire away. First question comes from David Lamb, sent in through Twitter using the #AskRoss hashtag. David contemplated getting football and basketball season tickets but went with single game tickets instead, due to what he calls a lack of quality out of conference games. Can we immediately improve our OSI games?
Come on, David, we need you (smiling)! We need you part of the 12th Man by buying those season tickets. Invest in the program. But really, David, we appreciate what you do for the program, and I think that just is really what we can ask for, is do what you can based on your situation. And so we definitely appreciate that. To answer the specific question, can we immediately improve, I think it's subjective. One, 'immediately' means that you have to get out of any sort of contracts that David doesn't agree with. And we're contracted with our non-conference schedule as far as the power five opponents all the way through 2029. We just did a deal with the University of Louisville. Actually, 2030, excuse me. '29 and '30 with the University of Louisville. And then really, scheduling comes down to what are the objectives for us here? And this philosophy was put together before I got here, but I agree with it for sure. You have to do everything in your power to make sure that you're a playoff team. And with the SEC schedule the way it is, playing eight conference games, playing a power five team and then the other three games, honestly, we can play an FCS team. We can play two other group of five games. That scheduling formula works to be a playoff contender, to win the SEC Championship, and that's what it's all about for us is winning those championships, while at the same time making sure that we have the fan experience. But I believe that if we put the right product (on the field), we're winning at a high level, we're being competitive, that we can have folks invest in our program. And so you won't see an immediate change. The improvement piece again, that's subjective. What if Miami comes in here in a couple years from now and they just went to the playoffs? And Notre Dame comes in here a few years from now and they just made the playoff? What if that happens? Arizona State? Then it could be subjective. Oh, wow, that's a great non-conference schedule. They're playing Notre Dame at home and they just made the playoffs. So things are going to change. But we really have to win at the highest level, and that's the first objective, especially playing in the SEC West. But we appreciate your support, David, for coming to those few games a year.
Mike: Ross you mentioned Miami. We don't know what they're gonna be then. We just came off a two-year run with Clemson, and if I recall Will, you may be able to help me on this little bit, we booked Clemson before they really became a perennial national power. So some people I don't think would have put them in the top at the time. So, Ross, this is a little bit of a risk no matter when you book.
Right. It's a moving target, absolutely. And you're right. Clemson, I believe the Clemson series would have been scheduled probably in 2013, 14, 15. Somewhere in there. And you're right. You just you never know about scheduling and what teams evolve. Our biggest deal is, let's take care of ourselves. Let's invest in the program ourselves. And that's what we're after.
Andrew Monaco: Ross, from Brandon Carlin, Class of 2021 in Friendswood, what's your favorite memory as athletic director at A&M?
Wow. Favorite memory. There's been so many. Next Saturday, so I guess that's May 23rd, will be the one-year anniversary of my announcement as the athletic director. So it was a Thursday night. It was kind of late in the evening. I guess the plan was to release the information the next morning but news got out on that Thursday night, so we had to make a press release on that Thursday night. So I'm coming up on my one-year anniversary of being announced, and then I started on July 8th. It's hard to pick one, but I would say the first Midnight Yell practice that I went to as athletic director. It was a beautiful night. It was on a Wednesday because we were playing Texas State on Thursday. So it's on Wednesday night, over 30,000 people. The yell leaders offered me a chance to say a few words, and you just have goose bumps, because you see all those people, you see the 12th Man, you see the spirit of Aggie Land, and it all just kind of sinks in right there in that one specific moment that okay, you have a big responsibility. You're here in Aggieland. You're the Texas A&M athletic director. It all sort of hit home. So that's going to be I think just a defining and favorite moment that I have. But I'm sure there'll be others, and they'll come, and we'll cherish those just the same.
Mike: Ross, related to the schedule David had a question moment ago related to that. Do we have plans to replace teams that, for whatever reason, are not ready to play this season and may have to cancel as a result? If so, do we have any teams that are possible replacements that we may be speaking with?
Here's the deal. Everything's evolving, everything's fluid. Nothing is concrete at this point in time. I think I gave an interview to the Austin American-Statesman with Kirk Bohls, who wrote a nice column, and I said that every interview that we give has two asterisks and three caveats. The scheduling piece...have we been in touch with the athletic directors at Fresno State and the University of Colorado because they've seen some recent conversation in the news? Yes, we have. They've both assured me that we're playing football, that they're playing football. 'We're playing our games'. And that's really all you can go off right now. And then I don't know how many ADs I talk to in a week, probably anywhere from 10 to 20, and some of them may be text messages. Some of them may be on-the-phone conversations. We're all aware of what's happening out there in terms of the possibilities and the what ifs and so you just stay in touch. You stay in touch with your colleagues. You stay in touch with the industry. But there's no replacement teams. There's no scenarios out there where we've said okay, if this happens that this team plugs here. It's way too early and that's too speculative. We're just not there at this point in time. It's a great question because it's out there in the news, but nothing has been decided and it's really, really fluid...other than we're planning on playing college football and that's what we're going off of and operating accordingly.
