August 29, 2025 • 18 mins
Mike Hill, the athletic director for the Charlotte 49ers, joins the guys at the Doghouse to talk about the matchup for the football program against App State tonight, the hire of Tim Albin as the football coach and the renovations that Jerry Richardson Stadium is undergoing.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Mike Hill.
Speaker 2 (00:00):
He's in studio with us, the athletic director of your
Charlotte forty nine Ers.
Speaker 1 (00:04):
Mike, how are you doing. I'm doing great, man, Thanks
for having me this well awesome.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
I mean, you're a busy man today, so I really
appreciate you stopping by and being here in person.
Speaker 1 (00:12):
It's great to see you.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
And I know if I didn't see you dance a
little bit, but I saw you moving and grooving and
tapping the foot because of how excited you are.
Speaker 3 (00:20):
I mean, listen, I had a hard time sleeping last night.
It's like Christmas Eve, Christmas Day now, and uh I
had to come by the doghouse, you know that. I
was like, I've had a busy day so far. Started
out out at frank List part and watch our cross
country teams compete and their only regular season home meet
of the year. They beat the Tar Hills, by the way,
pretty well you start any Our volleyball teams open up
(00:40):
their season today too, So a lot of stuff happening.
But obviously, sitting here staring at Bank of America Stadium,
how can you not be fired up?
Speaker 2 (00:47):
Charlotte forty nine Ers athletic director Mike Hill joining us
in the studios here at the Doghouse. Power to buy
Jack Daniels, Mike, we were talking about it off, Mike,
just how monster of a win this would be. I
think it would be the biggest win in program history
if they were able to pull this thing off today
against a state. When you open up a season with
this type of opponent, one, it's a local rivalry that
(01:09):
you have tried to breed here by scheduling APP, getting
in touch with Doug Gillen and making this thing happen.
But now it happening Nboa for the first time Charlotte
has ever played a game here. What does it mean
for you as an ad to open up a season like.
Speaker 3 (01:21):
This, Well, you want to play in games that are
meaningful and you want your fans to get excited about
your opponents, right, and college football is rooted in regional rivalries.
And yeah, we're a younger program or app State's been
playing for one hundred plus years, We've been playing for
roughly a dozen, you know. But the bottom line is
there an hour forty five minutes up the road, a
lot of student high school students, you know, go to
(01:44):
APP or go to Charlotte.
Speaker 1 (01:46):
Their friends, They know each other.
Speaker 3 (01:47):
You've got alumni bases that are you know, connected in
a lot of ways. Now, we have one hundred thousand
alums who live in this city. I think they've got
they've got roughly eighteen to twenty. They've got a nice
alumni base here, but we have about five times the number.
So this is our city, okay, and so we want
to defend you know, our turf here. And to play
a game like this means a lot because it's the
first of a six game series that we've scheduled with
(02:09):
app State, because that this series matters, playing ECU matters,
you know. Obviously we got the Carolina game coming up.
Playing games that fans get juiced about. That's what it's about.
You said, defend our city.
Speaker 2 (02:21):
It's the thing that you have really been emphatic on
ever since you were named the athletic director.
Speaker 1 (02:26):
I was that twenty seventeen eighteen.
Speaker 2 (02:29):
Yeah, I think Charlotte fans really resonate with that.
Speaker 1 (02:33):
That.
Speaker 2 (02:34):
How about how about I'm sorry to wait for US West,
but I don't want to see that logo in the
city nearliest much. I want to see the Charlotte logo,
But no, the fact that you have like here we
are as an R one program. Now here we are
as a team that's getting to play at Boa. We
don't want to be the best kept secret in town.
You have been trying to put this logo out there.
I think that's what fans appreciate most right now, is
that we understand we got to pass this threshold. We
(02:57):
got to clear that hurdle, and then we can see
exactly what happens after that. But I think just was
that your number one thing you wanted to do here
with Charlotte when you took over, like just make sure
that our name was more.
Speaker 1 (03:08):
Out there than what had happened.
Speaker 3 (03:09):
There's no doubt it was about establishing our brand, establishing
our identity, identity, establishing our institution as the player. Right
and we are this great city's great university. We have
thirty two thousand students this year, record enrollment for the
third straight year, okay, and so I think our second
largest undergrad rollment in the state behind NC State. So
(03:30):
this is a major institution that is a research one university. Now, which,
by the way, you'll see on the back of our
helmets we have an R one sticker to celebrate that.
Speaker 1 (03:40):
That's a big deal. You guys worked hard on that.
I appreciate. Yeah, that's awesome, you know so.
Speaker 3 (03:43):
But the bottom line is this, Yeah, we want the
Queen City to embrace this institution and in large part,
and that's not just because we want it, but because
we have tens of thousands of our alums who live
and work in this city.
Speaker 1 (03:56):
And it's just a new day.
Speaker 3 (03:57):
I mean, I think the second closest alumni base in
Charlotte is UNC Chapel Hill and they're at about twenty
two thousand. We've got one hundred thousand, right, So come on,
this is this city's green and white. We win the
big games like we've got today and others down the
road that can really accelerate the momentum of our institution.
Speaker 4 (04:14):
Yeah, and so how important How important are factors like
that as far as that.
Speaker 1 (04:19):
Translating into attendance.
Speaker 4 (04:20):
You have so many alums around here, and then getting
them to fill that stadium on a consistent basis, it's huge.
