Bit quiet around here, thought I'd throw this in here for interest's sake. On a sidenote, has anyone noticed if anything substantial has occurred over where that land was acquired? Haven't noticed anything myself but then again I haven't really looked, either.

Quote:KSU chief: Budget woes won’t improve soon

By DAN CHAPMAN

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Wednesday, April 01, 2009

The lousy economy underscored President Daniel Papp’s 2009 “state of the university” address Wednesday morning before 200 faculty, administrators and students gathered at Kennesaw State.

• The General Assembly has cut 10.5 percent, or $10 million, from the school’s budget. Consequently, fewer faculty have been hired, spending on travel and technology has been reduced and repairs delayed. Next year looks equally bleak.

• It will take longer for the school to increase library holdings and reach the desired 25:1 student/teacher ratio.

• $45 million of a proposed $75 million capital campaign has been raised.

• The legislature could approve this week $19 million for a $21 million laboratory sciences building that would begin construction next year.

• A “private individual,” Papp said in an interview, is considering paying for a multi-use sports stadium that could one day be used for football.

“Even though we are stretched painfully thin in many areas,” Papp said, “we are doing an excellent job with limited resources.”

AJC Linky

Just noticed this from the MDJ. Yes, I'm bored.

Quote:KENNESAW - KSU President Dr. Dan Papp is a fan of football for KSU, but says the time is not yet right.

"I would love to get football here, but football is extremely, extremely expensive," he said. "The worst thing you can do is start an insufficiently funded football team. So we're not going to start an insufficiently funded football team. I'm still a strong supporter of it. When we do it, we're going to do it right."

The university has overcome one hurdle toward fielding a team: land to practice on. The Kennesaw State University Foundation purchased 88 acres on the east side of Interstate 75 near the university last fall. The foundation paid about $15 million for the land, Papp said.

"It was a coup to get it," he said.

Much of the property is undeveloped, and the university plans to build nine athletic fields, jogging trails, a track and tennis courts. The area will likely be called the Student Recreation and Sports Park. Currently, the university only has 1.7 acres of field space for 21,500 students.

Student-fee revenue will help fund the development of the property, and KSU is also working on a shared-use agreement with Cobb County to help pay for some of the cost.

Another hurdle - a place to play - could also already be in the works.

Papp said KSU is in talks with a private donor who may finance a multiuse stadium on the newly-acquired property.

The 8,000-seat stadium would primarily be for soccer, but could be used for football and concerts.

Papp did say the donor is not the Arthur Blank Foundation. Late last year, that foundation applied to the Major League Soccer organization to bring a new team to the Atlanta area, and KSU was among the site prospects. But the foundation's MLS quest has since been sidelined.

But even then, the school would still have to find annual funding for football operations and for women's sports, as required by Title IX. "All this annual funding must be from non-state sources," Papp said.

"If we are to have a football team, we still have a ways to go."

Article

Good posts Sputnik. I think Papp has the right idea. He is anxious to start football, but not anxious to bankrupt the athletic department doing so. We have acquired the land, which is the huge hurdle. Now we just have to wait for the economy to turn around, and people start opening up their checkbooks again....It is a slow process, and if we try to rush it, it could be very harmful to our university and devastating to our athletic department.

The university should have done it 10 years ago. I'm over this school getting football. Screw it, throw all the money at the basketball program to get to the NCAAs and try and be a Butler or Gonzaga...

(04-03-2009 12:25 PM)Nick M Wrote:  The university should have done it 10 years ago. I'm over this school getting football. Screw it, throw all the money at the basketball program to get to the NCAAs and try and be a Butler or Gonzaga...

I 100% agree. You also forgot a couple other big name schools...Xavier and Marquette. and hell, Villanova and Georgetown spend about as much on football as the Kansas City Royals with big name free agents. In other words..not much...

(04-03-2009 02:38 PM)Owlzfan84 Wrote:  

(04-03-2009 12:25 PM)Nick M Wrote:  The university should have done it 10 years ago. I'm over this school getting football. Screw it, throw all the money at the basketball program to get to the NCAAs and try and be a Butler or Gonzaga...

I 100% agree. You also forgot a couple other big name schools...Xavier and Marquette. and hell, Villanova and Georgetown spend about as much on football as the Kansas City Royals with big name free agents. In other words..not much...

The difference being that these universities are in areas where basketball is just as popular as football. Down here, if a school wants athletic credibility then it needs a football program (to speak generally).

I'm prepared to be patient if the admin is going to get the sport on its feet properly. I'm not about to die just yet. Of course, sooner would be better than later, but I'd rather they not rush the process and end up botching it.

Did you watch what happened when GT went to the final four? I saw dawg fans hoping they'd win. Yes, there's football and spring football in the south and I agree but if you're going to lead us on and not do anything, then grow something where at least there's an automatic bid to the postseason if you win the conference.

Economic times... bleh, food court, meal plan, land expansion, parking decks, on campus housing... give me a break. This school has money flowing through it so fast it would give a cocaine junky a rush.

(04-03-2009 03:01 PM)Nick M Wrote:  Did you watch what happened when GT went to the final four? I saw dawg fans hoping they'd win. Yes, there's football and spring football in the south and I agree but if you're going to lead us on and not do anything, then grow something where at least there's an automatic bid to the postseason if you win the conference.

Economic times... bleh, food court, meal plan, land expansion, parking decks, on campus housing... give me a break. This school has money flowing through it so fast it would give a cocaine junky a rush.

Sure, basketball is popular enough down here. But it still can't hold a candle to football. Not sure how we'd go about switching conferences for basketball, but at the moment we struggle in the A-Sun (that will change, no doubt) so until we get some consistent success there, I doubt we'll switch anytime soon unless our hand is forced by the advent of football.

The university does seem flush with money - unfortunately, we can't use the money we get from the State for stadiums, the sort of money that has gone into the new buildings and so forth. Gotta hit up a few millionaires for that, and with our smaller alumni base that's a bit of a tricky proposition in these times.