July 29, 2024 • 25 mins
Michael Alford, Florida State University Vice-President and Director of Athletics, came in for a lengthy chat with Preston. Topics included a look at the '23-'24 sports year, the change in college athletics with the transfer portal and NIL, renovations at Doak Campbell Stadium, and the future with or without the ACC.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:11):
All right, friends, welcome third hour Morning Show with Preston Scott.
We're almost polishing off the month of July, which means
the start of the new sports season in collegiate athletics
is right here upon us, and that means it's time
to meet with the director of Athletics for Florida State University.
Vice president and our friend Michael Alford joins us. Michael,
(00:31):
good to see you again. It's time for a state
of the Knowles. It's my favorite time of the year,
Preston when I come on with you, because it tells
me the student athletes are coming back. Football practice has started,
soccer practice has started, and it's the start of the
new year and nothing gets me more excited. Yeah, before
we talk about the new season, I want to look
back at twenty three, twenty four. What metrics do you
(00:55):
use to kind of measure and evaluate men's and women's athletics.
There's several metrics and now you know me, President, I'm
so analytical and breaks things down by numbers and months
and what are we doing here?
Speaker 2 (01:08):
But really the success we've had.
Speaker 1 (01:10):
You had, you had five conference championships, you had six
Coaches of the Year, two national Coaches of the Year,
seven Conference Players of the Year, and then you look
at what we did academically with having nearly a three,
having a three to two, nearly a three to three
departmental GPA. I mean that just tells us the type
(01:31):
of student athletes that we're bringing into this program that
represent Florida State University or second to nine. They're performing
very well in their sport, but they're also doing it
across life, and they're going in and they're doing it
in the classroom, doing it in the community. And my
job and I talk about this all the time when
I'm hiring coaches and I got a new coach, I'm
(01:52):
hiring a press conference tomorrow, is bringing people of high
character around these young, impressionable student athletes at this time
because I do believe eighteen to twenty two you kind
of form your opinions of life sure and making sure
that we have administrators, coaches, people in the weight room, nutrition,
(02:15):
everybody associated that cross the paths of these young men
and women daily are people of high character and that
we set that culture early and I think that.
Speaker 2 (02:24):
Goes on to the field.
Speaker 1 (02:26):
And I just think that culture that we've been able
to establish goes as a department. We'll go into the field,
we'll go into life. We'll also make differences in the classroom,
and that's something I'm very proud of the performance that
we did last year. Now it's time to close that book.
And we got a whole new set of student athletes,
five hundred and eighty of them coming in again here
(02:47):
this year to start this season, and it's setting that
expectations of excellence. You know, you hear me say it,
and I think coach Norvale says it all the time.
The standard is the standard. We're Florida State University. There's
a standard at Florida State academically, at the university and
the community. There's just a standard that we have to
live up to from people previous of us. To looking
(03:10):
at the vision moving forward, Let's talk about that for
a second, because I don't think anybody in your position
you couldn't have become an athletic director and been in
this world as often as you have for as long
as you've been in without having a background at sports.
I love sports, I played sports. We all know it
teaches about life, right. Every coach, head coach at any
(03:33):
sport has a philosophy. How much does that head coach's
philosophy then have to merge with the overall Like you said,
how do you make sure that it's the right fit,
And you do look for.
Speaker 2 (03:45):
A culture fit.
Speaker 1 (03:46):
You look for someone who's going to come in with
similar core values of what you stand for and what
you will not stand for, and also look at that
make sure they have a vision of the type of
student an athlete they want to bring in and that's
got a actually the type of student athlete we want
representing Florida State University and also the type of program
(04:06):
they're going to run that leads to success. And I'm
a big good degreat book and I'm a firm believer.
You put in the proper processes, you're going to have success.
And so it's great to sit down with coaches when
you're going through this hiring process and talk to them
about their processes and what's.
Speaker 2 (04:25):
Going to fit.
Speaker 1 (04:26):
And then it comes down to basically a culture fit.
Not all of our head coaches support each other like
no one else. You go to a softball game, you're
going to see Mike Norvel there, You're going to see
all of our coaches are really close knit. And I
think that bleeds into the culture that we have.
Speaker 3 (04:42):
Think of him as your uncle, Preston, the relative you
actually enjoy having around, and not just at the holidays.
This is the Morning Show with Preston.
Speaker 1 (04:53):
Scott, affectionately known as the ad Michael Alford with us
simplify everything a little bit, Sen say of the seminoles,
how about we put it that way. Do you ever
get to meet with all of the head coaches and
their staffs well at the same time?
Speaker 2 (05:11):
Oh, all the time. I'm having a head coach. What's
that like? That's awesome.
Speaker 1 (05:15):
I'm having a head coaches over for dinner to my
house Wednesday night. I do that every year to start
off the season. Okay, and then of course I go
and I try to make three practices a day president
to show my face and support three times a day.
Now maybe for fifteen minutes. Sure, But Sarah, who affectionately
returned to call the Governor that she takes care of
(05:37):
everything in my schedule and everything that needs to happen.
She really runs the athletic department. But you know she
schedules out my day where if soccers in the weight
room or soccers at practice, I can stop by for
fifteen to twenty minutes and just let them see that
we're there to support them, let the coaches see that
we're there, that we care, and that we're there to
(06:00):
support them, and it really makes a difference in the
relationships I'm able to build with our student athletes.
Speaker 2 (06:07):
I make sure I go into the training room.
Speaker 1 (06:08):
One thing, Scott true Luck, who's our head athletic trainer,
knows if a kid suffers a major injury, call me,
get me out of whatever meeting I'm in.
Speaker 2 (06:17):
I want to be there.