Speaker 3 (04:27):
And look, when I got here in twenty eighteen, we
weren't drawing great crowds.
Speaker 1 (04:31):
At that time. Our student attendance was below average.
Speaker 3 (04:34):
You know, some of the excitement maybe had worn off
from the start of football. The bottom line is, you
know last year we were at or over capacity for
five of our six games and we finished with a
losing record.
Speaker 1 (04:44):
So what does that tell you?
Speaker 3 (04:45):
Yeah, well we start winning under coach album, which I
know we're going to do. You know, listen, it's this
thing is going to explode. And that's why we're adding seats.
That's why we're expanding the stadium because we need those seats.
Speaker 4 (04:57):
And so what have you liked the most about coach?
And to this point in his tenure, he's.
Speaker 1 (05:03):
A pro and he is even keel.
Speaker 3 (05:05):
He treats people the right way and you can just
tell he's got every aspect of his operation under control
in a way that you know, gives you a lot
of confidence.
Speaker 1 (05:17):
You talk.
Speaker 3 (05:18):
He and I talk a lot, obviously, and he just
has a way of communicating and I think super effective,
not just with the ad but with his players, with
his staff.
Speaker 1 (05:26):
He's hired.
Speaker 3 (05:27):
He'll tell you he's hired an elite staff. He loves
his coaching staff. And I agree. When I go to practices,
I see a lot of teaching. You know, it's not
a bunch of berating, a bunch of screaming. It is
teaching right. And if you watched his Ohio, you teams
of the last three years, ten plus wins the season
for three straight years, two time Matt Conference Coach of
the Year, Conference champs last year for the first time
(05:48):
in five decades. Disciplined, right, disciplined football team. And that
is something we have lacked and how we've played. You
look at turnover margin, you look at penalties, you look
at just how we comported ourselves in general, We've lacked
that and that's I think it's going to be a
new day under him, and that's his that's his motivation
and Mike.
Speaker 4 (06:06):
It gets competitive with fans players, we know that coaches,
but how competitive does it get with a d's I mean,
are you going to be looking across the sideline and
Doug Gillen and you got to score test down or
you just look at him and give him a little
fist pump. Or you talked about the stadium expansion and
you might call one of your ad buddies and you're like, yeah,
you know we're getting that new expansion coming up.
Speaker 1 (06:25):
You better catch up to hus I love that man.
We should start talking.
Speaker 3 (06:29):
Smack started throwing some elbow that would make me instead
of being these like stiff guys in suits, right, I
like that. Now, you know Doug Doug Gillen. Actually, Doug's
one of my best friends in the business, so you know.
And also I'm a big believer. If you talk smack,
it comes back and bite you in the butt. So
I'm not a big smack talker. I just want our
team to do the talking on the field.
Speaker 1 (06:49):
We truly have.
Speaker 3 (06:51):
How can you not respect that football program what they've accomplished, right,
I mean, so much success at app State, and they've
they've done it the right way, right. But yeah, we
want to take care of business and I hope it.
I love Doug to death, but I hope he goes
home tonight and he's unhappy.
Speaker 1 (07:05):
One percent unhappy. Appy is what we today.
Speaker 2 (07:08):
West and Walker Sports rated ninety two seven WFNZ, Charlotte
forty Nineers athletic director Mike Hill joining us here live
at the Doghouse. I want to talk more about scheduling
because it's interesting to me the mindset of an athletic director.
Right here, you are in charge of scheduling. Oftentimes you
have to schedule five years in advance. It's that kind
of crazy, But also you want to focus on local rivalries.
You just talked about how that breeds passion for college football.
(07:32):
How do you mix and match what you do by
scheduling a Georgia while also scheduling an app state. You
got ECU, We got that taken care of being in
the same conference, but even facing some of these other
schools around football basketball, what are the boxes you want
to cross off when trying to find your opponents.
Speaker 3 (07:48):
Well, you know, in the end, again, you want to
play games that your fans get fired up about that
they want to come see. Now, first, the first team
you wanted to come see is your own right, you
want to be excited about the Niners. But you know,
you want to play competition that's quality, who they recognize.
And some of these games, many of these games on
football particular, non conference were scheduled while we were still
in Conference USA. And Conference USA was a fantastic home
(08:09):
for us. We will always be grateful for what they
did to give us an opportunity to start football at
the FBS level, But the reality is we did not
have as much in common. We're playing you know, UTEP,
and we're playing Louisiana Tech. These are great programs, right,
but it just did not resonate with our fan base
the way this league does. Now we're playing Army, you know,
we're playing Navy, We're playing Memphis, that we're playing USF
(08:31):
who you saw what they did last night to Boise
State in addition to the non conference games. So you know,
we've finished up this home and home now in North
Carolina coming up here next weekend.
Speaker 1 (08:40):
We've got NC State on the schedule in the future.
Speaker 3 (08:42):
Next year we have Lane Kiffin and the Old Miss
Rebels coming to our campus, probably a top ten, top
fifteen team coming to our stadium. Those are games that
I think elevate the profile of our program and people go,
oh dang, the Niners are. They're playing at the highest level.
So that's the goal in the end, is the play
opponents that you're fans get.
Speaker 2 (09:00):
Jett feels like that's something you really wanted to do
early as well, Like as soon as you came over,
it felt like we were seeing these recognizable logos all
over the place, and who you were scheduling And speaking
of recognizable logos, Duke's mayo around here, damn recognizable in
the South. Here you are playing app State in it.
