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The State of FSU Athletics · Conversations: Special Guests with Preston Scott

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Hey, good morning and welcome. It's the third hour of the Morning Show
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with Preston Scott as we approach Show five thousand, I don't know how that
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happened. I don't know how it happened. We are gonna get to five
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thousand right after Labor Day. As of now, it's the Tuesday after Labor
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Day. It'll be show five thousand and again. I don't know how they
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haven't changed the locks on me, but we're grateful. Good to be with
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you this morning. Grant Allen over there in Studio one A running the program.
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I'm here in Studio one B, and I am joined by the athletic
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director of Florida State University que the music. Indeed, Michael Alford joins us
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for the state of the knolls and the state of the acc How are you.
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I'm doing excellent. How are you doing, proNT well, you look
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great. I don't know about that. All ten a good summer. Look
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at my age, and I think you know goals minimize, wake up,
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sit up, stand up. We've got a good day. If I get
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those three things done, it's gonna be good. Tell me, if I
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were to say now better than a year into this is Florida State Athletics trending
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where you want it to be. It's hard for me to say the answers
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no, but I'll let you answer where we're getting better across the board.
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And I really got to give a lot of credit to our coaches, believing
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in the vision, our senior staff, our university, the president allowing me,
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President mc allowing me to go and do the things I need to do
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to move the program forward. And there's a lot that goes with that,
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but really just putting forth the vision where we're going to be and even look
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in ten fifteen years, I've got to proform a financial performer with that goes
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out to twenty forty three and looking at milestones and decision trees that are going
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to come during that time period. But it's allowing me and our staff to
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go and just make the program better, invest in opportunities, have an impact
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on our student athletes, whether that's facilities, whether that's nutrition. And that's
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big for me is when I first got the athletic director job was to really
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upgrade our nutrition for our student athletes. When I first got here and just
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seeing what they were doing nutrition wise, we really need to get up to
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par with our peers, and I think we're doing it now even better than
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anyone else. So it's just identifying needs, addressing them and I still got
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a long list of things we need to identify an address. But there there
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was some instant things that I felt made us better. That's investment in our
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football program. Um, you know we needed because football is kind of a
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trickle down economic driver for all other things. I mean, we have to
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be successful there. Therefore we can fund other sports and we can have the
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student athlete experience that I cherish. Um, we can provide that to the
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other four hundred and fifty student athletes. So we need the revenue coming from
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football coming from the conference. When you look at a conference media contract,
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all right, eighty percent of that media contract is geared around the football programs
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within your conference. The other twenty percent is men's basketball, and then there's
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other sports. But when Fox, ESPN, you name it goes in to
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evaluate, that's the two elements they're looking at the numbers on what drives that
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media contract. So therefore, we need the brand to be successful. We
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need to be getting eyeballs, which we do on a national scale and pre
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soon international scale. But we are really looking at how do we grow our
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brand, which is going to have an impact on the rest of our student
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athletes for sure. When you and I first visited kind of big picture,
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we got about a minute left in this segment. I asked you about the
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checklist, the to do list when you first kind of took over the job.
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Michael, what's still on that list? What have you checked off?
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At investment in football, sitting down with coach no Orville and saying staffing wise,
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we were not staffed appropriately and asking him what he needed to staff,
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what is going to what staff is going to make a difference, and making
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sure we got that funded properly. Looking at our for some of our low
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hanging fruit facilities, the weight room hadn't been touched in twenty years, needed
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immediately going and address that. Looking at our locker room for football and needs
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to be up to par. Looking at our turf facilities, going to place
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turf across every program. We have got new field turf. So it's just
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making sure that we address some of those things that had an instant impact.
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And now what's going to face two on some things that we need to address.
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It's the Morning Show with Preston Scott, Florida State University Director of athlet
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Alex Michael Alford with us this morning on the Morning Show Phase two. What's
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that look like? Yeah, you know you you're constantly meeting with your coaches,
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Yeah, and asking them what they need to be successful and looking at
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especially with let's take Link for example. You know, and I will argue,
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you know, I love college baseball. Yeah, those whose coach Lin
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Jarrett just love it. And sitting down with him and knowing what we compete
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against and knowing that facility has not been touched, the science of that program
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has not been touched in many years compared to the investment in the last five
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ten years of other programs, and looking at what we're going to do.
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We're going to get a pitching lab. You know. We went through and
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I claim and it is the most historic collegiate baseball program in all of college
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baseball. We're missing a national championship, that's the only thing we're missing.
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But you look at the run of forty four straight years of going to the
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tournament in the Collegewood Series, and by the way, that hurts, that
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hurts, it hurt And what eleven built here and everything that comes with the
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history of this program. We didn't tell our story when you walked into Dick
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Howser. We addressed that for recruiting purposes, for the fan experience and how
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do we go about that, But now we need to take care of our
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players and getting him here, I wanted to find out what he needed.