Speaker 1 (06:18):
When that kid hits the training room because I just
think it's important and that goes into the culture that
you're not a number, you're a person, correct, It goes
into the culture that we're building, and it goes into
the trust and faith that the student athletes have and
what we're trying to provide the winning edge resources for
them to compete classroom and.
Speaker 2 (06:36):
On the field.
Speaker 1 (06:37):
You mentioned predecessors and culture, and of course you know
for me, I came here in the at the beginning
of the cusp of the Bobby Bowden run and was
fortunate to know Coach Bowden before he came to Florida State.
But I remember hearing the coaches talk about how they
were close to each other, how they could talk to
coach Bowden or talk to coach Hamilton, or coach Samurai
(06:58):
would talk to this coach. Is that the same type
of thing that's being built or has been built here?
It's it's I think, I want to tell you it's
getting rebuilt. Okay. Our coaches here are just amazing and
what they do and how they support each other and
they do You were saying the same thing that used
to go on, and I've heard those stories and what
coach Bowed and the core values we talll core values
(07:20):
earlier and you feel his core values through the department,
through the university, and I fell him through the community.
Speaker 2 (07:26):
I think he had that kind of impact absolutely here.
Speaker 1 (07:29):
But then you look at what the coaches and how
they support each other, and they attend each other's practices,
they ask each other questions, they ask culture questions.
Speaker 2 (07:39):
What are they doing to.
Speaker 1 (07:41):
Develop these type of processes that lead to the tight
knit group that some of our programs have, And it's
amazing to see the information that is shared amongst them.
And that's really just something that we're really trying to
encourage and something I try to encourage just get out
see what are the coaches are doing. Live in your silo,
(08:01):
Get out there and learn from each other. And I
learned from them and how to be a better athletic director,
and what can we do to provide those resources for
them to go out and have success. Is it possible
to explain how different college athletics has become with the
world of NIL and the transfer portal, It is totally different.
(08:22):
I mean I got closer to professional sports. I would
say that having ten years in the NFL in a
year in Major League Baseball, it is becoming that it's
especially coming in the future in twenty five with the
House case that passed, You're really going to develop a
contractual relationship with your student athletes more than you do now.
(08:44):
And that's something that we understand it. We're prepared for it.
We're prepared to have success in it. But I don't
want to lose the relationship that we have with our
student athletes and making sure that they understand that we're
still there to take care of them why they're at
Florida State, and more importantly, get that meaningful degree of
a top twenty public institution in the left hand and
(09:06):
championship rings on the right. I mean, that's our goal
for every student at well. And the reality is, as
has been pointed out, you know, the one successful one
of the successful campaigns the NCAA rolled out recently is
you know, most of the athletes are not going to
play pro correct and getting that message to the young people.
Speaker 2 (09:23):
Is pretty important. Yeah, very important.
Speaker 1 (09:25):
And it starts with great families at home sure, and
making sure that we're bringing in student athletes here that
have a great family home base is also important. I
bet you've heard that song once or twice. Listen to
it every day is what my alarm clock goes off
on gets me going every morning. How long did it
(09:46):
take you to memorize the words? And do you know them?
Speaker 2 (09:49):
You had to work on them for a little bit.
Speaker 1 (09:50):
Yeah, it takes a minute, doesn't it tell me this?
We were talking about how different college athletics has become,
and it's not just though for the athletes, it's for
the people that love their and support their schools. And
I've read about other schools fighting the balance and what
I mean by that, Michael is you've got boosters out there,
and now boosters are kind of being torn between supporting
(10:14):
the infrastructure needs, the program needs, and then there's nil
out there and trying to get some of these athletes
into the schools and into the programs. How do you
walk that tightrope? There's no doubt it is a true
balance and where collegiate athletics has gone. And you know,
I chaired in twenty nineteen the NIL of Space and
(10:38):
went to the NCAA represented as I asked to represent
all the athletic directors across the country and come up
with a program. Went to the NCAA and this was
when you were Central Michigan. Went to the NCAA in
twenty nineteen and put together a program and everything you
hear them talk about now is what we presented. Third
party administrator agents being registered, everything that we talked about
(11:00):
that needed to happen. And they came to me because
of my NFL background and basically collegialize the NFLPA is
kind of what we did at the time and presented
it and they were afraid of lawsuits. So I said, well,
if you don't do this, the wild West is going
to happen, and it's going to be used one hundred
(11:23):
percent for recruiting purposes and that's where it became. And
now we're trying to dial that back a little bit,
but it has changed. You got to embrace it. I
think our fan base has embraced it. We've competed in
the NIL space very well, because the transfer portal is
kind of the enemy in a way of the NIL
and I you know, andfect I'm a perfect storm. Well,
(11:45):
correct me if I'm wrong. I suggested there was a
kid at Ohio State freshman got a massive NIL deal
and left after one year, hardly saw the field. My
contention was, they're going to have to be some people
that learn an expensive lesson before they It's not that
different from rookies, right correct, Untested rookies getting massive contracts,
(12:06):
untested freshmen getting these massive endorsement deals. And you saw
we really concentrated on retention. Yeah, of keeping players that
were already here getting new ones, but keeping players that
were here that were established, that deserve the opportunity to
go out and benefit on their name, image and likeness
because they built it up while showing a seminole. Absolutely,
(12:27):
and that was part of our plan with coach no
Orville and other coaches in the work. And we were
able to go ahead and retain our talent that we're
here because one, they loved it here, they loved the
relationship we had with them, they loved their coaches, and
then we were able to offer something else. Do you
ever have a challenge though, where somebody's just kind of
they're struggling with where they want to support. They recognize
(12:49):
the importance of nil, but they also see, let's just
use dope Campbell, don't. Campbell's going through a huge renovation
and there's all kinds of ancillary projects that go with
any of this, whether it's football or baseball or whatever
it might be. And they want to give to the
program though too, but they only have so many dollars
to give, and that you're one hum percent and the
nail on the head President. And that's just discussions we
(13:09):
have that we're able to have with our donor base
and say what what motivates you to help us? Because
we need help across the board. And we do have
four hundred million in construction going on. Yeh. Now, we've
got a new football facility being built, We've got del
Campbell project, I've got a lacrosse stadium that I'm about
to build here in the next year because we're adding
(13:30):
lacrosse that starts in twenty five twenty six. So you know,
going to our donor base and asking them to support
us and asking them to support our mission and vision
more importantly is something that we've had success with the
last few years. And I give Stephen Ponder and the
Boosters and everyone that works there or tip my hat
to them all the time because we have been able
(13:52):
to go out and get support and they've supported us.