How did that ball get rolling? Did you want it?
Did you contact charlot Sports Foundation? Were they looking around
(09:23):
and they contact you? How did that all come about?
Speaker 1 (09:25):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (09:25):
So, you know Will Pitts, who runs that organization now
and Danny Morrison before him, who's still involved with the organization,
are fantastic partners. You know, they put on the ACC Championship,
They've been putting on this game for years, and we've
had conversations casual.
Speaker 1 (09:38):
And more so over the years.
Speaker 3 (09:40):
You know, there was there was an obvious awareness that
they had that we were going to look to play
app state more and so when an opportunity came about
for this year a few years ago, you know, we
kind of planted that seed with them and they were
very excited and interested in it, and in the end
they had to make the decision because they're the ones
who this is their game. They run the game, they
mark get the game, they sell the game. And we're
(10:02):
so grateful to them and to the volunteer leadership Johnny
Harris and Andrew Smith and the whole Charlotte Sports Foundation
board for giving us this platform in this offer. You
think about all the programs that have run through this
stadium in this game. You've had Tennessee, You've had West Virginia,
You've had Clemson, you've had Georgia. I mean, this is
a big opportunity for us to play, you know, in
our home NFL team stadium, the Panthers. We love the Panthers,
(10:25):
and now we get to play on their field and
try to represent our city.
Speaker 4 (10:28):
And Mike, you talked about getting the alums and gage
and all the things you're doing to get Charlotte's name
out there and to be able to get those players.
Because I'm a wake for as guy, but I've always
cheered for Charlotte all my life and I've always wanted
to see them do good. How Charlotte evolved in continuing
to evolve in the NIL space.
Speaker 3 (10:45):
Yeah, so obviously NIL has completely turned our whole enterprise
on its head here in the last two or three years,
you know. And this is the first year ever where
institution schools can actually directly have NIL deals with their players.
So on July the first, how settlement passed and it
was effective this new academic year. Our compliance director has
a picture of me signing an NIL contract with one
(11:08):
of our student athletes, and she said this is for posterity.
Speaker 1 (11:10):
And I said, Katie, you know that like two years ago,
I would have.
Speaker 3 (11:13):
Been banned from the industry for scientists things, which is
the truth, you know. But the fact is what we
have done is we're taking dollars that we generate from
our conference revenues largely funded by ESPN and TV right
which they ESPN pays our league for basketball and football,
that's what they're.
Speaker 1 (11:30):
Paying us for.
Speaker 3 (11:31):
We're using a lot of those dollars to roster build,
is what we call it, for football and basketball especially.
And you have to if you don't, you have no shot, right,
you have to have those dollars to be able to
recruit and a compete.
Speaker 4 (11:42):
Yeah, and I think Charlotte has a ton to offer.
I've been saying that for quite a while. So what
are some of the things that maybe you've seen as
coaching staff do or that Charlotte is doing as a
whole to be able to attract the Charlotte athlete because
we have more walking around here than ever.
Speaker 3 (11:57):
Well, one thing we've learned very quickly all of our
sports is if you get an athlete to our campus
to visit, our clothes rate is super high because they're
blown away by the campus.
Speaker 1 (12:08):
It's an absolutely gorgeous camp but.
Speaker 3 (12:10):
It looks like an acc or SEC campus, right, I mean,
it really does, and so that that's half the battle.
But I think also the fact that we've got an
institution now that has such a great reputation academically. We're
top eighty university now in the country. Like we said before,
R One University. We've got our Evergreen Facilities master plan.
And it's not just talk. People see we're breaking ground now.
(12:30):
We're going to build a tower at that stadium. So
things are happening. And for us to attract at kay
like Tim Albin to come lead our football program, that
sent a signal across the country.
Speaker 1 (12:39):
Oh, Charlotte, sirius right.
Speaker 3 (12:41):
And I had texts from ads across the country, friends
of mine saying how did you get him?
Speaker 1 (12:45):
And knock on wood. I'm just glad we did.
Speaker 3 (12:48):
I'm not sure how we did, right, but no, I
think it was timing and I think he was attracted
to the opportunity.
Speaker 4 (12:53):
I was worried that we wouldn't get him there and
that had to feel good though, for you to be
getting those texts from your peers to say, man to
let you know what a great hire that was.
Speaker 3 (13:00):
Now, it did feel good. It certainly validated what we believed.
And you know the fact that we could attract Tim
Albn to come to this program. I mean, there were
a lot of programs interested in hiring him, and so
we're so grateful to him and his wife, Brooke, who
loved this area to want to come here to build
this thing.
Speaker 2 (13:15):
He also told us yesterday that when he was meeting
with the Chancellor, he was saying, now, I do feel
like the football program is the front porch. And he
said that he hadn't said this to anybody yet that
he was going to say for the first time on
our airway.
Speaker 1 (13:27):
So we appreciate that excit.
Speaker 2 (13:29):
But he did say he feels like the football program
is almost like the front porch, essentially serving as the
welcome matt to growing a university. And he said he
felt like he got great vibes in return from Chancellor
and got great vibes in return on Yes, absolutely believing
in that, and so it felt like the right fit
for him. And a lot of that can sound like
hash posh whatever. Okay, oh yeah, the vibes felt right.
