Feb. 25, 2005
Ian,
Once again thanks for your hard work. It has been great to watch the improvement in the athletic department over the past year since your arrival. I noticed that the athletic department is auctioning off "sideline apparel" on eBay. My question is, has the athletic department considered selling these items at the online store? I know I have been looking for a BU Nike pullover, and I have seen several other Big 12 schools selling their items but haven't been able to find our stuff out there.
Keep up the good work! Sic Em Bears!
Brandon Boyd
Waco,Texas
Editor's Note: Similar questions were received from Tony T. (Houston, Texas); Alan B. (Waco, Texas); Mark T. (Arlington, Va.); Mike L. (New York, N.Y.); Scott D. (Waco, Texas).
Brandon,
Thanks for the e-mail, question and words of encouragement. This has been by far the most popular question of the week.
The athletic department and Baylor bookstore have been working hard to make the Nike apparel that our coaches and teams wear available to our fan base. Unfortunately, it is Nike who is preventing us from supplying it to you. Currently, we do not fall within a merchandising economic tier for them to move our team gear to their retail division.
Clearly, our preference is to sell these items through retail stores including the bookstore, however, at this time we are limited to selling the items through the auction on BaylorBears.com. We will be sharing the overwhelming response to the auction with Nike in the hope that they will be more accommodating in offering these items to fans through retail distribution. We recognize that Nike coaches apparel is popular and will continue to use all means available to us to persuade Nike to work with us in providing this merchandise to Baylor fans.
Also, we will have several more packages available through the auction in the coming days.
Ian
Ian,
I know this question has been asked and answered, but for the life of me I cannot remember the answer. Is the Big 12 champion in women's basketball crowned at the end of the season or at the end of the tournament?
David Clark Sr.
Waco, Texas
David,
Thanks for the question.
In all sports where there is a Big 12 tournament or championship, the winner of this event is deemed to be the conference champion for the purposes of NCAA automatic qualification. In the case of women's basketball, the Big 12 recognizes both the regular season and tournament champion with the tournament victor earning the league's automatic qualification into the NCAA tournament.
Ian
Ian,
How come in all the men's tennis results they have the individual ranking beside the player but not for Benedikt Dorscht and Benjamin Becker, even though they are two of the best players in NCAA?
Jeremy Tiffin
Waco, Texas
Jeremy,
You have asked an excellent question.
Since Benedikt Dorscht and Benjamin Becker did not participate in the fall season at Baylor, they were unranked entering the spring season. As you may have noticed, they appeared for the first time in the ITA rankings this week with Dorsch being ranked 9th and Becker coming in at 44th. Two other Baylor singles players also ranked among the Top 100 with freshman Lars Poerschke ranked 19th and Matija Zgaga at 93rd.
We are excited about the team winning the ITA National Indoor Championship this past weekend and retaining its ranking as the #1 team in the country!
Ian
Ian,
When 3-point shots are made, t-shirts are thrown to fans around the courtside and lower rows. How about staff or yell leaders coming to the midlevel and throwing tee shirts from there instead? It would certainly generate more enthusiasm to all fans.
David L. Lockhart
Waco, Texas
David,
I will pass your suggestion on to the yell leaders. I do notice the yell leaders climbing part way up the stands before throwing shirts on occasion. Fans really enjoy catching these basketball t-shirts and then proudly wearing them to future games to support the Bears and Lady Bears.
We are looking forward to an exciting week of basketball at the Ferrell Center this week with Texas Tech in town for men's and women's games and Texas A&M rounding out the regular season schedule against the men on Saturday.
Ian
Ian,
First of all, thanks again for the wonderful job you're doing here. There has been marked improvement across the board in Baylor sports since you have arrived on campus, and I must say that I am impressed.
My question is in regards to the concessions at the sporting events. I realize that profit is extremely important for the athletic department, but the prices, although comparable to other Big XII schools, seem to be a bit ridiculous. I know that as a student, I simply cannot afford to pay $3 for a drink every time I attend a sporting event. It seems to me that lower prices would result in more sales and more profit instead of relying on high prices and fewer sales.
Thanks for your time!
Ty McNeely
Waco, Texas
Ty,
I appreciate your strong support and the good question.
We constantly study price points for the various concession products that we offer and as you point out, Baylor is comparable or below the prices at other Big 12 schools.
There is a certain amount of overhead that is incurred by opening and operating concessions. Our desire is to provide fans with quality food products at reasonable prices with excellent service. While we could reduce prices as you suggest, it would not come without impacting either the quality or service elements.
