The Kyle Bailey Show: Doug Gillin

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
I don't know. Maybe Doug Gillen has a thought on that.
Probably not. He's a professional athletics director for the app
State Mountaineers, and he doesn't care about such trivial things
as pop culture, I'm sure, but his squad has a
big game here in the Queen City on Friday, new
head coach Now Loggins and the app State Mountaineers a
proud program coming to Bank of America Stadium to battle
Tim Albin and the Charlotte forty nine Ers the Duke's

(00:21):
Mayo Classic, and we're giving away tickets today. All you
have to do is text the word app app and
only the word APP short for Appalachian of course, to
the fan duel text line. You have until five point
thirty to get into win. Let's welcome in and welcome
back Doug Gillen, athletics director, Appalachian State University. He's back
with us on the hotline.

Speaker 2 (00:38):
Doug.

Speaker 1 (00:39):
It's good to have you back, my man.

Speaker 2 (00:40):
How you been, Hey, it's great being back. I appreciate
you all having me on today.

Speaker 1 (00:44):
You're not a swiftye, are you. I probably know that already.

Speaker 2 (00:47):
And I would not categorize me as that.

Speaker 1 (00:51):
I knew it I knew it. You have bigger fish
to fry this week. Y'all got a big ball game.
Let's just first talk about big picture stuff. I got
a lot of friends at the Charlotte Spot Foundation. I
watched this game take place year over year. We love it.
The city loves it. I love watching the fans roll in.
What does it mean to you and to APP State
Football and APP State Athletics to be involved in this event.

Speaker 2 (01:11):
Well, I think it's it means a lot. We really
love being down in Charlotte. Obviously, it's a great market
for US, Mecklenburg County being the number one alumni market
for APPS State. Plus we got a lot of fans,
future fans, future, you know, recruits, whether it be for
just students or student athletes. Charlotte is just a great market.
So we love being down here.

Speaker 1 (01:30):
What what's it like in terms of your alls preparation
for this game, both on the ticket sales side and handling,
handling alumni, But you know, getting the team down here
and into hotels and fields like, it's a big undertaking.
I'm sure this week to make this all go off correctly.

Speaker 2 (01:44):
Yeah it is. It's a big undertaking. But you know,
every every Weekend's a big undertaking when you're moving an
entire football team, no matter where they're going, you know.
For here, the great thing about the undertaking in Charlotte
is we come down early. You know, I'm already in
the market. I have a lot of meetings in the
market with with different folks and different friends of the program,
and so that that is really beneficial to have, you know,

(02:05):
all of our staff come down and really kind of
take our show on the road in front of and
being the you know, the largest alumni base in the state.

Speaker 1 (02:13):
We got Mike Hill coming up later in the show.
Excited to talk to him. I know, you know him well.
He's got a program that's still very young and still
finding its way. You've got a proud program that has
a history of championships and big time expectations. But this
game versus Charlotte, what does it mean to participate against
them in particular? And is this something you want to
continue into the future. What kind of potential does this

(02:34):
rivalry have in your mind?

Speaker 2 (02:36):
Oh? Yeah, I think it's got great potential. You know,
Mike and I are really close friends, have a lot
of respect for him and with the job he's done
at Charlotte. You know, we're you know, we played a
bunch over the years. We got a bunch more scheduled
over the next couple of years. So this is, you know,
a matchup we look forward to every year. Both our
fan bases look forward to it. I think it's only growing.

(02:57):
And I you know, when we talk about economic impact
and how in our universities really affect the economy of
our state, is schools like Charlotte Lake App and other
schools in our state playing each other and keeping you know,
commerce in the state. So I think it's good for
everybody and certainly good for the city of Charlotte.

Speaker 1 (03:12):
This weekend, Doug Gillen app State Mountaineers. He's with us
here on the hotline talking about the Duke's Mayo Classic
coming up on Friday again. Text in to win tickets.
Text the word app app only the word app to
the FanDuel text line to get in to win. Registration
closes at five point thirty. Your head coach, Dal Loggins
was on the station a couple of weeks ago. As
much as any other new coach in the country. I

(03:34):
am fascinated to see what Dal Loggins does with this program.
He's got an extensive NFL background, played it at Arkansas
where he was a quarterback, was under Stane Beemer at
South Carolina, and now he's running your program. What's the
transition been like and did the guy that you hire
as have those expectations been met? Did you get what
you thought you'd get in Dal Logins? So far?

Speaker 2 (03:54):
Yeah?

Speaker 1 (03:54):
So far?