(13:51):
Look man, all you hear is you saying that. Tim
Albin mentions that as well, it did feel like the
perfect marriage. Now we just got to get victories out
there on the football field, but all the stuff that
makes you feel good beforehand feels like we're checking all
those boxes off.
Speaker 3 (14:04):
Now you're one hundred percent right, And everything he said
about that meeting is true. To have Chancellor Gaber in
the room to have a chance to meet him and
for us to have a chance to really talk about
the opportunity, you could feel it. You could sense this
guy really is genuinely interested in this job, and so
we're so excited.
Speaker 1 (14:22):
To have him.
Speaker 2 (14:22):
You mentioned with you guys just breaking ground on some
of the renovations going over there. Jerry Richardson Stadium, August
twenty seventh, just a couple of days ago, is.
Speaker 1 (14:29):
When that happened.
Speaker 2 (14:30):
You mentioned why, Okay, this is why we're expanding, because
we're about to take off because we are so confident
in our football program taking that next step. I just
want to talk about the pressure part of your job,
because I mean, you've got so many things that you're
trying to juggle as the athletic director, and here we
are expanding with the hopes of this football program growing
(14:50):
as much as it is, how much does it rely
on this higher like, how much does the success and
how much of that decision making progress? I guess how
much does it come down to the confidence that this
is going to be the right hire and some of
the other decisions that you make within the athletic department
go right.
Speaker 3 (15:06):
Well, I think hiring Tim Alban was obviously a critical
hire for our football program, and the timing was just right.
We have to have our house in order as we
expand the stadium and begin selling those seats, right, this
is a chance for us now to be able to
connect with corporate Charlotte and individuals who want premium seats.
Now we're adding regular seats as well, but we're for
the first time gonna have suites. We're gonna have club seats,
(15:27):
We're gonna have loads in ledge boxes, the kind of
seats you see it wake in Clemson and other programs
like that. Right, So you have to have that and
what happens from that revenue is we can plow that
back into the football program, right, So it's all interconnected
right for it to work, so, and I think Tim
saw that as an opportunity I said this to him
at the groundbreaking two days ago. I said, man, your
(15:48):
timing was pretty good because you get here and now
we're breaking ground on a brand new.
Speaker 1 (15:51):
Building where we're also going to feed the team year around.
Speaker 3 (15:54):
We don't have a training table right now, so those
guys are going to spend seventy million bucks. You'd like
to use it more than six games a year, so
we'll use a year round to feed our guys. You know,
they can meet up there. So it's just it's the
synergy behind the higher The timing of the stadium expansion
could not be more perfect.
Speaker 1 (16:10):
And then Mike up here.
Speaker 4 (16:12):
We loved Charlotte basketball, obviously Walker does as an alum,
and so we know that football looks to be in
a great space right now. Basketball, what do you feel
like that is at right now as we you know,
it's a little bit of a ways off, but it'll
be up on us before you know it.
Speaker 3 (16:25):
Well, I'm look, I love basketball. I mean, you guys
know my background and having worked with the people I
work with in my past, and basketball is important to
me into this program, into this university. I know basketball
is in the DNA of this place. Basketball is here
long before football ever was right. So we have a
lot of our fan base who are super passionate about
our basketball program and it needs to be successful. And
(16:47):
Aaron Fern in his first year did an off the
charts job.
Speaker 1 (16:50):
Right.
Speaker 3 (16:51):
We're picked next to last. We finished the game out
of first. I mean, it was an incredible run, incredible year.
Speaker 2 (16:56):
You were delta tough hand, by the way. You don't
have to say it, but you were delta tough hand.
Speaker 1 (17:00):
Situation.
Speaker 3 (17:00):
It was really it was really difficult, you know. And
then you look at last year. We took a step
back because we lose three guys who end up starting
at the Power four level IGOR leagues for Tennessee top
five team. He's starting there, dj Leave starts for a
top ten Iowa state team and Lukai Leaves to start
from Minnesota to the point guard. So that we were decimated,
you know by that. And so but what I can
(17:21):
tell you is that we have committed major dollars to
build this roster.
Speaker 1 (17:26):
And I know this.
Speaker 3 (17:27):
Aaron Fern can flat out coach, he can develop talent,
and I'll put him against anybody on the sidelines of
a game day to make the strategic decisions necessary to win.
Speaker 1 (17:36):
A game.
Speaker 3 (17:36):
So you know, I can't I can't wait for basketball.
I'm excited first to get football going. But yes, we
got some great games on the schedule, two in basketball,
so it's gonna be a fun year.
Speaker 4 (17:45):
Yeah, I just wanted to know. We don't want to
get too far ahead. Baby, it's football.
Speaker 1 (17:48):
Yeah, no, I'm with you. It starts.
Speaker 2 (17:50):
It starts in a little over four hours, seven o'clock
kick at Bank of America Stadium.
Speaker 1 (17:55):
It's time Duke's Mayo class.
Speaker 4 (17:57):
What are some of the things that you guys have
out here for the alumni to do pre game.
Speaker 3 (18:01):
Yeah, so we've got we've got a couple of different
gathering spots around the stadium here, which is really awesome.
So we've got uh fans on the other side of
the stadium over at Clutch and we've got some lots
we reserve for our students.
Speaker 1 (18:11):
You know. And and if you notice, you probably got
didn't notice because you're in the city.
Speaker 3 (18:15):
But as you come in the city, we've got billboards
all over the place to say welcome a Niner territory
because we want to make sure our friends from the
Mountain see that.
