May 20, 2008
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Vanderbilt Vice Chancellor of University Affairs and Student Athletics David Williams II
“We’re real excited about what we’re going to talk to you about today. You might have heard some of the things. We’re officially announcing that we’ve already started on what we consider to be a major facility renovation and building project.
“This project is actually going to have at least five phases. This is going to be a self-funded operation. While the university has been very generous as it relates to subsidizing our department and will continue to be, this is a project that we actually have to raise the money for. We’ve already raised some portion of it. We need time to raise the money. That’s one part. The other part is, even if we had all the money in hand, the extent of the renovations, if we tried to do them all at once, would impede on our programs. They’ve been phased in such a way that they will bring the least amount of interference with ongoing operations, particularly around this area.
“We’ve already begun on phase one which involves Memorial Gym, the football stadium and the baseball stadium. As each sport finishes its season, we’ll do some work. The sport will come back and then we’ll do some more work after the next season. It’s a real big project. The total cost of it, if you look at in today’s dollars, is between 40-55 million dollars to do all of it. As we go through it, we might find other things to do.”
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Vanderbilt Board of Trust Athletics Committee Chair John R. Ingram
“I am delighted to be here to speak for just a moment about something that’s not only near and dear to my heart, but also probably closer to my wallet, maybe equidistance between my heart and my wallet, which is Vanderbilt athletics. To speak about it from the point of view of the Board of Trust and to let the world know how pleased the board is with what is transpiring at Vanderbilt. We’re pleased on a number of levels. First and foremost, obviously pleased with the success the teams are having. The last few years have seen a lot of momentum building in all of our programs. Kevin (Stallings) and Melanie’s (Balcomb) programs are perennial postseason participants and Bobby’s (Johnson) is on the knife-edge of one or two plays being the difference in going to postseason or staying home. Hopefully, what we’re announcing today will swing that into the balance of going somewhere.
None of that would matter as much here at Vanderbilt if the student-athletes weren’t having success in the classroom and being good representatives of the university. I think it’s an amazing tribute to all of those that participate in this whole environment that not only are we winning more on the field of play, but this past semester, our student athletes had a grade point average of over 3.1, which is the highest GPA in the history of Vanderbilt athletics. I’m also particularly pleased that not many of our kids show up on your cameras or in print for bad or embarrassing reasons, and many more for very fine reasons, like a Shan Foster. What an incredible young person he is and many of the people on Bobby and Melanie’s teams are the same way.
The success that we’ve had up to this point is really no accident. It’s been part of a long and methodical plan. I would be remiss if I didn’t mention (former Chancellor) Gordon Gee. He got us started in an unconventional way that was a little confusing at first. It certainly put athletics on the table as something that Vanderbilt wasn’t going to treat as a stepchild anymore, but was going to treat with the same enthusiasm and dedication as other major important initiatives at the university. We have had from that time a really strong commitment from the administration and continuing on relatively seamlessly into the tenure of Chancellor (Nicholas) Zeppos, and he certainly was a very strong advocate as the interim chancellor. There are a lot of machinations going on behind the scenes that are supportive and areas where Vanderbilt has been its own worst enemy in the past. Not to say we’re perfect because we’re not, but we make a lot less mistakes in that area. A lot of that has to do with the leadership of David Williams. He kind of quietly gets it done and does it very successfully. Gordon and Todd Turner, our last official athletic director, did a great job of identifying coaches that fit Vanderbilt. Three of them are sitting around me today. I give David and a lot of others credit for hanging on to them because we’ve had some people that would want them. I’m glad that Vanderbilt has been able to do what’s necessary to keep our coaches here. I think it’s a testament to our ability to help the coaches understand that we want them to win championships and we want them to have whatever the top end of success can be.
The best news about that is the continuity in our coaches has been incredibly important to our success as well, because Vanderbilt is a unique place. Academics do count a lot. It takes some time for a new person to learn what kind of young man or woman fit here. They figured that out. The administration and the academic areas have worked hand and glove with them. Success is not a linear thing, it’s a circle. To have great coaches, you have to show a commitment and the same with student athletes. The kind of kids we want to have can go anywhere because we need them to be top athletes and if they’re great students they can go anywhere they want. Our challenge is a little bit more unique than others. The university has to step up and show that it is committed to providing an environment where we can win. I think that has happened. We have a lot of work to do and a lot of money to raise. People like to be part of winners. I’m really pleased that over the last five or 10 years we have changed the perception of Vanderbilt from lovable losers to serious competitors. That’s what we want to be and I think that’s where we’ll stay.