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We're putting in a pitching clab, We're putting in the state of the art
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technology into that program. And even looking down the road about Dick Howser Stadium
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overall, um looking do we build a new one? What does that look
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like? How are we going to address that program? We could give it
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the resources that it can be successful when on a national level it is funded,
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but what is it a facility problem? What is it that we can
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compete and win national championships? And we look at that and I took that
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program realm to the side, but we'd look at that in softball, and
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Lonnie's done an unbelievable job of getting us there. What an asset to the
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university Because if there's a better spokesperson for a program anywhere in any program,
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I don't know it, because she's delightful lot of that in the community and
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what she teaches the young women there. Having three daughters who are Division one
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athletes, you know, it touches my heart that she's preparing them to go
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out and have success afterwards. Sure the culture she has, and that's kind
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of you said, what's next. You know, my first year we really
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address the culture, not only the program, but immediate the entire department.
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Yeah, and that's still an ongoing process. I got a leadership academy.
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I'm big into providing resources to our student athletes to prepare them to go be
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successful in their communities. And that's our job. We are going to We're
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going to emulate the mission of the university, and that is to educate our
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student athletes to be successful. Not all of them are going to be able
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to go play in the NFL the NBA, of course most won't. So
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it's our job to prepare them, to educate them. But it's more importantly
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we give them the tools and resources while they're here. And I say,
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it's the most glorious time of their lives when they're here four to five years
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and graduate with a top twenty public institution in the left hand and a couple
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of championship rings on the right that we are doing our part academically, socially,
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everything we can do to pour into them so they go back to their
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communities and are great citizens and represent this great university the best way possible.
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We have about a minute left in the segment here when we talk about the
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relationship. You came from the Booster side, very important connection to the athletic
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whole. You know, the big picture. How close is the Booster program
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now trending towards being where you feel like it it can be, and we're
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still getting there. You know, it's a it's a daily discussion. Stephen
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Ponder does a job of running the program. You know, I've known Stephen
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for twenty some years and we talked daily, been on text and everything about
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some subjects already this morning we start kicking off text and everything in communication at
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seven am. But it's making sure that we have that close relationship because they
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are the top funding source of our athletic department. You know, a lot
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of people don't recognize the depth of that. We're self sustaining. Yeah,
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so we have one hundred and sixty two million dollar budget and we raise or
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generate every single bit of that revenue. No assistance from the state, no
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assistance from the university. So we have to generate that revenue and go out
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so we can provide those resources I talked about for our programs and our student
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athletes. That's the only way we can do it is through the support of
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the boosters, in support of our fans out the country. WFLA on your
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phone with the iHeart Radio app and on hundreds of devices like Alexa, Google
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Home, Xbox and so nos and i Heearts Radio. Twenty one minutes after
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the hour, Michael Alford ad Florida State University with us this morning on the
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program. If you look at that map over there, that's where we have
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listeners in all of those states across the country. So while our broadcast is
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certainly focused in Florida and of course the Panhandle, we have listeners all over
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the country. What would you say to people that have a connection, whether
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they grew up in Tallahassee, they're just FSU fans make the case for being
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a booster. Well, it's the most one of the most powerful brands in
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the country. And you hear me talk about that all the time when when
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we're on TV and I look at your map you know, we have viewership
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and they see that logo. People are turning on the dials, turning on
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the televisions, they're watching, they're listening, their attending games, and it's
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amazing to see the support that we get from everyone across the country. Sure,
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because we are self sustaining athletic department, so we have to go out
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and fundraise or create new revenue streams or find any way and act more like
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a professional team. We talked about one of my checkboxes when I first got
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the job, and it was to modernize our athletic department. We're not there
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yet. We have some other things we're working on that's really going to modernize
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it even more, but it's looking at it on how do we drive revenue
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and because every penny that we drive is going back to that student athlete experience,
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and joining the boosters allows us. I don't care if it's seventy dollars.
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And when I first got here, we were down to nine thousand boosters.