Speaker 2 (03:55):
Absolutely? You know, undefeated. Ass We'll find out here pretty soon.
But in terms of the way that he runs a program,
the way that he communicates, the way that he cares
about the college model, the way that he cares about Booe,
North Carolina and app State, I think all of those
are a great fit in exactly what we were looking for.
Love what he's done with his coaching staff and the

(04:16):
recruitment not just to this current roster, but of our
future rosters. So it could not be more happier with
the job that coach Loggins is doing.

Speaker 1 (04:23):
Doug, What is the house settlement and the new landscape
of college football mean for app State? How do you
operate within it? How do you maximize your opportunities the best?

Speaker 2 (04:32):
Yeah? I think that's a great, you know, great word
within it, you know, you know, talking, you know, the
total house settlement. We got to stay in our lane.
We got to make sure we can compete where we can.
We can't we can't you know, grow certain things at
the you know, at the detriment of other programs within
our university and certainly within our athletic department. We're fortunate
this year that every one of our programs saw on

(04:54):
increase in budget this year. We were able to do
that through some cost cutting measures but also some increased
rev new generation. We need to continue to generate revenue,
but we also need to stay in our lane and
realize as the house settlement, as revenue share becomes real
for all of us. You know, we're not in the
twenty point five million dollar game, but we need to
be in, you know, at the best in our level,

(05:14):
at the group of six level. And that's what we
strive every day, is to make sure that we can
get creative and innovative, innovative and entrepreneurial, to make sure
we can provide and compete at that level.

Speaker 1 (05:24):
Well, you made the jump from f FCS to FBS successfully.
You were you know, immediately in bowl games and contending.
So again it goes back to you being a proud
program that's always been able to compete. But what are
your thoughts on all the new proposals for a college
football playoff and the expansion and sixteen teams and you know,
even the Big Ten bringing twenty eight teams to the table.
What are your thoughts on how app State fits into

(05:44):
all that.

Speaker 2 (05:46):
Well, I think apps they just needs access, you know.
I think the important part for all of us is,
you know, is really in some ways, you know, protecting
college football, you know, and not letting it become something
that it never was intended to be, and making sure
that education still is a lead driver and everything that
we're doing. But we you know, when we look at
you know, the college football playoff and different proposals, et cetera,

(06:08):
you know, our interest is how do we gain access?
And right now we feel like, you know, if we
are the best Group of six program, we're going to
get access. And that's in the current format. You know,
if the formats grow, then hopefully our access grows. That
would seem to reason. We are you know, sixty five
to seventy programs in the Group of six, so we're
over fifty percent of what is the FBS football playing

(06:29):
institutions and those are round numbers. Of course haven't done
the exact math, but so the group of six needs
to and I think continues to have to have some
access at whatever proportional levels there might be. And I
think that's important for the continuation of college football. And
you'll see even at our level, you know, whether it's
our coaches are going to different you know schools, or

(06:50):
our players are going to different schools. I do believe
we have an intricate rule to play in the future
college football, and we don't really need to get pushed out,
not suggest that we are. We just need to continue
to have those opportunities.

Speaker 1 (07:03):
Does the new financial circumstances in college football, however you
want to frame it, does it concern you at all about,
you know, the future of non revenue sports, Olympic sports.
I bring that up because I've seen a lot of
folks the last several weeks saying, hey, this is all
great for football and men's basketball, maybe women's basketball, but
this is going to lead to sports being cut at
various universities across the country. Is that a concern you have.

Speaker 2 (07:27):
Not not an Appalachian conn I have an Appalachian you know,
everybody else has got their own budgets to manage, et cetera.
But like as I mentioned, every one of our budgets
grew this year, and that's across the board. And so
you know, as we look at roster management, increase scholarships,
you know we were able to increase scholarships, increase opportunities
for student athletes to come to Appalachian. We continue to
want to make again education as the forefront and continue

(07:50):
to provide educational opportunities for students in co curricular opportunities
so they're learning in the fields of play, but also
in the classroom.

Speaker 1 (07:57):
Anything else. You want the fans in the area, alumni
in the area to know about Friday's game before after during?
What do you want the folks out there to know
about what's happening on Friday?

Speaker 2 (08:06):
I think you just got big time college football right
here on Friday night national television. We need a lot
of folks in the stadium. I think both programs have
done well selling tickets. Still plenty of tickets available. Get
folks out there and support two great in state institutions
in Charlotte.

Speaker 1 (08:22):
Doug always a pleasure catching up. Thank you for making
the time. We'll see you Friday.

Speaker 2 (08:25):
Yeah, I appreciate it. Thank you very much. I'm great today.