And when it's come to whether the nil or whether
it's the Booster side have given to facility projects and
everything that we have going on right now, the facilities
are ahead of schedule, the new stadium cells and everything
going in Dope Campbell ahead of schedule. Yeah, I was
(14:13):
going to ask you to update where what can fans
expect to see this season at Dope. It'll be temporary
seating on the west side to see about half the
stadium will be done. They're building down to the temporary
seats and then the front part will be temporary seatings
for the twenty five twenty fourth season and then next
year in twenty five when Alabama opens, they'll finish it
(14:35):
will be completed. So they're going to be doing work
is as games. I always say hashtag partner our dust.
As you're leaving the stadium. You may have to wear
a hard hat to get to the concession standard for
this year.
Speaker 2 (14:47):
But there was never not a good time to do it. Yeah,
there is no way to do that.
Speaker 1 (14:50):
And when you look and do the analytics of it
and you look at what other universities have done, we're
nine million behind the average average Big ten team and
thirteen million behind the average SEC team and getting revenue
out of their stadium. Why are we in that position
of a seventy three year old Dough Campbell Stadium Because
(15:11):
they had updated the amenities for their fans for many
years and kept updating as these seasons went along, and
we just did not do that. And now we're having
played little ketchup on the amenities. Two more fast moving segments.
This time always moves really fast. With Director of Athletics
(15:33):
for Florida State University Michael Alford and Michael, we were
talking about the renovations at Doe Campbell Stadium and all
that's gone into that. You shared something with me that
I think is really important, and that is that most
of us did not understand the amount of money being spent,
and you could argue having to be almost wasted to
(15:54):
keep the facility to where you could continue to have
host games. Yeah, the deferred maintenance on seventy seventy forty
years old. Now I believe you know, the deferred maintenance
that we were having to spend every year going into
the season just to make sure that we can keep
the whole sections.
Speaker 2 (16:13):
Available for our fan base structurally.
Speaker 1 (16:15):
And you know, some of those decisions were made that
it's just time, it's time to do some things a
little bit, and there is no good time. There's never
a good time to rip that band aid off. So
how did you arrive at your overall plan? Well, we
hired in twenty nineteen twenty twenty hired a company called CSO,
who's the greatest in the business. They do every study
on any stadium in the NFL, going into different markets,
(16:38):
what works, what didn't, And we did a very comprehensive
fan study and they came in and sit down with
focused groups and sent out and we had one of
the best responses that they had ever had from our
fan base. Interesting that told us what they wanted. What
amenute is They wanted. We gave pricing models, would you
be willing to pay this for a LOWJE box and
(16:59):
gave comparisons to other institutions and even some proteins across here,
here's what this cost. Would you be willing to have
this amenity at this price point? And got that study
back analyzed. It worked with our sports architect Farm Populous
and saying, okay, here are the amenities that our fans want.
(17:20):
Let's design something that goes out and meets these price
points and meets these amenities.
Speaker 2 (17:26):
And we've had.
Speaker 1 (17:27):
Extreme success right now presenting we've built a preview center.
We're doing it the right way where we call you
by your rank in the donor organization in the booster club,
and have you come in and you get to go
through the preview center and pick and choose what game
day experience you want. Moving forward, and the club seats
(17:49):
have been sold, we're starting on chairbacks now the whole
West side is going to be chairbacks, starting on that process.
The lows boxes are sold out, the founder suites are sold.
But now well we'll get into that next level of working.
Also on the South end and the West Side don't
and we haven't forgotten the East. We're going through that
(18:09):
and fixing all the ADA requirements. Each seat on the
East is going to have a seat cap now that
establishes an eighteen inch seat for you that you can
sit down in. So that's going to be coming forward
this season. So there's a lot of changes that we're
doing to dope to increase the fan experience. Because I
always talk about we lead the country, which is we
(18:32):
found out in this study and sixty percent of our
fan base travels over three and a half hours, And
what is our competition? So then you bullet down to
who am I competing for that entertainment dollar? We bring
one hundred million dollars to Leon County every year Florida
State Football does what can I do to continue keeping
that machine rolling for the.
Speaker 2 (18:52):
Community other than win games?
Speaker 1 (18:54):
Other than win games, because that plays a role. It
plays a role.
Speaker 2 (18:58):
It does.
Speaker 1 (18:59):
You know, coming from Jacksonville, they're coming from Mercedes Benz,
They're coming from Orlando and going to see the Magic
Bucks games. Miami's one of our largest handhandle is hand
I mean, so they're coming from these stadiums that have
some of these amenities already, So how do we keep
the entertainment and the fan amenities that dope Campbell's Stadium
and modernize it for the future. Sure, and that was
(19:21):
our vision moving forward. Quickly, I'll make this because we're
coming to a break here. What can you say? What
do you feel comfortable saying about what fsu acc what
that all looks like.