Speaker 1 (18:22):
So they're coming to Niner territory
Mike Hill.
Speaker 2 (00:00):
He's in studio with us, the athletic director of your
Charlotte forty nine Ers.
Speaker 1 (00:04):
Mike, how are you doing. I'm doing great, man, Thanks
for having me this well awesome.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
I mean, you're a busy man today, so I really
appreciate you stopping by and being here in person.
Speaker 1 (00:12):
It's great to see you.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
And I know if I didn't see you dance a
little bit, but I saw you moving and grooving and
tapping the foot because of how excited you are.
Speaker 3 (00:20):
I mean, listen, I had a hard time sleeping last night.
It's like Christmas Eve, Christmas Day now, and uh I
had to come by the doghouse, you know that. I
was like, I've had a busy day so far. Started
out out at frank List part and watch our cross
country teams compete and their only regular season home meet
of the year. They beat the Tar Hills, by the way,
pretty well you start any Our volleyball teams open up
(00:40):
their season today too, So a lot of stuff happening.
But obviously, sitting here staring at Bank of America Stadium,
how can you not be fired up?
Speaker 2 (00:47):
Charlotte forty nine Ers athletic director Mike Hill joining us
in the studios here at the Doghouse. Power to buy
Jack Daniels, Mike, we were talking about it off, Mike,
just how monster of a win this would be. I
think it would be the biggest win in program history
if they were able to pull this thing off today
against a state. When you open up a season with
this type of opponent, one, it's a local rivalry that
(01:09):
you have tried to breed here by scheduling APP, getting
in touch with Doug Gillen and making this thing happen.
But now it happening Nboa for the first time Charlotte
has ever played a game here. What does it mean
for you as an ad to open up a season like.
Speaker 3 (01:21):
This, Well, you want to play in games that are
meaningful and you want your fans to get excited about
your opponents, right, and college football is rooted in regional rivalries.
And yeah, we're a younger program or app State's been
playing for one hundred plus years, We've been playing for
roughly a dozen, you know. But the bottom line is
there an hour forty five minutes up the road, a
lot of student high school students, you know, go to
(01:44):
APP or go to Charlotte.
Speaker 1 (01:46):
Their friends, They know each other.
Speaker 3 (01:47):
You've got alumni bases that are you know, connected in
a lot of ways. Now, we have one hundred thousand
alums who live in this city. I think they've got
they've got roughly eighteen to twenty. They've got a nice
alumni base here, but we have about five times the number.
So this is our city, okay, and so we want
to defend you know, our turf here. And to play
a game like this means a lot because it's the
first of a six game series that we've scheduled with
(02:09):
app State, because that this series matters, playing ECU matters,
you know. Obviously we got the Carolina game coming up.
Playing games that fans get juiced about. That's what it's about.
You said, defend our city.
Speaker 2 (02:21):
It's the thing that you have really been emphatic on
ever since you were named the athletic director.
Speaker 1 (02:26):
I was that twenty seventeen eighteen.
Speaker 2 (02:29):
Yeah, I think Charlotte fans really resonate with that.
Speaker 1 (02:33):
That.
Speaker 2 (02:34):
How about how about I'm sorry to wait for US West,
but I don't want to see that logo in the
city nearliest much. I want to see the Charlotte logo,
But no, the fact that you have like here we
are as an R one program. Now here we are
as a team that's getting to play at Boa. We
don't want to be the best kept secret in town.
You have been trying to put this logo out there.
I think that's what fans appreciate most right now, is
that we understand we got to pass this threshold. We
(02:57):
got to clear that hurdle, and then we can see
exactly what happens after that. But I think just was
that your number one thing you wanted to do here
with Charlotte when you took over, like just make sure
that our name was more.
Speaker 1 (03:08):
Out there than what had happened.
Speaker 3 (03:09):
There's no doubt it was about establishing our brand, establishing
our identity, identity, establishing our institution as the player. Right
and we are this great city's great university. We have
thirty two thousand students this year, record enrollment for the
third straight year, okay, and so I think our second
largest undergrad rollment in the state behind NC State. So
(03:30):
this is a major institution that is a research one university. Now, which,
by the way, you'll see on the back of our
helmets we have an R one sticker to celebrate that.
Speaker 1 (03:40):
That's a big deal. You guys worked hard on that.
I appreciate. Yeah, that's awesome, you know so.
Speaker 3 (03:43):
But the bottom line is this, Yeah, we want the
Queen City to embrace this institution and in large part,
and that's not just because we want it, but because
we have tens of thousands of our alums who live
and work in this city.
Speaker 1 (03:56):
And it's just a new day.
Speaker 3 (03:57):
I mean, I think the second closest alumni base in
Charlotte is UNC Chapel Hill and they're at about twenty
two thousand. We've got one hundred thousand, right, So come on,
this is this city's green and white. We win the
big games like we've got today and others down the
road that can really accelerate the momentum of our institution.
Speaker 4 (04:14):
Yeah, and so how important How important are factors like
that as far as that.
Speaker 1 (04:19):
Translating into attendance.
Speaker 4 (04:20):
You have so many alums around here, and then getting
them to fill that stadium on a consistent basis, it's huge.
Speaker 3 (04:27):
And look, when I got here in twenty eighteen, we
weren't drawing great crowds.
