The old press box was embarrassingly small and outdated. It made our stadium look like a high school stadium (or worse). The new press box/suites looks fantastic and was sorely needed.
Money is money whether its from small donors or large. Not something understood or maybe embraced by our current AD either.
Here's my take on all of this...
Yes, the new press box looks great, as do all the other wonderful improvements. Kudos to all of those who have contributed, planned, made it all happen!!! Aillet is a "nice" stadium, much improved from its early days, with room for more improvements.
And, we have some angst about our current AD, and AD's in the past, and their roles in all of this. And we see varying opinions about our prezzes, from Taylor to Reneau to Guice, and their roles in Tech's athletics over the years. Some good, some bad....ups and downs.
From my humble POV, since the first day I personally set foot in Aillet, attended my first game there in 1976, which of course was somewhere between the 40's, east side, we are "arguing" from a higher plain up the mountain. Yes, the summit is still above us, we haven't reached the top. But, we can look down and see the valley waaaay below us too. Meaning we have made progress. I like that we have folks who dream big and keep pushing and pushing for more improvements, not only in the stadium, but overall in the athletic department too.
I am one who thinks we need a better AD. That's my personal opinion. Using the mountain scenario, clearly TMAC has reached his peak and is incapable of climbing higher. When people climb Mt. Everest they do so in stages. There are base camps at different elevations, and some climbers reach one, say at 18,000 feet, and can go no further. After a few days of trying to acclimate to the low oxygen and harsh conditions they find they can't....and turn around and head back down the mountain. TMAC is at one of the lower base camps, peaked out. Tech needs a new leader, capable of reaching that 26,000 foot summit.
Still, let's take the "glass is half full" perspective. We have made progress, and now we argue, lament about this and that....but from much higher up the slope. And....that is good.
Just please get rid of the trailer house siding! That can’t be too expensive can it?
I appreciate what you've posted on this, but I don't think it's quite so dire.
Tech was hoping to raise enough money from suite rentals to pay off everything in just a few years. Our leadership had to negotiate with potential suite holders, and the market didn't allow Tech to bring in those types of dollars. Then, as I understand it, some of the money from suite rentals is going back into the budget. The facility enhancement fee is covering the payments from a relatively small internal loan. It's not anything out of the ordinary.
The fact is Tech is very conservative when it comes to these types of things. I would even call it ultra conservative - to a fault in my opinion. As a university Tech has very little bonded debt and has stayed away from debt at almost all costs over the decades. There are downsides to that type of thinking.
We have students fees that are way too small. And facilities plans that are often piecemeal and can be described as anything but ambitious.
I guess the fees can be considered too small unless you are the one paying them....
Estimated Fee Charges: Fall 2018 BEGINNING BALANCE 0.00 2010 UNDG TUITION 10 HR 0726 1,851.00 1,851.00 2030 UNDG FEES 10 HR 0726 1,234.00 3,085.00 2690 LAGNIAPPE FEE 0726 30.00 3,115.00 2640 TECHNOLOGY FEE-10HRS 0726 50.00 3,165.00 2590 ENERGY SURCHRGE-10HR 0726 80.00 3,245.00 2630 ENGINEERING/SCIENCES 0726 60.00 3,305.00 2625 E&S LAB SUPPORT FEE 0726 70.00 3,375.00 Ending Balance 3,375.00
Fortunately LA Tech just finished its largest two Freshman Orientation classes back-to-back in the history of the school. This Fall will be Tech's largest enrollment ever which should raise some significant fees revenue.
They aren't doing it with scheduling. The OOC games for the incoming freshman class during their 4 years at Tech as of now will be against two SWAC teams, U Mass and SMU. That's pretty sad. We need at least one marquis OOC home game a year. Not sure if any over the next 4 years would qualify.
I'm all for playing the Warchickens if there is no return games in Monroe.