Speaker 2 (19:35):
Well, we're going to continue.
Speaker 1 (19:36):
You know, it's playing out in the court system right now,
and we're doing our due diligence. We think we have
some great points and we're going to continue to move
that ball down. The always say run out that ground ball,
continue to run it out. But we're also preparing for
the future where we think Florida State and Florida State's
brand belongs in the landscape of collegiate athletics. Can you
(19:57):
tell a guy that played baseball? Yeah, that's the aw
He picks final segment with the director of Athletics for
Florida State University, Michael Awford. This is kind of our annual.
We've turned it into an I think after two you
can say the annual.
Speaker 2 (20:14):
It is annual.
Speaker 1 (20:14):
It's the first or the second, and then it'll be
the third annual State of the wholes address. Here on
the morning show with Preston Scott. Just to put a
cap on the FSU ACC thing. Do you do you
have any anticipated timeframe where there will be some definitive
direction that you feel like you'll have moving forward. Well,
we looked at this no one that where collegiate athletics
(20:38):
was heading, and we've had deep conversations with the ACC
when I became athletic director and Jim Phillips and I
have an unbelievable relationship with the respect I have for
Commissioner Phillips is second to none. I've known twenty something years.
He is a man of integrity. We talk core values earlier.
There's not a man with better core values than Jim
(20:58):
Phillips I have. But you know, we spoke to the
a SEC and laid out the laid out what our
what our.
Speaker 2 (21:06):
Concerns were right moving forward.
Speaker 1 (21:09):
When you say we had that conversation, when was that,
oh two and a half two years ago, It's been
a while, okay, and laid out you know our concerns
are because we see that when the media contracts are coming,
the SEC the Big ten and negotiated their new deals. Absolutely,
we saw there's going to be a thirty to forty
million delta in that and what they're able to provide.
(21:30):
And then we also anticipated what the house case was
going to be. We didn't know exactly. We didn't know
the roster limits. We didn't know, but we knew the parameters.
We could guess the parameters. And seeing now that that's
past Or getting settled in the court system and you're
able to go out with these roster limits and able
to offer one hundred and five scholarships for football, and
(21:51):
you're going to have this influx of cash coming to
those other two conferences. It's just going to make the
separation more.
Speaker 2 (21:59):
It's make it greater.
Speaker 1 (22:00):
And what I'm concerned about preston football's football. You know,
people talk about football a lot. My concern is making
sure I give the winning edge resources and the scholarship
level and everything we can do to that national championship
soccer program, to line and her softball programs. What links
do in Chris Pull, I mean, you look at the
success Brooke Niles. You just go down the Brook Wyke Off,
(22:25):
you just go one after another of these great programs
and great coaches we have and making sure that we're
able to provide them the winning edge resources because the
other two conferences have the media support to do it.
They have the media, new income of cash coming in
and revenue from those media contracts that are allowing them
(22:46):
to make a difference in those sports. And that is
my concern to keep us at that level across the board,
because we have comprehensive excellence at Florida State and I
want to continue.
Speaker 2 (22:56):
That the seasons.
Speaker 1 (22:58):
Right around the corner, you've got the national defending champion
soccer program starting in a couple of weeks. How about
this one, I'll give you a stat, Coach Penske. We
have seven players in the U twenty World Cup right now,
Yes seven, Seven of our student athletes will not be
here opening Day because they're representing their countries, the United
(23:19):
States or others in the U twenty World Cup. There
are a few that are from the program that are
in the Olympics as well.
Speaker 2 (23:26):
Correct.
Speaker 1 (23:27):
I mean, what an unbelievable program and what he was
able to do last year. I still argue that was
the greatest women's soccer team in the history of the NCAA.
Just the domination they had from start to finish pretty special.
Was pretty special. Lastly, of course, you've got another season
of college football and for a lot of people. I mean, look,
(23:47):
it's the big revenue generator and all that, but you're
heading to Dublin, Ireland. Yes, how does that happen that
you're playing Georgia Tech? Not first of all, I mean
you just think it ought to be Notre Dame.
Speaker 2 (23:58):
But anyway that.
Speaker 1 (24:00):
Came about, I have a great relationship with a gentleman
named John Anthony who puts on that game. And literally
we're at the Georgia TCU National Championship game in La
Meeting and basically on a paper napkin on a bar,
Napkins said, hey, well why don't we do this? But
I would not give up a home game for our
fans in our community. So we went out and got
(24:22):
Georgia Tech because we were going to play there this year,
and to move that home their home game to Dublin
so we can have this experience for our student athletes
and our fans. And I can't wait to get over there.
The game is sold out. How much gear are you
selling over there? We're selling a lot, right, What do
you expect the fan split to be? Oh, it's going
to be a seventy five twenty five I mean they
(24:44):
the response from our fans for the travel packages that
their people in Ireland and Dublin are just amazed. And
I told them, we're going to paint those streets Dublin
and we're going to plant Dublin guard ain't gold. The
temple bar may have a lot of guard. You might
hear war chant going down the street. It's a doubling
a lot thing. Saciola renegade making the trip. Don't think
(25:05):
we didn't try. I know all those people. I had
a feeling that wasn't gonna happen. Michael is always thanks
for the time. Oh thank you mister success this season.
Enjoy coming to see you. You do an unbelievable job.
Love listening to you in the morning. Thank you, appreciate
all the support you do for Florida State and go Knowles.
We love I heartbeing the flagship for FSU athletics. Got
a little softball on the air last year. That was exciting.
(25:28):
Always love having all the sports and again, thank.