Speaker 1 (04:31):
At that time. Our student attendance was below average.
Speaker 3 (04:34):
You know, some of the excitement maybe had worn off
from the start of football. The bottom line is, you
know last year we were at or over capacity for
five of our six games and we finished with a
losing record.
Speaker 1 (04:44):
So what does that tell you?
Speaker 3 (04:45):
Yeah, well we start winning under coach album, which I
know we're going to do. You know, listen, it's this
thing is going to explode. And that's why we're adding seats.
That's why we're expanding the stadium because we need those seats.
Speaker 4 (04:57):
And so what have you liked the most about coach?
And to this point in his tenure, he's.
Speaker 1 (05:03):
A pro and he is even keel.
Speaker 3 (05:05):
He treats people the right way and you can just
tell he's got every aspect of his operation under control
in a way that you know, gives you a lot
of confidence.
Speaker 1 (05:17):
You talk.
Speaker 3 (05:18):
He and I talk a lot, obviously, and he just
has a way of communicating and I think super effective,
not just with the ad but with his players, with
his staff.
Speaker 1 (05:26):
He's hired.
Speaker 3 (05:27):
He'll tell you he's hired an elite staff. He loves
his coaching staff. And I agree. When I go to practices,
I see a lot of teaching. You know, it's not
a bunch of berating, a bunch of screaming. It is
teaching right. And if you watched his Ohio, you teams
of the last three years, ten plus wins the season
for three straight years, two time Matt Conference Coach of
the Year, Conference champs last year for the first time
(05:48):
in five decades. Disciplined, right, disciplined football team. And that
is something we have lacked and how we've played. You
look at turnover margin, you look at penalties, you look
at just how we comported ourselves in general, We've lacked
that and that's I think it's going to be a
new day under him, and that's his that's his motivation
and Mike.
Speaker 4 (06:06):
It gets competitive with fans players, we know that coaches,
but how competitive does it get with a d's I mean,
are you going to be looking across the sideline and
Doug Gillen and you got to score test down or
you just look at him and give him a little
fist pump. Or you talked about the stadium expansion and
you might call one of your ad buddies and you're like, yeah,
you know we're getting that new expansion coming up.
Speaker 1 (06:25):
You better catch up to hus I love that man.
We should start talking.
Speaker 3 (06:29):
Smack started throwing some elbow that would make me instead
of being these like stiff guys in suits, right, I
like that. Now, you know Doug Doug Gillen. Actually, Doug's
one of my best friends in the business, so you know.
And also I'm a big believer. If you talk smack,
it comes back and bite you in the butt. So
I'm not a big smack talker. I just want our
team to do the talking on the field.
Speaker 1 (06:49):
We truly have.
Speaker 3 (06:51):
How can you not respect that football program what they've accomplished, right,
I mean, so much success at app State, and they've
they've done it the right way, right. But yeah, we
want to take care of business and I hope it.
I love Doug to death, but I hope he goes
home tonight and he's unhappy.
Speaker 1 (07:05):
One percent unhappy. Appy is what we today.
Speaker 2 (07:08):
West and Walker Sports rated ninety two seven WFNZ, Charlotte
forty Nineers athletic director Mike Hill joining us here live
at the Doghouse. I want to talk more about scheduling
because it's interesting to me the mindset of an athletic director.
Right here, you are in charge of scheduling. Oftentimes you
have to schedule five years in advance. It's that kind
of crazy, But also you want to focus on local rivalries.
You just talked about how that breeds passion for college football.
(07:32):
How do you mix and match what you do by
scheduling a Georgia while also scheduling an app state. You
got ECU, We got that taken care of being in
the same conference, but even facing some of these other
schools around football basketball, what are the boxes you want
to cross off when trying to find your opponents.
Speaker 3 (07:48):
Well, you know, in the end, again, you want to
play games that your fans get fired up about that
they want to come see. Now, first, the first team
you wanted to come see is your own right, you
want to be excited about the Niners. But you know,
you want to play competition that's quality, who they recognize.
And some of these games, many of these games on
football particular, non conference were scheduled while we were still
in Conference USA. And Conference USA was a fantastic home
(08:09):
for us. We will always be grateful for what they
did to give us an opportunity to start football at
the FBS level, But the reality is we did not
have as much in common. We're playing you know, UTEP,
and we're playing Louisiana Tech. These are great programs, right,
but it just did not resonate with our fan base
the way this league does. Now we're playing Army, you know,
we're playing Navy, We're playing Memphis, that we're playing USF
(08:31):
who you saw what they did last night to Boise
State in addition to the non conference games. So you know,
we've finished up this home and home now in North
Carolina coming up here next weekend.
Speaker 1 (08:40):
We've got NC State on the schedule in the future.
Speaker 3 (08:42):
Next year we have Lane Kiffin and the Old Miss
Rebels coming to our campus, probably a top ten, top
fifteen team coming to our stadium. Those are games that
I think elevate the profile of our program and people go,
oh dang, the Niners are. They're playing at the highest level.
So that's the goal in the end, is the play
opponents that you're fans get.
Speaker 2 (09:00):
Jett feels like that's something you really wanted to do
early as well, Like as soon as you came over,
it felt like we were seeing these recognizable logos all
over the place, and who you were scheduling And speaking
of recognizable logos, Duke's mayo around here, damn recognizable in
the South. Here you are playing app State in it.
How did that ball get rolling? Did you want it?