Will: On Friday, the SEC is going to take it under a vote, I believe it's with presidents of universities, maybe chancellors as well, a vote will happen to see when student-athletes can come back to campus and start training, correct? What do you foresee there? And also, kind of like we've said, are these student-athletes safest and in the best place if they can get back together here on campus with their teams?
Let me address the last part. We have said consistently for the last several weeks that as the state of Texas opens commercial fitness centers, as Texas A&M opens up our recreation center, which we did this morning at 10 a.m., we believe that our student-athletes are better and we can protect them, and they're in a safer environment in our own weight rooms. However, we have an SEC prohibition until May 31st. What I would say, to just highlight May 22nd is really unfair, and that news report came out last week. It's an ongoing dialogue. Everyone around the SEC table wants to do what's right for the student-athletes. Each state, each university is somewhat in a different phase of where they are to reopen, and we all want to be sensitive to that. We want to be fair, while at the same time understanding that here in Texas we're ready. We have a plan. We have a phased-in, first-wave plan that if we if we can open up our weight rooms, that we'll have a plan to analyze our student-athletes, to really analyze our coaches and our athletic staff. We're ready to go. And so we'll see what happens this week. But it's an ongoing dialogue. It's not just one singular vote or date. It's what information do we have? How prepared is each university? And let's do the right thing in the health and safety of the student-athletes. So that that's how we're focused on it.
Andrew: Ross this weekend there was an article in The Wall Street Journal about fan experience, if you will. Can you take us through a scenario as it stands now, how to organize the aspects of the game day experience and make that a full fan experience?
There's actually another article that I thought was timely as well that came out in Inside Higher Education, which featured a lot of A&M material in there as well in some comments from me. My plan all along has been let's have a full experience. We want full stadiums. We want the full experience for our student-athletes. It may look different, it may be modified differently. That Wall Street Journal article covered a lot of different ranges and scenarios of what ifs. And really, at this point in time, that's really what it is, the what-if scenarios that could happen. That might happen. We don't know what we'll have to deploy in terms of the risk mitigation categories that we're all studying right now. You'd be amazed at all the things that get proposed to us via email, social media, all kinds of technologies, all kinds of operational plans and signage and things like that. We take that, we evaluate it. We see what would work, what may not work, what's appropriate. The bottom line right now is we have a lot of smart people working on this. We have a lot of smart people here at Texas A&M. We have a fan experience working group who is putting all of these different elements together to say what's best for Texas A&M based on where we are come really mid-August when we start playing some soccer matches. And then obviously everyone's focused on the football piece as well. And that's really what it is. We're going to make the right decisions. We will have the best protocols in place. I can't fathom how we would operationalize making people separate in a 102,733-seat stadium. So we have to be very careful, very smart and that's the approach that we're taking in having all this information on the table. So it's fluid, right? It's moving. And we're on May the 18th and fortunately we don't have to make these decisions today. We still have time to gather all the best intelligence and we'll do that as things unfold.
Mike: Another person indicated they read the article in The Wall Street Journal. 'Every fan will want to engage and have fun, just like we always do. If opening day of college football was next week, you'd sell out every ticket in the stadium. Good luck, sir.' I loved the spirit that he brought to that. Talk a little bit about this Aggie fan base, maybe in comparison of some others you've seen. And what can they do right now to help get us closer to the reality that we will play on that opening day as scheduled?
Well, the best thing to do is let's all be safe. Let's all protect those in the vulnerable populations. The curve has different elements to it right now. We all heard at the beginning, let's flatten the curve, but now that testing has become more prevalent, what will the curve look like? We can all do our part. We can stay safe. We can protect one another. We can wear our mask. We can sanitize. We can wash our hands. We could do all those things. And then, we can support the Aggies. I love that attitude. I think that's what it's all about. Part of that Inside Higher Education piece is I wasn't here during the 9/11 aftermath but I saw that picture of Kyle Field, and what I described in that article is, I said that's what I envision. There's going to be this pageantry, this togetherness, this passion, that when we do come back together, let's use that. Let's use that to our advantage. And let's really capitalize on being away from each other, but then the power of coming back together. Let's combine those two things into the best environment in all of college sports and that could be Kyle Field. So that's what I envision. I love that spirit. And we need to keep that in mind as we go through the next 3 1/2 months as we prepare for the seasons.
Note: Aggie Town Hall will not take place next Monday, Memorial Day (May 25). Stay tuned to social media for updates on the next edition.
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