Speaker 2 (25:31):
You, thank you, Go Knowles.
Speaker 1 (25:33):
Michael All for Director of Athletics Florida State University. Here
on the Morning Show with Preston Scott
All right, friends, welcome third hour Morning Show with Preston Scott.
We're almost polishing off the month of July, which means
the start of the new sports season in collegiate athletics
is right here upon us, and that means it's time
to meet with the director of Athletics for Florida State University.
Vice president and our friend Michael Alford joins us. Michael,
(00:31):
good to see you again. It's time for a state
of the Knowles. It's my favorite time of the year,
Preston when I come on with you, because it tells
me the student athletes are coming back. Football practice has started,
soccer practice has started, and it's the start of the
new year and nothing gets me more excited. Yeah, before
we talk about the new season, I want to look
back at twenty three, twenty four. What metrics do you
(00:55):
use to kind of measure and evaluate men's and women's athletics.
There's several metrics and now you know me, President, I'm
so analytical and breaks things down by numbers and months
and what are we doing here?
Speaker 2 (01:08):
But really the success we've had.
Speaker 1 (01:10):
You had, you had five conference championships, you had six
Coaches of the Year, two national Coaches of the Year,
seven Conference Players of the Year, and then you look
at what we did academically with having nearly a three,
having a three to two, nearly a three to three
departmental GPA. I mean that just tells us the type
(01:31):
of student athletes that we're bringing into this program that
represent Florida State University or second to nine. They're performing
very well in their sport, but they're also doing it
across life, and they're going in and they're doing it
in the classroom, doing it in the community. And my
job and I talk about this all the time when
I'm hiring coaches and I got a new coach, I'm
(01:52):
hiring a press conference tomorrow, is bringing people of high
character around these young, impressionable student athletes at this time
because I do believe eighteen to twenty two you kind
of form your opinions of life sure and making sure
that we have administrators, coaches, people in the weight room, nutrition,
(02:15):
everybody associated that cross the paths of these young men
and women daily are people of high character and that
we set that culture early and I think that.
Speaker 2 (02:24):
Goes on to the field.
Speaker 1 (02:26):
And I just think that culture that we've been able
to establish goes as a department. We'll go into the field,
we'll go into life. We'll also make differences in the classroom,
and that's something I'm very proud of the performance that
we did last year. Now it's time to close that book.
And we got a whole new set of student athletes,
five hundred and eighty of them coming in again here
(02:47):
this year to start this season, and it's setting that
expectations of excellence. You know, you hear me say it,
and I think coach Norvale says it all the time.
The standard is the standard. We're Florida State University. There's
a standard at Florida State academically, at the university and
the community. There's just a standard that we have to
live up to from people previous of us. To looking
(03:10):
at the vision moving forward, Let's talk about that for
a second, because I don't think anybody in your position
you couldn't have become an athletic director and been in
this world as often as you have for as long
as you've been in without having a background at sports.
I love sports, I played sports. We all know it
teaches about life, right. Every coach, head coach at any
(03:33):
sport has a philosophy. How much does that head coach's
philosophy then have to merge with the overall Like you said,
how do you make sure that it's the right fit,
And you do look for.
Speaker 2 (03:45):
A culture fit.
Speaker 1 (03:46):
You look for someone who's going to come in with
similar core values of what you stand for and what
you will not stand for, and also look at that
make sure they have a vision of the type of
student an athlete they want to bring in and that's
got a actually the type of student athlete we want
representing Florida State University and also the type of program
(04:06):
they're going to run that leads to success. And I'm
a big good degreat book and I'm a firm believer.
You put in the proper processes, you're going to have success.
And so it's great to sit down with coaches when
you're going through this hiring process and talk to them
about their processes and what's.
Speaker 2 (04:25):
Going to fit.
Speaker 1 (04:26):
And then it comes down to basically a culture fit.
Not all of our head coaches support each other like
no one else. You go to a softball game, you're
going to see Mike Norvel there, You're going to see
all of our coaches are really close knit. And I
think that bleeds into the culture that we have.
Speaker 3 (04:42):
Think of him as your uncle, Preston, the relative you
actually enjoy having around, and not just at the holidays.
This is the Morning Show with Preston.
Speaker 1 (04:53):
Scott, affectionately known as the ad Michael Alford with us
simplify everything a little bit, Sen say of the seminoles,
how about we put it that way. Do you ever
get to meet with all of the head coaches and
their staffs well at the same time?
Speaker 2 (05:11):
Oh, all the time. I'm having a head coach. What's
that like? That's awesome.
Speaker 1 (05:15):
I'm having a head coaches over for dinner to my
house Wednesday night. I do that every year to start
off the season. Okay, and then of course I go
and I try to make three practices a day president
to show my face and support three times a day.
Now maybe for fifteen minutes. Sure, But Sarah, who affectionately
returned to call the Governor that she takes care of
(05:37):
everything in my schedule and everything that needs to happen.
She really runs the athletic department. But you know she
schedules out my day where if soccers in the weight
room or soccers at practice, I can stop by for
fifteen to twenty minutes and just let them see that
we're there to support them, let the coaches see that
we're there, that we care, and that we're there to
(06:00):
support them, and it really makes a difference in the
relationships I'm able to build with our student athletes.
Speaker 2 (06:07):
I make sure I go into the training room.
Speaker 1 (06:08):
One thing, Scott true Luck, who's our head athletic trainer,
knows if a kid suffers a major injury, call me,
get me out of whatever meeting I'm in.
Speaker 2 (06:17):
I want to be there.
Speaker 1 (06:18):
When that kid hits the training room because I just
think it's important and that goes into the culture that
you're not a number, you're a person, correct, It goes
into the culture that we're building, and it goes into
the trust and faith that the student athletes have and
what we're trying to provide the winning edge resources for
them to compete classroom and.
