Ask the AD

Courtesy WCU Sports Information. 

April's edition of "Ask the AD" by WCU Director of Athletics Randy Eaton has been posted. April 2, 2012

"It has been clearly evident that many of you, from both your questions here on “Ask the AD” and having a chance to meet you during our Catamounts Unite Tour, are extremely fired up about the changes we have made in our football program. Coach Speir, his staff, and our football student athletes have been working hard over the past few weeks during spring practice to improve both the team and the entire program as we begin this new era of Catamount Football. I would like to take this opportunity to invite all of you to this year’s Spring Game to be held on April the 14th at 1 PM. Come out and show your support for the new coaches and let our student athletes know there will be support for them and the team this fall!"

Now for questions I received this month:

Q-The turf was recently replaced (3-4 years ago) and it still has a shine/glare when the sun is on it. I was hoping that it was related to the field being new but it doesn’t seem the case. From a new point of view, how is it holding up?

A-We recently were visited by the manufacturer’s representative for the “mid-life” check-up. It seems the field is holding up well and should, at this point, make its eight to ten year life expectancy. I have heard from others about a glare the field has, but I have not seen it myself. My guess is this is due to the direction the individual fibers lay in comparison to the angle of the sun. I sense there isn’t a lot we will be able to do to fix this phenomenon.


Q-I would like to know what you plan for the soccer program at WCU? I would like your feedback on the facilities they use.

A-I finally had the chance to tour all of our facilities about two weeks ago and while not impressed, I can tell you they were not nearly as bad as I was led to believe. Yes, we do certainly have areas to address, but overall, we are neither at, nor near the bottom of, the Southern Conference when it comes to facilities. As for the soccer facilities, in particular the locker room, let me just say at my previous job at Maryland, our Women’s Soccer locker room was WORSE than what we have at Western! We do have room for improvement, but as I have said from the beginning, scholarships and operating budgets must be increased first before we can begin addressing any facility needs. Soccer, like many of our other programs, needs an influx of funding for scholarships to remain competitive in the Southern Conference. We could improve the Soccer locker room tomorrow, but unless we fund the needed scholarships, the student athletes will not come here for free.

Q-I was wondering what your plans were for the upcoming football season. I have seen so many changes made, I can hardly keep up. Everything from how tailgating is run (restrictions, parking payments, reserved parking lots, etc.) to which sideline we place our players on.

A-We are currently working on plans for the upcoming season, but many areas were addressed prior to my arrival. You may or may not know that the University established a “Tailgating Task Force” to review the policies associated with tailgating at athletic events. For the upcoming season, the Task Force recommended increasing alcohol consumption during tailgating from 3 hours to 3.5 hours prior to each game. Since all of our game times are 3:30 PM (except the Thursday night opener against Mars Hill), this means alcohol can be brought out beginning at noon on game days. The other area that was changed that will impact tailgating is doubling the number of spaces available in the Field House lot that the students use. This will be done by decreasing the number of reserved spots for each group from 6 to 3. All other lots will remain the same as they were last year, either reserved for Catamount Club members or open to the general public. All other items and areas you inquired about are still being discussed.


Q-Since there is a large alumni base in Charlotte, why do we never play Davidson in football (which is a SoCon member in every other SoCon sponsored sport) at home or away instead of playing a D-II team at home or a D-I FCS school that is further away? Also, are there any plans to play UNC-Charlotte in the future?

A-To answer your question about Davidson, we could theoretically play them, but I would NEVER travel there, just as we should never travel to a D-II school. Playing a D-II or non-scholarship program (such as Davidson) actually hurts us, to some degree, with the committee that selects the at-large FCS playoff teams. Playing a D-I FCS program gives us a better “strength of schedule” in the eyes of the selection committee versus playing a D-II or non-scholarship program. As for Charlotte, we are currently discussing a home and home series with them in the coming years.