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And you've heard me standing on the stump press and talk about that we
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have the largest alumni base in the country. I mean, in acc at
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three hundred and seventy five thousand alumni, But yet we were down to nine
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thousand donors supporting the athletic program. We're up to about twelve five now,
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still not still puts US at six. Then I own conference of support from
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our alumni. What leads the conference in terms of numbers? About Clemson's up
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there about thirty something thousand in Virginia tax at about twenty five. What do
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you think the cause of that is? Is it just it wasn't a focus
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for years? Was it just not connecting dots? What was it not the
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Monday morning quarterback? I'm not sure. Wasn't here? Okay? But I
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think our focus now is getting out with the message, telling our student athletes
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stories and support them and help us provide those resources to them. As we
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talked about earlier. That's going to allow them to have the time at Florida
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State that we can provide them to go out and really be successful in life
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and contribute back to their community. The reason why I wanted to spend this
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segment on this topic, Michael, is you know anyone who listens to the
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show knows I represent the Boosters I have for many many years. I'm a
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golden chief. I love the university though I ever attended there. My wife's
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a graduate from FSU. However, what I what I know is that based
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on feedback I've gotten over the years, I've had people say these words I
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didn't give because I was never asked. Yeah, and just the simple ask
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and the fact that you can be part for as little as seventy dollars a
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year and be a booster. I think a lot of people didn't understand how
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simple and easy it is to help. How about this stat We have roughly
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about forty three thousand alumni in Leon County. It's our largest base. Two
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thousand donors. Really forty three thousand right here in Leon County. So we've
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made an effort and we've gotten that up. It's about twenty five hundred.
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It was down about fifteen hundred. I think about twenty five hundred now.
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But it has gotten the message, even in this in our backyard, sure
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of getting out and saying support the university, Support the athletic department that brings
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in one hundred million dollars a year just in football, A loan into economic
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impact into this community. Right, go support our student athletes for as low
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as seventy dollars a year and led us to provide these resources to them because
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once again, we don't get any assistance from the state or the university.
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We're self sustaining. And I think that's the disconnect. I think a lot
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of people they, you know, I mean, let's be candid, they
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see a coach's salary and they think, whoa, look at what the state.
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No, the state's not doing that. They's not doing that is that
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is coming from And the scholarships come from the boosters. Correct, our student
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student scholarships are provided from our fan base. Say that again, one of
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our scholarships are provided from our fan base. If that's another dot that I
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don't think most people understand because, you know, right or wrong, football
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college sports has become almost a sub league of professional sports, and I think
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a lot of people think, well, the contracts, the networks and all
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that drives all that. No, it really does, right, Yeah,
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And it's you know, there's so many different revenue streams that we have that
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allows us to provide that. But the largest that we have other than the
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other, than the conference distribution, is the booster contribution. Yeah, to
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us that allows us to go and provide these resources. Never get tired of
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hearing the fight song. The only thing I get tired of is the woo.
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Not a whoo guy, huh. I spent years in fact that There's
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a funny little backstory. I years ago, when I was in the other
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studio down to the end of the hallway, I had some of the Marching
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Band members. They were listening to the program. I had the head of
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the Chiefs, the Marching Chiefs on the show, and I said, let's
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start a movement. Let's get away from the woo to ah. And I
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thought I had a movement starting, and it just it died out. Michael
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had just died out. But it's still a great fight song. And Michael
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Alford's the athletic director at Florida State University. We were talking in the break
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the transfer portal has changed everything. Talk to me about just kind of where
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Florida State is finding its footing across the board, generally speaking with the portal
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and learning how to work that for all sports as well as in il.
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That has changed the landscape of sports as well collegiately, without a doubt,
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and that's one of the adjustments that we saw sitting down with Mike and knowing
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the portal was coming, and we talked about investing in personnel, Yeah,
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into football. We needed to operate like an NFL team. Yeah, and
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we do. We do it better than I think than anyone in the country
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because we had the vision. He had the vision, I had the vision,
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and we talked about our communication and we're constantly in communication about what is
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needed to do that with all my coaches about what you need, but with
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him, just particularly is is making sure that the front office staff was set
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up so when this trend came that we knew was coming, we were prepared.
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Would it be fair to say that a large piece of the pie to
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Mike turning the program in such a positive direction so quickly is due to the
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management of the portal, and it does allow and I'm for the portal.
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I am for a one time transfer. What it is you make a decision
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as a seventeen year old student athlete. You get to a school you got
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sold and the coach leaves, coming leaves or whatever, and you you have
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family situations, you need to go back closer to your home, whatever your
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situation is. I'm I'm in favor of a one time transfer to go have
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something different, different experience, whatever, it is, but I think that
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what the portals allowed you to do across all sports I'm talking football particular,
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is goal and bring in places where you may have a deficit in a position,
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you may be weak in a position, you didn't recruit right, you
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missed, or something allows you to fix that sure quicker than in the past.
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Now, what Mike has done and what other programs have done, what
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links doing right now and talking to him extensively about this bringing in the right
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kids, the right student athletes that's going to fit your culture. It's not
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just about talent. It's not just about talent. And that's where the evaluation
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which coach Norvella has done, the evaluation of the type of person that's going
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to fit our culture that we have not only in that and that program,
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but in the department. It's going to come in and do the right thing,
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it's going to produce academically, going to do community service, gonna go
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out and lead in other ways on campus. And that's the type of individual,
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along with their talent, that's coming into the program to make a difference.