Speaker 2 (06:36):
On the field.
Speaker 1 (06:37):
You mentioned predecessors and culture, and of course you know
for me, I came here in the at the beginning
of the cusp of the Bobby Bowden run and was
fortunate to know Coach Bowden before he came to Florida State.
But I remember hearing the coaches talk about how they
were close to each other, how they could talk to
coach Bowden or talk to coach Hamilton, or coach Samurai
(06:58):
would talk to this coach. Is that the same type
of thing that's being built or has been built here?
It's it's I think, I want to tell you it's
getting rebuilt. Okay. Our coaches here are just amazing and
what they do and how they support each other and
they do You were saying the same thing that used
to go on, and I've heard those stories and what
coach Bowed and the core values we talll core values
(07:20):
earlier and you feel his core values through the department,
through the university, and I fell him through the community.
Speaker 2 (07:26):
I think he had that kind of impact absolutely here.
Speaker 1 (07:29):
But then you look at what the coaches and how
they support each other, and they attend each other's practices,
they ask each other questions, they ask culture questions.
Speaker 2 (07:39):
What are they doing to.
Speaker 1 (07:41):
Develop these type of processes that lead to the tight
knit group that some of our programs have, And it's
amazing to see the information that is shared amongst them.
And that's really just something that we're really trying to
encourage and something I try to encourage just get out
see what are the coaches are doing. Live in your silo,
(08:01):
Get out there and learn from each other. And I
learned from them and how to be a better athletic director,
and what can we do to provide those resources for
them to go out and have success. Is it possible
to explain how different college athletics has become with the
world of NIL and the transfer portal, It is totally different.
(08:22):
I mean I got closer to professional sports. I would
say that having ten years in the NFL in a
year in Major League Baseball, it is becoming that it's
especially coming in the future in twenty five with the
House case that passed, You're really going to develop a
contractual relationship with your student athletes more than you do now.
(08:44):
And that's something that we understand it. We're prepared for it.
We're prepared to have success in it. But I don't
want to lose the relationship that we have with our
student athletes and making sure that they understand that we're
still there to take care of them why they're at
Florida State, and more importantly, get that meaningful degree of
a top twenty public institution in the left hand and
(09:06):
championship rings on the right. I mean, that's our goal
for every student at well. And the reality is, as
has been pointed out, you know, the one successful one
of the successful campaigns the NCAA rolled out recently is
you know, most of the athletes are not going to
play pro correct and getting that message to the young people.
Speaker 2 (09:23):
Is pretty important. Yeah, very important.
Speaker 1 (09:25):
And it starts with great families at home sure, and
making sure that we're bringing in student athletes here that
have a great family home base is also important. I
bet you've heard that song once or twice. Listen to
it every day is what my alarm clock goes off
on gets me going every morning. How long did it
(09:46):
take you to memorize the words? And do you know them?
Speaker 2 (09:49):
You had to work on them for a little bit.
Speaker 1 (09:50):
Yeah, it takes a minute, doesn't it tell me this?
We were talking about how different college athletics has become,
and it's not just though for the athletes, it's for
the people that love their and support their schools. And
I've read about other schools fighting the balance and what
I mean by that, Michael is you've got boosters out there,
and now boosters are kind of being torn between supporting
(10:14):
the infrastructure needs, the program needs, and then there's nil
out there and trying to get some of these athletes
into the schools and into the programs. How do you
walk that tightrope? There's no doubt it is a true
balance and where collegiate athletics has gone. And you know,
I chaired in twenty nineteen the NIL of Space and
(10:38):
went to the NCAA represented as I asked to represent
all the athletic directors across the country and come up
with a program. Went to the NCAA and this was
when you were Central Michigan. Went to the NCAA in
twenty nineteen and put together a program and everything you
hear them talk about now is what we presented. Third
party administrator agents being registered, everything that we talked about
(11:00):
that needed to happen. And they came to me because
of my NFL background and basically collegialize the NFLPA is
kind of what we did at the time and presented
it and they were afraid of lawsuits. So I said, well,
if you don't do this, the wild West is going
to happen, and it's going to be used one hundred
(11:23):
percent for recruiting purposes and that's where it became. And
now we're trying to dial that back a little bit,
but it has changed. You got to embrace it. I
think our fan base has embraced it. We've competed in
the NIL space very well, because the transfer portal is
kind of the enemy in a way of the NIL
and I you know, andfect I'm a perfect storm. Well,
(11:45):
correct me if I'm wrong. I suggested there was a
kid at Ohio State freshman got a massive NIL deal
and left after one year, hardly saw the field. My
contention was, they're going to have to be some people
that learn an expensive lesson before they It's not that
different from rookies, right correct, Untested rookies getting massive contracts,
(12:06):
untested freshmen getting these massive endorsement deals. And you saw
we really concentrated on retention. Yeah, of keeping players that
were already here getting new ones, but keeping players that
were here that were established, that deserve the opportunity to
go out and benefit on their name, image and likeness
because they built it up while showing a seminole. Absolutely,
(12:27):
and that was part of our plan with coach no
Orville and other coaches in the work. And we were
able to go ahead and retain our talent that we're
here because one, they loved it here, they loved the
relationship we had with them, they loved their coaches, and
then we were able to offer something else. Do you
ever have a challenge though, where somebody's just kind of
they're struggling with where they want to support. They recognize
(12:49):
the importance of nil, but they also see, let's just
use dope Campbell, don't. Campbell's going through a huge renovation
and there's all kinds of ancillary projects that go with
any of this, whether it's football or baseball or whatever
it might be. And they want to give to the
program though too, but they only have so many dollars
to give, and that you're one hum percent and the
nail on the head President. And that's just discussions we
(13:09):
have that we're able to have with our donor base
and say what what motivates you to help us? Because
we need help across the board. And we do have
four hundred million in construction going on. Yeh. Now, we've
got a new football facility being built, We've got del
Campbell project, I've got a lacrosse stadium that I'm about
to build here in the next year because we're adding
(13:30):
lacrosse that starts in twenty five twenty six. So you know,
going to our donor base and asking them to support
us and asking them to support our mission and vision
more importantly is something that we've had success with the
last few years. And I give Stephen Ponder and the
Boosters and everyone that works there or tip my hat
to them all the time because we have been able
(13:52):
to go out and get support and they've supported us.
