<font size="4" face="Tahoma">Wheeling and dealing: Byrne busy as State's new AD</font>
<font size="2" face="Tahoma">7/17/2008 4:41:23 AM
Daily Journal</font></p>
<font size="2" face="Tahoma">On July 1, Greg Byrne officially took over as athletics director at Mississippi State, replacing Larry Templeton. In June, the 36-year-old Arizona State graduate unofficially assumed the role.
Talk about baptism by fire.
He hit the ground running with contract negotiations and the hiring of a new baseball coach.
Earlier this week, he talked with the Daily Journal's Gregg Ellis about his first few weeks in office and the agenda he has for the upcoming year.
<span style="font-weight: bold;">Daily Journal: Have the last few months been more busy than you originally imagined?</span>
Greg Byrne: I knew we had a lot on our plate, and to be honest, there hasn't been a lot of free moments. But at the same time, too, I felt very prepared going in to be able to handle all the different items we've had on our plates this summer.
<span style="font-weight: bold;">DJ: With the baseball hire now complete and the new contracts for Sylvester Croom and Rick Stansbury signed, what's on the agenda now?</span>
GB: We as a department, with our coaches, our student-athletes, the university and our fanbase, are going to create a mission on what we are here to represent. Everybody is going to understand what their role is as we strive to make Mississippi State athletics as strong as it possibly can be and to have a strong broad-based program in the Southeastern Conference. We've had the five principles you've heard us talk about and those are not negotiable, but collectively we will create what our mission is from that.
Now that we've got the contracts and such out of the way, we are working on our facility plans. We are going to be working on the structure of our staff, as far as reporting lines and who has what responsibilities. A lot of that we have already done, but it's something we'll continue to fine tune. We are going to be spending time understanding what our specific needs are and prioritizing those needs. We'll be working with the university and the university foundation on fitting within their parameters, while also moving our fundraising efforts forward. And that will be both on the annual side through the Bulldog Club and the capital side through facility enhancements and needs we have.
We'll spend time with student-athletes and coaches and then spend time out around the state, which we are doing a lot of.
One of the things we spent a lot of time doing is to communicate with the different constituencies out there, whether it's internally or externally. There are some things we can't talk about, for instance personnel issues. However, a lot of other things, and almost everything, we can communicate about and we are committed to doing. And if we are going to be as strong as we can be at Mississippi State, we have to have everyone pulling the rope in the right direction, because we made a commitment internally here to communicate that when there is something, when issues arise, we need to take care of them within our family and not air things publicly where it can cause a divided fanbase. We are going to do everything we can, that when we make mistakes, and we will, that we admit to those mistakes and correct the mistakes and move forward.
<span style="font-weight: bold;">DJ: What is the latest on the basketball practice facility?</span>
GB: Coach Stansbury, Coach (Sharon) Fanning and myself and a couple of other people are going out Friday to look at a few facilities. We've seen some preliminary drawings, and the absolute key is the space. We are running out of practice space. From there, we'll determine the additional items we feel like we need to incorporate into the facility on top of the practice space and decide what that will cost us and try to finalize some of the conversations we've had about gifts for the projects and move forward.
<span style="font-weight: bold;">DJ: Have the donors been receptive to this project?</span>
GB: Yes. People have been very receptive to this. We have already received a lot of money, but the lead gift still hasn't been secured. But I feel like we are getting closer.
<span style="font-weight: bold;">DJ: June was a big month for you in regards to contract negotiations and the hiring of John Cohen as the new baseball coach. Did you feel the added pressure of these being your first big moves as athletics director, and what kind of feedback have you received?</span>
GB: I thought about it, but I made it very clear from the beginning that we were going to hire the best coach for Mississippi State, whether we won the press conference or not. If someone from completely outside the Mississippi State family was the right coach, we would have hired them. I don't care if we are hiring a baseball coach, a football coach, a basketball coach or one of our Olympic coaches, we're very committed to getting the very best people we can to Mississippi State, period, no matter what the sport is. That in itself gives you enough pressure to go and find the right person. But certainly, you can't help but recognize the passion people have for Mississippi State baseball. What a special place Coach Polk, Coach Gregory, all the great players and fans have made this place.
People have been so supportive of Coach Cohen and his staff, and they are very excited about the energy level and the focus they are bringing to Mississippi State baseball. I can't tell you how supportive and encouraging the words, e-mails, letters and phone calls from our fans toward me and my family have been and how much we genuinely appreciate the acceptance of us at Mississippi State. We feel so much a part of the Mississippi State family.
<span style="font-weight: bold;">DJ: What is the update on football season tickets and Bulldog Club membership?</span>
GB: I don't know exactly where we are today in exact numbers with football season tickets, but we are ahead of where we finished last year. In July we were already ahead of our Bulldog Club membership where we ended last year, and that is a tribute to our fanbase and how loyal and supportive they are of Mississippi State, and we can't thank them enough for that. At the same time, we've had a lot of new folks get on board. We're on pace to potentially add 1,200 new members this year. But we still have some work to do. We're building that foundation and getting everyone to do their part and pulling the rope in the same direction. And that's whether someone gives us $100 or if someone gives us $1 million.
<span style="font-weight: bold;">DJ: What is the current Bulldog Club membership?</span>
GB: We are currently just a little over 6,000 now and our goal is 10,000 in the next four years. We are on the right track, but we still have a lot of work to do.
<span style="font-weight: bold;">DJ: What is the athletic budget for the fiscal year?</span>
GB: We're right at $32 million, the highest it's ever been, with salaries being the biggest portion.
<span style="font-weight: bold;">DJ: How are you offsetting the rising fuel and energy prices?</span>
GB: One is us buying tickets in advance for a lot of our travel. And if we're not really saving that much time by flying, then we're looking at the idea of busing more, which a lot of our teams are already doing. We're also asking everyone to be respectful and treat their offices like home, turning lights off and planning ahead so you're not doing last-minute buys.</font>
</p>
