It's been a while since my last update...sorry about that...
Thought you might like to know about a few issues we have been dealing with this Spring...
1. On-Campus Stadium...The good news is that the Board of Trustees has given the go-ahead to do everything necessary to get the project before the Planning Commission and the City Council. That is a very important step forward. As soon as "final drawings" are completed in a few months, we will be able to start the formal governmental approval process. As you probably have heard, that process could take anywhere from 6 months to a year.
Now the not-so-good news...To build the quality of stadium we want, it looks like its going to be more like $25 million rather than $20 million. We will continue to raise funds for the stadium, but this will not slow up the approval process!!
2. Baseball Stadium Enhancements...We continue to solicit funds for improvements to Pitt Field. There is no firm timetable at this time. The on-campus stadium is our #1 priority, but we will continue to solicit funds from those individuals who want to focus on Spider baseball. Good luck to the Spiders in the A10 tournament later this month. And thank you Ronnie for a great career at Richmond.
3. Transfers...We have had a few transfers from our men's and women's basketball teams. This is not something we take lightly. Student retention at Richmond is a high priority. However, it seems to be a national trend for basketball student-athletes to be very quick to make a decision to transfer...whether it's playing time, academics, friendships, closer to family...or whatever, it seems to be a "cost of doing business" these days. And, for those of you who have been around for a few years, you know that we have often benefitted from transfers to the Spiders in the past.
4. A10 Championships...The Spiders won 4 conference championships this year [field hockey, swimming, lacrosse, and women's tennis]. Congratulations to those student-athletes and coaches. I think that makes 31 conference championships in the last 7 years.
5. Men's Basketball Scheduling...Man, it's tougher than ever to put together a great men's basketball schedule. Everybody only wants to play teams they can beat...of course, that makes for some tough scheduling scenarios. We will once again have a representative schedule...scheduling some games that we expect to favored and some that will be a challenge. Although the schedule has not been finalized and formally released, you may like to know that we are playing in an early season tournament at Memphis; hosting Virginia Tech, South Florida, Old Dominion, VMI, and Maryland-Baltimore County; and playing at East Carolina and Marist. There are several other games that have not been finalized that will be added to the schedule. Sorry that I cannot give you the dates of the "finalized games", because some of those dates have not yet been set.
Thought you might like to know about a few issues we have been dealing with this Spring...
1. On-Campus Stadium...The good news is that the Board of Trustees has given the go-ahead to do everything necessary to get the project before the Planning Commission and the City Council. That is a very important step forward. As soon as "final drawings" are completed in a few months, we will be able to start the formal governmental approval process. As you probably have heard, that process could take anywhere from 6 months to a year.
Now the not-so-good news...To build the quality of stadium we want, it looks like its going to be more like $25 million rather than $20 million. We will continue to raise funds for the stadium, but this will not slow up the approval process!!
2. Baseball Stadium Enhancements...We continue to solicit funds for improvements to Pitt Field. There is no firm timetable at this time. The on-campus stadium is our #1 priority, but we will continue to solicit funds from those individuals who want to focus on Spider baseball. Good luck to the Spiders in the A10 tournament later this month. And thank you Ronnie for a great career at Richmond.
3. Transfers...We have had a few transfers from our men's and women's basketball teams. This is not something we take lightly. Student retention at Richmond is a high priority. However, it seems to be a national trend for basketball student-athletes to be very quick to make a decision to transfer...whether it's playing time, academics, friendships, closer to family...or whatever, it seems to be a "cost of doing business" these days. And, for those of you who have been around for a few years, you know that we have often benefitted from transfers to the Spiders in the past.
4. A10 Championships...The Spiders won 4 conference championships this year [field hockey, swimming, lacrosse, and women's tennis]. Congratulations to those student-athletes and coaches. I think that makes 31 conference championships in the last 7 years.
5. Men's Basketball Scheduling...Man, it's tougher than ever to put together a great men's basketball schedule. Everybody only wants to play teams they can beat...of course, that makes for some tough scheduling scenarios. We will once again have a representative schedule...scheduling some games that we expect to favored and some that will be a challenge. Although the schedule has not been finalized and formally released, you may like to know that we are playing in an early season tournament at Memphis; hosting Virginia Tech, South Florida, Old Dominion, VMI, and Maryland-Baltimore County; and playing at East Carolina and Marist. There are several other games that have not been finalized that will be added to the schedule. Sorry that I cannot give you the dates of the "finalized games", because some of those dates have not yet been set.