And when it's come to whether the nil or whether
it's the Booster side have given to facility projects and
everything that we have going on right now, the facilities
are ahead of schedule, the new stadium cells and everything
going in Dope Campbell ahead of schedule. Yeah, I was
(14:13):
going to ask you to update where what can fans
expect to see this season at Dope. It'll be temporary
seating on the west side to see about half the
stadium will be done. They're building down to the temporary
seats and then the front part will be temporary seatings
for the twenty five twenty fourth season and then next
year in twenty five when Alabama opens, they'll finish it
(14:35):
will be completed. So they're going to be doing work
is as games. I always say hashtag partner our dust.
As you're leaving the stadium. You may have to wear
a hard hat to get to the concession standard for
this year.
Speaker 2 (14:47):
But there was never not a good time to do it. Yeah,
there is no way to do that.
Speaker 1 (14:50):
And when you look and do the analytics of it
and you look at what other universities have done, we're
nine million behind the average average Big ten team and
thirteen million behind the average SEC team and getting revenue
out of their stadium. Why are we in that position
of a seventy three year old Dough Campbell Stadium Because
(15:11):
they had updated the amenities for their fans for many
years and kept updating as these seasons went along, and
we just did not do that. And now we're having
played little ketchup on the amenities. Two more fast moving segments.
This time always moves really fast. With Director of Athletics
(15:33):
for Florida State University Michael Alford and Michael, we were
talking about the renovations at Doe Campbell Stadium and all
that's gone into that. You shared something with me that
I think is really important, and that is that most
of us did not understand the amount of money being spent,
and you could argue having to be almost wasted to
(15:54):
keep the facility to where you could continue to have
host games. Yeah, the deferred maintenance on seventy seventy forty
years old. Now I believe you know, the deferred maintenance
that we were having to spend every year going into
the season just to make sure that we can keep
the whole sections.
Speaker 2 (16:13):
Available for our fan base structurally.
Speaker 1 (16:15):
And you know, some of those decisions were made that
it's just time, it's time to do some things a
little bit, and there is no good time. There's never
a good time to rip that band aid off. So
how did you arrive at your overall plan? Well, we
hired in twenty nineteen twenty twenty hired a company called CSO,
who's the greatest in the business. They do every study
on any stadium in the NFL, going into different markets,
(16:38):
what works, what didn't, And we did a very comprehensive
fan study and they came in and sit down with
focused groups and sent out and we had one of
the best responses that they had ever had from our
fan base. Interesting that told us what they wanted. What
amenute is They wanted. We gave pricing models, would you
be willing to pay this for a LOWJE box and
(16:59):
gave comparisons to other institutions and even some proteins across here,
here's what this cost. Would you be willing to have
this amenity at this price point? And got that study
back analyzed. It worked with our sports architect Farm Populous
and saying, okay, here are the amenities that our fans want.
(17:20):
Let's design something that goes out and meets these price
points and meets these amenities.
Speaker 2 (17:26):
And we've had.
Speaker 1 (17:27):
Extreme success right now presenting we've built a preview center.
We're doing it the right way where we call you
by your rank in the donor organization in the booster club,
and have you come in and you get to go
through the preview center and pick and choose what game
day experience you want. Moving forward, and the club seats
(17:49):
have been sold, we're starting on chairbacks now the whole
West side is going to be chairbacks, starting on that process.
The lows boxes are sold out, the founder suites are sold.
But now well we'll get into that next level of working.
Also on the South end and the West Side don't
and we haven't forgotten the East. We're going through that
(18:09):
and fixing all the ADA requirements. Each seat on the
East is going to have a seat cap now that
establishes an eighteen inch seat for you that you can
sit down in. So that's going to be coming forward
this season. So there's a lot of changes that we're
doing to dope to increase the fan experience. Because I
always talk about we lead the country, which is we
(18:32):
found out in this study and sixty percent of our
fan base travels over three and a half hours, And
what is our competition? So then you bullet down to
who am I competing for that entertainment dollar? We bring
one hundred million dollars to Leon County every year Florida
State Football does what can I do to continue keeping
that machine rolling for the.
Speaker 2 (18:52):
Community other than win games?
Speaker 1 (18:54):
Other than win games, because that plays a role. It
plays a role.
Speaker 2 (18:58):
It does.
Speaker 1 (18:59):
You know, coming from Jacksonville, they're coming from Mercedes Benz,
They're coming from Orlando and going to see the Magic
Bucks games. Miami's one of our largest handhandle is hand
I mean, so they're coming from these stadiums that have
some of these amenities already, So how do we keep
the entertainment and the fan amenities that dope Campbell's Stadium
and modernize it for the future. Sure, and that was
(19:21):
our vision moving forward. Quickly, I'll make this because we're
coming to a break here. What can you say? What
do you feel comfortable saying about what fsu acc what
that all looks like.
Speaker 2 (19:35):
Well, we're going to continue.