Did you contact charlot Sports Foundation? Were they looking around
(09:23):
and they contact you? How did that all come about?
Speaker 1 (09:25):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (09:25):
So, you know Will Pitts, who runs that organization now
and Danny Morrison before him, who's still involved with the organization,
are fantastic partners. You know, they put on the ACC Championship,
They've been putting on this game for years, and we've
had conversations casual.
Speaker 1 (09:38):
And more so over the years.
Speaker 3 (09:40):
You know, there was there was an obvious awareness that
they had that we were going to look to play
app state more and so when an opportunity came about
for this year a few years ago, you know, we
kind of planted that seed with them and they were
very excited and interested in it, and in the end
they had to make the decision because they're the ones
who this is their game. They run the game, they
mark get the game, they sell the game. And we're
(10:02):
so grateful to them and to the volunteer leadership Johnny
Harris and Andrew Smith and the whole Charlotte Sports Foundation
board for giving us this platform in this offer. You
think about all the programs that have run through this
stadium in this game. You've had Tennessee, You've had West Virginia,
You've had Clemson, you've had Georgia. I mean, this is
a big opportunity for us to play, you know, in
our home NFL team stadium, the Panthers. We love the Panthers,
(10:25):
and now we get to play on their field and
try to represent our city.
Speaker 4 (10:28):
And Mike, you talked about getting the alums and gage
and all the things you're doing to get Charlotte's name
out there and to be able to get those players.
Because I'm a wake for as guy, but I've always
cheered for Charlotte all my life and I've always wanted
to see them do good. How Charlotte evolved in continuing
to evolve in the NIL space.
Speaker 3 (10:45):
Yeah, so obviously NIL has completely turned our whole enterprise
on its head here in the last two or three years,
you know. And this is the first year ever where
institution schools can actually directly have NIL deals with their players.
So on July the first, how settlement passed and it
was effective this new academic year. Our compliance director has
a picture of me signing an NIL contract with one
(11:08):
of our student athletes, and she said this is for posterity.
Speaker 1 (11:10):
And I said, Katie, you know that like two years ago,
I would have.
Speaker 3 (11:13):
Been banned from the industry for scientists things, which is
the truth, you know. But the fact is what we
have done is we're taking dollars that we generate from
our conference revenues largely funded by ESPN and TV right
which they ESPN pays our league for basketball and football,
that's what they're.
Speaker 1 (11:30):
Paying us for.
Speaker 3 (11:31):
We're using a lot of those dollars to roster build,
is what we call it, for football and basketball especially.
And you have to if you don't, you have no shot, right,
you have to have those dollars to be able to
recruit and a compete.
Speaker 4 (11:42):
Yeah, and I think Charlotte has a ton to offer.
I've been saying that for quite a while. So what
are some of the things that maybe you've seen as
coaching staff do or that Charlotte is doing as a
whole to be able to attract the Charlotte athlete because
we have more walking around here than ever.
Speaker 3 (11:57):
Well, one thing we've learned very quickly all of our
sports is if you get an athlete to our campus
to visit, our clothes rate is super high because they're
blown away by the campus.
Speaker 1 (12:08):
It's an absolutely gorgeous camp but.
Speaker 3 (12:10):
It looks like an acc or SEC campus, right, I mean,
it really does, and so that that's half the battle.
But I think also the fact that we've got an
institution now that has such a great reputation academically. We're
top eighty university now in the country. Like we said before,
R One University. We've got our Evergreen Facilities master plan.
And it's not just talk. People see we're breaking ground now.
(12:30):
We're going to build a tower at that stadium. So
things are happening. And for us to attract at kay
like Tim Albin to come lead our football program, that
sent a signal across the country.
Speaker 1 (12:39):
Oh, Charlotte, sirius right.
Speaker 3 (12:41):
And I had texts from ads across the country, friends
of mine saying how did you get him?
Speaker 1 (12:45):
And knock on wood. I'm just glad we did.
Speaker 3 (12:48):
I'm not sure how we did, right, but no, I
think it was timing and I think he was attracted
to the opportunity.
Speaker 4 (12:53):
I was worried that we wouldn't get him there and
that had to feel good though, for you to be
getting those texts from your peers to say, man to
let you know what a great hire that was.
Speaker 3 (13:00):
Now, it did feel good. It certainly validated what we believed.
And you know the fact that we could attract Tim
Albn to come to this program. I mean, there were
a lot of programs interested in hiring him, and so
we're so grateful to him and his wife, Brooke, who
loved this area to want to come here to build
this thing.
Speaker 2 (13:15):
He also told us yesterday that when he was meeting
with the Chancellor, he was saying, now, I do feel
like the football program is the front porch. And he
said that he hadn't said this to anybody yet that
he was going to say for the first time on
our airway.
Speaker 1 (13:27):
So we appreciate that excit.
Speaker 2 (13:29):
But he did say he feels like the football program
is almost like the front porch, essentially serving as the
welcome matt to growing a university. And he said he
felt like he got great vibes in return from Chancellor
and got great vibes in return on Yes, absolutely believing
in that, and so it felt like the right fit
for him. And a lot of that can sound like
hash posh whatever. Okay, oh yeah, the vibes felt right.
(13:51):
Look man, all you hear is you saying that. Tim
Albin mentions that as well, it did feel like the
perfect marriage. Now we just got to get victories out
there on the football field, but all the stuff that
makes you feel good beforehand feels like we're checking all
those boxes off.