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And I'm seeing that as all of our coaching staffs when they go get
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a young man, a young woman out of the portal. The most important
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thing we talk about is the character of that young person to make sure that
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they're coming and they're going to contribute to the culture that we've established. Final
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a few seconds here in the segment, Nil it looks to me like a
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situation that's going to have to seek its own level. At some point,
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enough businessman, enough consortiums or whatever are going to get burned by a kid
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who's not approven, you know, successful athlete taking some money and going before
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this finds it's it's leveling. I always say, the market corrects itself.
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Is that what you think is going to happen here? And you know,
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I chaired that, coachaired that going back to twenty nineteen with the NC DOUBLEA,
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and I own I'm still spending a lot of time in DC talking about
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what needs to be done to fix it. And I can't I can't applaud
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the leadership we have in the state of Florida between Rubio, Byron Donalds,
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gus down in Tampa, done over in the panic. Our leadership is on
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this topic good in DC, probably better than anyone in the country. And
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that's something that I'm in the community constant communication with Congressman Bill Racis and done.
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Yeah, and those folks about what needs to get accomplished. Don't forget
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to subscribe to the Conversations with Preston Scott podcast on the iHeart Radio app.
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Welcome to the Morning Show with Preston Scott. Forty one minutes after the hour
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final segment. Michael Alford, athletic director at Florida State University, My guest,
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all right, if we look back at when the ACC struck a deal
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with the ESPN, they were it looks like the conference was just out there
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hoping for somebody to stop the car and ask a man. I mean,
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that's about what it looks like, because you're still staring up at the SEC
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in the Big ten and the money that they'reerating through their network deals, well,
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you know it goes out to twenty thirty six and a long term agreement
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that agreed upon. Okay, what standard like those two other conferences, what
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are their deals? Well that they will go to market two more times.
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One conference will go to market two more times before our deal comes up.
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One's going back out to market one more time. The Big twelve will go
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back out to market again before our agreement with the ACC comes up for renegotiation.
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And I've said it publicly. I'm sitting at a looking at a school
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in the middle of the state that is not Florida State, does not have
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the viewership, does not drive the eyeballs. That's in another conference for the
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first time this coming up year, and there that conference will go out to
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market before the ACC does. Therefore, if you look at the trends,
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if you look at projections, that conference will have a better media deal at
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school. I have a better media deal in Florida State University and that's just
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not acceptable to me. It's not acceptable to really. The president and I
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talk about this every day. The board of trustees are chair Peter Collins and
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I are constantly talking about it and looking at what solutions we have. And
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so it is a problem. It is a revenue gap, and it's something
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that needs to be addressed. You know, I'm not here to drive headlines
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because that's not what I do. The quote was we're all in this together.
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Yet there was an undercurrent at the meetings with the ACC Commissioner that suggested,
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otherwise, what's your appraisal. Well, I give Jim credit. Jim
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of known him twenty some years, Commississioner, thank you. You know he's
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working very hard, him and his staff of trying to provide solutions, working
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with the conference, working at a new revenue model. In fairness, this
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wasn't his deal. It's not his deal. In fairness, thank you for
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point that out. Because he's trying to find a solution. I don't know
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what the solution is right now of what he can find to make that gap
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up. In your opinion, does the solution involve the potential of a breakup
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of the ACC as we know it? The potential looking at it um it
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also looks at the media rights um. You know we drive there's certain schools
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to really that drive over thirty percent of the media evaluation of this in Florida
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State. Correct, that are but are we getting that percentage of that media
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contract? There are certain schools that are not driving the media contract that are
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getting the same amount of financial resources that we get from the conference, which
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I agree in. I agree in the concept of awful one one for all,
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but not when the gap is what it is right now, because you
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need as a conference, we need to promote our most powerful brands, plain
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and simple. There are some there are certain brands within this conference that drive
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the revenue in this conference, and we need to promote them and we need
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to make sure that those brands are continuously able to compete at the highest level.
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Could make could you make the argument that one of the reasons Florida's state
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got a little behind on many levels of funding is because of the model.
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You could talk about that model. You could talk about several reasons internally we
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didn't fund out How about this stat I know we're running up against a break
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brought from twenty twelve when I first got the job. Twenty twenty two,
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we funded our football program percentage wise last in our own conference, an investment
24:45
into that program. Ouch that needed to be fixed and that So there's a
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lot of different things you can point to. But now, as we talked
24:56
about earlier and when we first came on the air, how's the time to
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address them and set us up for the future with the vision and the right
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people in place to go have success. All Right, As we discussed in
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the break, we're not going to wait a year to do this again.
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We'll talk again soon. Thank you, Yes, Sarah Gons Michael Alford,
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Athletic Director of Florida State University,