Ask the AD

WCU AD Randy Eaton

The July 17, 2012 listing of  "Ask Director of Athletics Randy Eaton"

Not even a month has gone by, and you have responded in earnest to my request for more questions! Here are a few I received over the past few weeks:

Would it be possible to utilize the intramural fields for parking during football games, especially during the bi-annual Appalachian State game?

We are actually looking to use those fields this year for the Thursday night game against Mars Hill, but only as a last resort due to weekday parking limitations. The fields do have extensive irrigation systems which can be damaged or destroyed by too much vehicular traffic. My suggestion is to join the Catamount Club, thereby guaranteeing yourself a parking spot at all home games!

A lot of us in tailgating circles would like to see future football games against Southland Conference members, such as Stephan F. Austin, Sam Houston State or McNeese State. Any chance this will happen soon? 

In short, the answer is no. These games generate no additional revenue and the cost is exorbitant to take a team to schools that far away. For the immediate future, we will work with regional FCS schools in the Big South, Colonial Athletic Conference and the Ohio Valley to schedule home and home series. The teams from the Southland would not add enough additional ticket sales in the return game years to offset the cost of traveling to their place, nor would the ticket sales be enormously different than what we would generate from playing teams from these other conferences.

Why is there such a small amount of apparel available to Catamount Nation? 

From the vendors I have spoken with the one reason I hear constantly is lack of demand. I have talk to representatives at national chain stores as well as small business owners from Cullowhee to Asheville, and each one has told me the same thing, they cannot move enough inventory. We try to offset this by having an online store on our website. While we work with regional vendors to increase their inventory, I would suggest checking out our website in the meantime.

Why is the Mars Hill game slated for 8 PM kick-off? Aren’t you afraid this will hurt attendance? 

We needed to move the game back to give ourselves time between the end of the business day on campus (5 PM) and the start of the game. Had we tried to play this game any earlier we were facing major parking issues (much larger than normally experienced) due to the campus community still being at work and in class while our fans were searching for a spot to park. Although not perfect, an 8 PM start allows us to focus on the experience our fans have come to expect prior to each home game. In addition, with this being Coach Speirs’ first game, we are hoping the fans will come out regardless of what time the game begins!

Courtesy WCU Sports Information