Speaker 3 (14:04):
Now you're one hundred percent right, And everything he said
about that meeting is true. To have Chancellor Gaber in
the room to have a chance to meet him and
for us to have a chance to really talk about
the opportunity, you could feel it. You could sense this
guy really is genuinely interested in this job, and so
we're so excited.
Speaker 1 (14:22):
To have him.
Speaker 2 (14:22):
You mentioned with you guys just breaking ground on some
of the renovations going over there. Jerry Richardson Stadium, August
twenty seventh, just a couple of days ago, is.
Speaker 1 (14:29):
When that happened.
Speaker 2 (14:30):
You mentioned why, Okay, this is why we're expanding, because
we're about to take off because we are so confident
in our football program taking that next step. I just
want to talk about the pressure part of your job,
because I mean, you've got so many things that you're
trying to juggle as the athletic director, and here we
are expanding with the hopes of this football program growing
(14:50):
as much as it is, how much does it rely
on this higher like, how much does the success and
how much of that decision making progress? I guess how
much does it come down to the confidence that this
is going to be the right hire and some of
the other decisions that you make within the athletic department
go right.
Speaker 3 (15:06):
Well, I think hiring Tim Alban was obviously a critical
hire for our football program, and the timing was just right.
We have to have our house in order as we
expand the stadium and begin selling those seats, right, this
is a chance for us now to be able to
connect with corporate Charlotte and individuals who want premium seats.
Now we're adding regular seats as well, but we're for
the first time gonna have suites. We're gonna have club seats,
(15:27):
We're gonna have loads in ledge boxes, the kind of
seats you see it wake in Clemson and other programs
like that. Right, So you have to have that and
what happens from that revenue is we can plow that
back into the football program, right, So it's all interconnected
right for it to work, so, and I think Tim
saw that as an opportunity I said this to him
at the groundbreaking two days ago. I said, man, your
(15:48):
timing was pretty good because you get here and now
we're breaking ground on a brand new.
Speaker 1 (15:51):
Building where we're also going to feed the team year around.
Speaker 3 (15:54):
We don't have a training table right now, so those
guys are going to spend seventy million bucks. You'd like
to use it more than six games a year, so
we'll use a year round to feed our guys. You know,
they can meet up there. So it's just it's the
synergy behind the higher The timing of the stadium expansion
could not be more perfect.
Speaker 1 (16:10):
And then Mike up here.
Speaker 4 (16:12):
We loved Charlotte basketball, obviously Walker does as an alum,
and so we know that football looks to be in
a great space right now. Basketball, what do you feel
like that is at right now as we you know,
it's a little bit of a ways off, but it'll
be up on us before you know it.
Speaker 3 (16:25):
Well, I'm look, I love basketball. I mean, you guys
know my background and having worked with the people I
work with in my past, and basketball is important to
me into this program, into this university. I know basketball
is in the DNA of this place. Basketball is here
long before football ever was right. So we have a
lot of our fan base who are super passionate about
our basketball program and it needs to be successful. And
(16:47):
Aaron Fern in his first year did an off the
charts job.
Speaker 1 (16:50):
Right.
Speaker 3 (16:51):
We're picked next to last. We finished the game out
of first. I mean, it was an incredible run, incredible year.
Speaker 2 (16:56):
You were delta tough hand, by the way. You don't
have to say it, but you were delta tough hand.
Speaker 1 (17:00):
Situation.
Speaker 3 (17:00):
It was really it was really difficult, you know. And
then you look at last year. We took a step
back because we lose three guys who end up starting
at the Power four level IGOR leagues for Tennessee top
five team. He's starting there, dj Leave starts for a
top ten Iowa state team and Lukai Leaves to start
from Minnesota to the point guard. So that we were decimated,
you know by that. And so but what I can
(17:21):
tell you is that we have committed major dollars to
build this roster.
Speaker 1 (17:26):
And I know this.
Speaker 3 (17:27):
Aaron Fern can flat out coach, he can develop talent,
and I'll put him against anybody on the sidelines of
a game day to make the strategic decisions necessary to win.
Speaker 1 (17:36):
A game.
Speaker 3 (17:36):
So you know, I can't I can't wait for basketball.
I'm excited first to get football going. But yes, we
got some great games on the schedule, two in basketball,
so it's gonna be a fun year.
Speaker 4 (17:45):
Yeah, I just wanted to know. We don't want to
get too far ahead. Baby, it's football.
Speaker 1 (17:48):
Yeah, no, I'm with you. It starts.
Speaker 2 (17:50):
It starts in a little over four hours, seven o'clock
kick at Bank of America Stadium.
Speaker 1 (17:55):
It's time Duke's Mayo class.
Speaker 4 (17:57):
What are some of the things that you guys have
out here for the alumni to do pre game.
Speaker 3 (18:01):
Yeah, so we've got we've got a couple of different
gathering spots around the stadium here, which is really awesome.
So we've got uh fans on the other side of
the stadium over at Clutch and we've got some lots
we reserve for our students.
Speaker 1 (18:11):
You know. And and if you notice, you probably got
didn't notice because you're in the city.
Speaker 3 (18:15):
But as you come in the city, we've got billboards
all over the place to say welcome a Niner territory
because we want to make sure our friends from the
Mountain see that.
Speaker 1 (18:22):
So they're coming to Niner territory
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