March 31, 2005
Dear Ian,
The Lady Bears Basketball team has been outstanding and Coach Mulkey-Robertson has proven herself to be both a winner and an excellent spokesperson for women's basketball and for Baylor University. I hope the powers that be will reward her with bonuses and perks worthy of her achievement. She's going to be approached to head up other schools' programs, and we need to keep her around.
Best wishes.
Ben Meek
Oklahoma City
Ben,
Thank you for the positive e-mail regarding the women's basketball program.
The Lady Bears have had an extraordinary season and advancing to the Final Four is a very special accomplishment. Coach Mulkey-Robertson has done an exceptional job in building the program over the past five years. She is a tremendous coach and wonderful representative of Baylor.
While I do not publicly discuss coaches contracts, I am confident in stating that the Lady Bears will have a very bright future under Coach Mulkey-Robertson's leadership for many years to come.
Ian
Dear Ian, Will Baylor ever have a men's swimming team? My son is a senior and would love to have attended BU, but he wants to swim in college!
Thanks,
Stacy Rundle
Missouri City, Texas
Editor's Note: Similar questions with regard to sport sponsorship were received from Christopher Thompson (Simi Valley, Calif.), Jonathan Stinson (Killeen, Texas), David Bryant (Waco, Texas)
Stacy,
At this time, Baylor does not have plans to add any additional intercollegiate athletics programming for men. The Board of Regents has approved the addition of an 11th women's sport during the 2010-2011 academic year.
Ian
Ian, I know you play one game at a time and it is not good to look past an opponent, however; I am trying to make plans just in case the Lady Bears make it to Indianapolis for the Final Four. So, pending the outcome of the next 1-2 games, do you think a package deal will be put together for fans to travel to Indianapolis? I just checked the flights and they are outrageous. Thanks. You are doing a great job listening to the fans.
Darin Upchurch
Austin, Texas
Darin,
The Lady Bears are on their way to Indianapolis for the Final Four and we have a special offer for Baylor fans who want to take in this historic event. The Bear Foundation has put together a travel package along the following lines:
1) Please contact the Baylor ticket office at 710-1000 to get your ticket order in, as our travel package that is put together does not include the game tickets. Game tickets come at a cost of $130 per person (even infants are required to have a ticket).
2) The charter flight will be leaving Saturday at 10 a.m. out of Waco, and returning on Wednesday (regardless of whether Baylor is playing in the final game on Tuesday) at 10:30am.
3) Cost will be $899 per person which will include airfare, 4 nights stay in the hotel* and ground transportation in Indianapolis.
*We will be staying at the Sheraton Hotel and Suites (317-846-2700), however for an extra cost of $190 per person there is an option to stay at the Radisson where the team will be staying.
**There are a limited number of seats on this charter flight. In the event there are more requests than we have seats, Bear Foundation points will be used to determine priority.
Please call the Bear Foundation office at 710-2582 to place your order...THE DEADLINE IS NOON ON THURSDAY!
Ian
Ian, The Baylor baseball team was awesome this past weekend against UT!!!! Way to go Bears!
At Baylor baseball games, could the trivia questions and baseball stats please be lettered in black against that yellow background? It is impossible to read it! Thanks so much! Sic 'em Bears!!!
Lori A. Evers
Waco, Texas
Lori,
Thank you for this e-mail. Baylor's sweep of previous top-ranked Texas is one of the highlights of what has been a tremendous year to date for Baylor Athletics.
I will pass along your suggestions about the trivia questions and baseball statistics to our BaylorVision staff.
I appreciate your comments and support!
Ian
Ian, I remain interested in knowing why so few game programs are printed and available at Ferrell for sale during the hour prior to tipoff at each Lady Bears basketball game.
For the games with large attendance, we loyal Tip-Off Club members have been having trouble buying game programs at Ferrell. I regard this as an oversight that needs attention.
Thanks,
Tom Charlton
Waco, Texas
Tom,
Thank you for the question. Obviously, we experienced record-setting attendance at the Ferrell Center this year for women's basketball. With that, sales of programs, merchandise and concessions were much greater than in previous years.
As we move forward, our staff will project greater attendance and therefore increase the production of programs as well as increase merchandise available at games.
Thanks for your support of Lady Bear basketball!
Ian
Ian, Thanks for the wonderful job you are doing. My question is this, and it actually extends back to the old SWC as well as the Big 12. Why are the basketball tournaments held so late in the week / weekend?
With the men's championship game ending late Sunday, and if I am not mistaken the last major conference to end, I would think it would hinder some of the bubble teams making the tournament, and possibly hurting the top teams chances of getting a higher seed. I know it is probably TV rights, but maybe that should be addressed during contract negotiations. Thanks again for all you are doing. Baylor has made great strides with you at the lead.
Buddy Kelley
Bay City, Texas
Buddy,
You have asked an excellent question and one that the athletic directors in the Big 12 conference have discussed. There is a tradeoff between the exposure derived by holding our championship game in a desirable window on Sunday afternoon versus the risk associated with the winner of the championship not receiving full consideration from the NCAA committee in the seeding process due to the late completion time of the game.
We have explored several other starting time options for the Big 12 championship game, however, at this time we have not made a final decision.
Thank you for your support!
Ian
Ian, Congratulations to the Baylor Lady Bears on their record-setting year!! I was disappointed, however, that the ESPN selection show was held at Damon's, where there was very limited seating. My young daughters (ages 9 & 6) and I arrived at Damon's at 3:10 p.m. and we were lucky enough to get in the door and stand against the wall just to celebrate with the team. People continued to arrive after we did, only to be turned away due to the limited legal capacity of the restaurant.
If it was announced on television that the celebration was open to the public, it seems that the size of the location would have been considered. There were people that had been there since 1:00 p.m. standing just to congratulate the Lady Bears. My question is this: the next time that something like this is happens, what is the possibility of it being held somewhere that as many fans as possible can gather without having to reserve a table several hours in advance or buy food and drink! Somewhere such as the Ferrell Center it seems would be the ideal place for an announcement of this magnitude. Thank you for continuing to improve Baylor athletics.
Stephanie
Stephanie,
Thank you for the question.
The selection show event was held at Damon's for several reasons: Damon's is a sponsor of Baylor Athletics; we have hosted very successful events at that location; and it creates an intimate and exciting atmosphere. We recognized that with the popularity of the Lady Bears and capacity was a strong consideration, however, we did not want to utilize the Ferrell Center since that would be too large a venue and we would lose the atmosphere that we desired to create.
Ian
Final Thoughts The Baylor Bear Foundation Fund Drive Kickoff is set for April 9th in the Galloway Suite at Floyd Casey Stadium. Please join us for an exciting day, meet our coaches and staff and help us with our efforts to raise funds for student-athlete scholarships!
I strongly urge Baylor fans to come out and support Baylor's spring sports. We have Top 25 nationally ranked teams in softball (#7), baseball (#15), men's (#1) and women's (#12) tennis, and men's (#21) and women's (#21) track and field. Schedules are available on BaylorBears.com.
Be sure to purchase Final Four Lady Bear merchandise available on BaylorBears.com.