Speaker 1 (19:36):
You know, it's playing out in the court system right now,
and we're doing our due diligence. We think we have
some great points and we're going to continue to move
that ball down. The always say run out that ground ball,
continue to run it out. But we're also preparing for
the future where we think Florida State and Florida State's
brand belongs in the landscape of collegiate athletics. Can you
(19:57):
tell a guy that played baseball? Yeah, that's the aw
He picks final segment with the director of Athletics for
Florida State University, Michael Awford. This is kind of our annual.
We've turned it into an I think after two you
can say the annual.
Speaker 2 (20:14):
It is annual.
Speaker 1 (20:14):
It's the first or the second, and then it'll be
the third annual State of the wholes address. Here on
the morning show with Preston Scott. Just to put a
cap on the FSU ACC thing. Do you do you
have any anticipated timeframe where there will be some definitive
direction that you feel like you'll have moving forward. Well,
we looked at this no one that where collegiate athletics
(20:38):
was heading, and we've had deep conversations with the ACC
when I became athletic director and Jim Phillips and I
have an unbelievable relationship with the respect I have for
Commissioner Phillips is second to none. I've known twenty something years.
He is a man of integrity. We talk core values earlier.
There's not a man with better core values than Jim
(20:58):
Phillips I have. But you know, we spoke to the
a SEC and laid out the laid out what our
what our.
Speaker 2 (21:06):
Concerns were right moving forward.
Speaker 1 (21:09):
When you say we had that conversation, when was that,
oh two and a half two years ago, It's been
a while, okay, and laid out you know our concerns
are because we see that when the media contracts are coming,
the SEC the Big ten and negotiated their new deals. Absolutely,
we saw there's going to be a thirty to forty
million delta in that and what they're able to provide.
(21:30):
And then we also anticipated what the house case was
going to be. We didn't know exactly. We didn't know
the roster limits. We didn't know, but we knew the parameters.
We could guess the parameters. And seeing now that that's
past Or getting settled in the court system and you're
able to go out with these roster limits and able
to offer one hundred and five scholarships for football, and
(21:51):
you're going to have this influx of cash coming to
those other two conferences. It's just going to make the
separation more.
Speaker 2 (21:59):
It's make it greater.
Speaker 1 (22:00):
And what I'm concerned about preston football's football. You know,
people talk about football a lot. My concern is making
sure I give the winning edge resources and the scholarship
level and everything we can do to that national championship
soccer program, to line and her softball programs. What links
do in Chris Pull, I mean, you look at the
success Brooke Niles. You just go down the Brook Wyke Off,
(22:25):
you just go one after another of these great programs
and great coaches we have and making sure that we're
able to provide them the winning edge resources because the
other two conferences have the media support to do it.
They have the media, new income of cash coming in
and revenue from those media contracts that are allowing them
(22:46):
to make a difference in those sports. And that is
my concern to keep us at that level across the board,
because we have comprehensive excellence at Florida State and I
want to continue.
Speaker 2 (22:56):
That the seasons.
Speaker 1 (22:58):
Right around the corner, you've got the national defending champion
soccer program starting in a couple of weeks. How about
this one, I'll give you a stat, Coach Penske. We
have seven players in the U twenty World Cup right now,
Yes seven, Seven of our student athletes will not be
here opening Day because they're representing their countries, the United
(23:19):
States or others in the U twenty World Cup. There
are a few that are from the program that are
in the Olympics as well.
Speaker 2 (23:26):
Correct.
Speaker 1 (23:27):
I mean, what an unbelievable program and what he was
able to do last year. I still argue that was
the greatest women's soccer team in the history of the NCAA.
Just the domination they had from start to finish pretty special.
Was pretty special. Lastly, of course, you've got another season
of college football and for a lot of people. I mean, look,
(23:47):
it's the big revenue generator and all that, but you're
heading to Dublin, Ireland. Yes, how does that happen that
you're playing Georgia Tech? Not first of all, I mean
you just think it ought to be Notre Dame.
Speaker 2 (23:58):
But anyway that.
Speaker 1 (24:00):
Came about, I have a great relationship with a gentleman
named John Anthony who puts on that game. And literally
we're at the Georgia TCU National Championship game in La
Meeting and basically on a paper napkin on a bar,
Napkins said, hey, well why don't we do this? But
I would not give up a home game for our
fans in our community. So we went out and got
(24:22):
Georgia Tech because we were going to play there this year,
and to move that home their home game to Dublin
so we can have this experience for our student athletes
and our fans. And I can't wait to get over there.
The game is sold out. How much gear are you
selling over there? We're selling a lot, right, What do
you expect the fan split to be? Oh, it's going
to be a seventy five twenty five I mean they
(24:44):
the response from our fans for the travel packages that
their people in Ireland and Dublin are just amazed. And
I told them, we're going to paint those streets Dublin
and we're going to plant Dublin guard ain't gold. The
temple bar may have a lot of guard. You might
hear war chant going down the street. It's a doubling
a lot thing. Saciola renegade making the trip. Don't think
(25:05):
we didn't try. I know all those people. I had
a feeling that wasn't gonna happen. Michael is always thanks
for the time. Oh thank you mister success this season.
Enjoy coming to see you. You do an unbelievable job.
Love listening to you in the morning. Thank you, appreciate
all the support you do for Florida State and go Knowles.
We love I heartbeing the flagship for FSU athletics. Got
a little softball on the air last year. That was exciting.
(25:28):
Always love having all the sports and again, thank.
Speaker 2 (25:31):
You, thank you, Go Knowles.
Speaker 1 (25:33):
Michael All for Director of Athletics Florida State University. Here
on the Morning Show with Preston Scott
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