I know we hit a bit of a bump in the road when the bids came back a bit higher than expected, but Pete Boone, George Smith and the Chancellor are very optimistic about getting this project done. Q: What are your thoughts on the planned expansion?Ī: I’m very excited about it.
When people walk on campus and see our facilities and the hitting complex and the renderings of the facility that will be built when they see the weight room at the Indoor Practice Facility and they see the FedEx Academic Center, I think they know we are committed to excellence here and having the best baseball program in the country.
As you continue to upgrade the facilities and the weight rooms and other things associated with the program year in and year out, not only are you keeping up with the rest of the league and the country, but you’re also impacting that program directly through a lot of different channels. It’s not just recruiting, but it affects the perception of the program. But they expanded and added nicer seats and more people came to games. I was told when I got here that we used to draw 25 to 30 thousand fans and there was no need to expand the stadium. It’s all very subjective, but there is no question that it affects it and has an impact on everything we do, from recruiting to how we play to how many fans we draw. What kind of effect can facilities play in recruiting and impact can they have on a program as a whole?Ī: The difficult thing is that there is no specific measuring stick. Q: Athletics has become kind of an arms race in recent years as schools continue to upgrade facilities and other things surrounding athletics programs.
But that means you are doing something right if that’s the emotion. Someone made the comment that it’s remarkable that people can feel down after a third straight 40-win season and a third straight Super Regional. No one wants to get to Omaha and win a national championship more than myself, the staff or these players. Although we’re not there yet, we continue to strive and the expectations are higher than they ever have been.
We’ve come a long way, but ultimately our goal is to get to the College World Series and play for a national championship. We’ve been Regional hosts four straight seasons and been to three straight Super Regionals. We’ve been in the NCAA Tournament six of the last seven years and five straight seasons. We wanted people to see us as a winner and expect us to play for championships year in and year out and to be in the post-season year in and year out. One of the things that has changed, and was one of our goals when we got here, was to change the expectations for this program. Talk about where we’ve come as a program in the past seven seasons and where we’re heading in the future.Ī: A lot of things have changed over the last seven years. Q: Since you arrived on campus as the head coach seven years ago, Ole Miss baseball has experienced a renaissance of sorts.