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Vanderbilt Head Women’s Basketball Coach Melanie Balcomb
Well I think the big thing now when we look at all this is timing. I know Bobby (Johnson) and Kevin (Stallings) and Tim (Corbin) and I, we all came in at similar times, and we have been successful here. We have been very good at times, and I think we want to go to the next level. We want to be great, and I think something that we needed was facilities. In today’s day in age, you know everything is about recruiting and being able to attract the student-athletes that we have figured out can go to Vanderbilt that we want to get here. We needed the next level, to get to the next level in facilities. The SEC, as you know in basketball, is an incredible conference as are the facilities that we see when we are on the road sometimes, and I think that we’re just going to be able to match those facilities and be just a current. You always want to stay current with your program and you always want to stay in a place where you can attract the highest level of recruits and that’s what we’re trying to do. We’ve already been talking to our recruits about the facilities. I think David has done an incredible job. Like I said earlier, timing wise I came in and sat done with him last season and said: `For us to get to the next level, if we are a match, if you want the same thing we want, which is to get past the sweet sixteen and get to a final four like you’re seeing LSU and Tennessee every year, we have to do something for the program.’ David’s response was: `We are already working on that. Bobby’s already been in, Kevin’s already been in, Tim’s already been in, and we are all in a similar position and place in time where we all felt like this is something that we needed.’ I can’t tell you how excited I am. I’m thrilled to death to be apart of this and to be at Vanderbilt and to see the changes that have been made. When I came here, the changes had just been made in Memorial (Gym) in 2002. One of the reasons I came here, I came here for the tradition, I came here for the conference, for the competition, but I also came here because they had just upgraded facilities. Well now, six years later, I’m in a situation where we need to do that again to stay current. So these state-of-the-art facilities that you are seeing today is exactly what I feel our program needs, and I know is going to help us in the future. I’m looking forward to getting in there.
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Vanderbilt Head Men’s Basketball Coach Kevin Stallings
I use to work for a guy who always said that people get good for a reason, or they get bad for a reason. As simple as that sounds, I think that there was a conscious decision to be made, whether it be by the board or might have been by Chancellor Gee or David or Todd Turner, from the top for us to get good. I think that decision was made by the people that have to make it in order for it to be executed. You can hire the best coaches anywhere, and if you don’t have commitment on the part of the people that control where the money is spent, and by the people that are making the hardest and biggest decisions on the campus, then it’s not going to make any difference. Fortunately for Melanie, Bobby, Tim and I and other coaches in this department, we’ve arrived at Vanderbilt at a time when the decision has been made that it is important to be good. I think that’s being reflected in our on the field success. I don’t think there’s a coach worth anything that would tell you the most important thing about what we do is what we can do to affect the quality of the student-athlete’s experience. Quite frankly, the locker room is the last thing we need. We’re at the tail end of ours. The practice gym and our new offices have all impacted recruiting. We’re in a little bit of an arms race in this thing we call facilities. Everyone is trying to outdo the other. If you don’t try to outdo, then you’re going to get left behind. What we’re really grateful for and what my athletes are grateful for is that our administration decided that we’re not going to get left behind. Maybe there was a day and time that Vanderbilt was left behind and I’m sure that that contributed to us being the lovable losers. I think those days are over. I think you can look across the board. We’re having greater academic success. If you want to hear a startling statistic, it’s been since before 1980 that a Vanderbilt men’s basketball player that played basketball as a senior didn’t get his degree. We’ve always had classroom success. It’s something we’re really proud of and fortunate to be a part of. I thank David because I’ve been one of the fortunate ones that other people have called and inquired about. When you have a commitment from your administration and the opportunity to succeed and the kind of student-athletes we have the pleasure to coach, you have no desire to go anywhere else. You don’t want to be anywhere else. You want to be here because you can see it happening before your eyes. You can see how far we’ve come in the nine years I’ve been here. We’re excited as coaches because the people above us are giving us reasons to be excited and the reasons we get excited is our opportunity to be successful.”
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Vanderbilt Head Football Coach Bobby Johnson
“We are extremely excited and proud of our facility upgrades. Our team is excited. Our coaching staff is excited. We’re extremely excited because it’s already started. We can see it every day. We’re going to enjoy watching the upgrades come about. I just want to take an opportunity to thank the administration from Chancellor Gee, when he started talking about seeking excellence in athletics just like we do in every other phase of the university, and now Chancellor Zeppos and Vice Chancellor Williams and everyone who is involved with this vote of confidence in our athletic program. I think that’s what this is. It’s a vote of confidence saying you’re on the right track and we’re going to help you a great deal. They’ve gone about it I think in a perfect way. They decided what we could do and they’ve taken it to the limit and we really appreciate it. I think the design is fantastic. We went out and took a look at other stadiums. We have a great building right here, a very efficient building. We’re going to make this building (McGugin Center) even better. We have everything an athlete would need in this building right here. There’s no need to build something (at the stadium) right now. We’re going about it the right way. Nobody is slowing down either. People are working hard. The architects are in here all the time, checking out things and drawing and asking us questions. We’re extremely excited. I think it’s going to help our program a great deal. Hopefully it will turn in to some wins and things that will make our fans proud of our program. We’re anxious to be able to use these new facilities and make our program better.”