I want to commend our concessions staff and especially manager Phillip Johnson, who has done a terrific job since taking over last summer. We have made a great deal of progress in terms of the variety of food products that we offer and quality of service provided to our fans. Most recently, we have had hawkers go into the stands at games in order to offer fans certain products without having to leave their seat.
Ian
Ian,
First off, I want to commend you and your staff for the great job at BU.
Secondly, with the Big 10 having used instant replay in conference games and now the Mountain West and ACC saying they'll do the same, is there a chance the Big 12 will follow suit for the upcoming season? What are you're thoughts of the use of instant replay in college football?
Carlos
Vienna, Va.
Carlos,
While the Big 12 has yet to make a final decision on instant replay for the 2005 season, it is my belief that it will be approved effective for next season.
My viewpoint is that if we can develop a cost effective and timely method of replaying select plays, it is in the best interest of the officials, coaches and student-athletes. The Big 10 had very good results with their system last season and with some minor modification, it would work very well in the Big 12.
I appreciate the question and your support!
Ian
Ian,
I loved Operation 10K this year against Texas and was excited to see the Ferrell Center packed for the game. While our women have had excellent attendance thus far, I was wondering how come we have not had any more emphasis like Operation 10K this year? Our game against Iowa State seems like an excellent opportunity, with both teams battling for the lead in the Big 12. The Texas Tech game also seems a likely candidate, with Baylor having the chance to avenge last year's loss at home.
Lewis Franklin
Robinson, Texas
Lewis,
The Operation 10K event for the Baylor - Texas women's basketball game was an overwhelming success as we sold out the Ferrell Center with 10,322 fans in attendance. In fact, the Lady Bears have already broken their regular season attendance record and will add to it in the final home game versus Texas Tech.
It is simply not possible to hold an Operation 10K or special promotional event of this magnitude for every home game. However, we will be rolling out a special campaign for the Baylor-Texas Tech women's game. Coach Mulkey-Robertson is calling upon all Baylor fans to be in attendance as we aim to break the all-time Ferrell Center attendance record against Tech. Buy your tickets today by calling 710-1000 or visiting the Baylor ticket offices at Floyd Casey Stadium or the Ferrell Center!
Ian
Ian,
I know we added the equestrian program, but are there any plans to add more programs to our sports department? I think that women's gymnastics, swimming, and maybe even wrestling would be great additions and would increase our standing in the athletic perception of the conference. In gymnastics I know that there are a lot of young gymnasts currently in the state and that that would be a women's sport that would have a following.
Trent Collier
Corpus Christi
Trent,
Thank you for the question.
With the addition of Equestrian, Baylor now has eight men's teams and 10 women's sports. The Board of Regents also announced last September that an 11th women's sport will be added for the 2010-11 academic year.
The athletic department will complete a process in 2009-10 to assess various women's sports that warrant attention and eventually make a recommendation to the Board regarding the preferred program. At this point, we have not ruled out any prospective program.
Ian
Ian,
I have read, with excitement, the Victory with Integrity plans. One item that seems to be missing is the athleic academic/study center that Coach Morriss has mentioned prominently in speeches. Is this a part of the plan, accounted for elsewhere, or not on the drawing board?
James E. Perry
Dallas, Texas
James,
There is a great deal of excitement regarding the Victory With Integrity campaign and the excitement has been translated into a number of contributions in support of the capital projects. I encourage all Baylor fans to make a gift toward this campaign either on-line at BaylorBears.com or by calling the Bear Foundation at 254-710-3650.
The Student Success Center project is outside of the campaign since it has already been approved by the Board of Regents and active fundraising for this project has been underway for some time. In addition, while it is a vital project for Baylor Athletics, the academic support function for student-athletes falls under another unit at the university.
Baylor fans interested in supporting the Success Center may also contact the Bear Foundation for more information!
Ian
Final Thoughts
We continue to receive very favorable feedback from vendors and retailers including the Baylor Bookstore regarding the response to merchandise bearing the new Bear logos. This is a credit to the students, alumni and staff who participated in the focus groups and afforded us feedback that allowed us to develop marks that were most popular with our fans!
We have had some questions from fans about the on-line renderings of the proposed facilities. Please know that not all of these drawings are inclusive of the scope of the project (i.e. the practice fields are not shown in the on-campus football facility, only the building itself).
On Monday, February 28, Baylor along with the other 326 Division I institutions will be announcing its Academic Progress Rate (APR). Once again, Baylor's academic performance is very strong and well above both the national and Big 12 averages.
I hope everyone who is able will join us at the Ferrell Center this week for some exciting basketball as both the men's and women's teams close out their seasons. The Lady Bears will be playing for their first Big 12 championship and the men's team has played incredibly hard all season.
