Tuesday, September 25, 2012

PACK THE VAULT - RED WOLVES!

Come on RedWolfNation
Fill the Vault with 30K 

Saturday September 29th - 6:00pm



Arkansas State vs. Western Kentucky!
At Liberty Bank Stadium

Will You Be There?

Monday, September 24, 2012

A-State Birthdate - RJ Fleming!


Happy Birthday to A-State Red Wolf - RJ Fleming (@iAm4_Christ)

Fleming is a Junior at Arkansas State this fall.  The Natchez, MS native has been an offensive threat from his slot receiver position since his freshman year at ASU.  In 2010, Fleming's freshman year he finished the season with 289 all purpose yards, including 48 rushing, 83 receiving and 158 in kick returns.  As a sophomore RJ had 13 catches for 76 yards and had 4 kickoff returns for 64 yards.   In 2012 Fleming has 26 yards receiving and 9 yards rushing.  The Trinity Episcopal Day School product has been on the ASU Athletic Director's Honor Roll in both his freshman and sophomore years.

Happy Birthday to #4 (changed from #82) from the RedWolfNation!

Wolf Tracks Trivia - 9.24.12


The top 6 largest home crowds in Arkansas State Football history (including this fall) were matchups against either Memphis or Central Arkansas.  Who was A-State's opponent in the game with the largest crowd that didn't involve either Memphis or UCA?

Sunday, September 23, 2012

We are WHERE we thought we'd be!

Last night the Arkansas State Red Wolves rolled up Alcorn State 56-0 and are now 2-2. So after the first four games of the season, I am trying to put things into perspective.  The first thing I am sure about is I can not use Dennis Green's line of "They are WHO we thought they were" about the Red Wolves.  Not because they aren't good but because at this point I think we just don't know who they are.  The phrase that is more appropriate is "They are WHERE we thought they'd be.  Most anyone that took a look at the Arkansas State 2012 football schedule prior to the season, should have predicted a 2-2 record after 4 games.  And that is right where they are. 

It isn't the fact that A-State is 2-2 that brings about questions it is how the Red Wolves got to 2-2 that makes you take a second look.

Oregon was a loss the day it was scheduled.  But the way the Ducks overwhelmed the Red Wolves is where the true issues lay.  Oregon has amazing talent and is very efficient in their offense.  But that aside we seemed awestruck by the situation and we just didn't look ready to play in the first half.  The Red Wolves showed signs not only of life but of major potential in the second half, but by then Oregon had all but shut it down.   

We returned home to an outstanding atmosphere and took on a Memphis Tiger team that in all honesty is not very good.  It allowed RedWolfNation to see that ASU has some serious skill, but also that there are a lot of issues.  Offensively A-State moved the ball up and down the field amassing 619 yards, the issues came inside the redzone when the Pack had to settle for field goals rather than touchdowns.   Against the Red Wolf defense, the Tigers drove for a touchdown on the first drive but A-State did a nice job of tightening up afterwards minus the one big pass play.  The major concern came on special teams where the Tigers scored 14 points off major flubs.   The Red Wolves prevailed but it was a scary situation instead of what could have been a blow out win for A-State.

The Nebraska game revealed several things about the Red Wolves.  ASU was shorthanded at offensive line and wide receiver and Nebraska took advantage of A-State's lack of deep passing to stifle the Red Wolf offense.  No offensive touchdowns and the Cornhuskers held the offense from racking up very many yards as well.  The defense began to get pressure, something they didn't do in the first two games but big plays allowed Nebraska to finish off the Pack.  Unfortunately the special teams again had issues when penalties on 2 punts that gave the Cornhuskers more than 20 yards field position each time. 

Last night's game versus Alcorn was as much a mismatch in talent as ASU's game with Oregon.  The Red Wolves could have scored 100 had they not shut it down at halftime.  The defense was as impressive as they had been all year holding the Braves to 130 total yards.  Though it was a complete talent mismatch the Red Wolves defense played hard and apparently had been challenged to shut out Alcorn and did so even with a number of walkons playing in the fourth quarter.  Aplin and the offense opened it up in the second quarter with some down field passing and we saw wide receivers get open deep.   The special teams still left a bad taste in my mouth with a number of kickoffs out of bounds and a muffed punt that gave the Braves their only chance at scoring - a missed field goal.   

So A-State is 2-2, right where we thought they'd be.  The question remains, who is this team?  Are they the team that got boat raced in the first half versus Oregon?  Are they the offensive juggernaut that we saw against Memphis and Alcorn?  Was it injuries or Nebraska's defense that shut down the A-State offense?  Lots of things still to learn about this group.

The Sun Belt season is upon us, and there is one thing I see.  There shouldn't be any team A-State faces in SBC play that are as good as either Oregon or Nebraska, however there won't be any as bad as Memphis and Alcorn either.   The conference looks much improved this season and there are a number of teams that not only are better but they probably have the date with the Red Wolves circled on their calendar.  

Friday, September 21, 2012

You may not...but I'm SAYING IT!!!

There is a guy that I work with that is a huge Alabama fan.  He loves the Tide as much as I love the Red Wolves.  I actually am not sure that I have seen him without an Alabama shirt or hat on.  One of the coolest things about the Crimson Tide is those fans have a "saying" that connects them.  Everyone knows it - Roll Tide!  I'm sure most folks have seen the ESPN commercial that states "It's Not Crazy, It's Sports". 


Gus Malzahn comes to A-State from Auburn.  The Tigers have their own saying - War Eagle!  For those of you that haven't seen Roll Tide, War Eagle, a 30 for 30 film from ESPN you are truly missing out on a fantastic documentary on the craziest rivalry in sports. 

Between my buddy and Gus, I've been thinking for a long time about a potential two word motto that ASU fans can use as their signature phrase.  Other than the two above one of the best in college football has a hand gesture that goes along with it.  Hook 'em Horns.  Like Texas or not.  The hand gesture and the phrase is a connection for Texas fans.  A-State fans already can use a similar hand gesture!

Most former Southwest Conference schools have their own sayings as well.  Texas A&M has Gig'em.  A phrase that started in 1930 when an Aggie Board of Regents asked what A&M was going to do to TCU and he self replied - Gig'em.  History was made.  University of Texas' Hook'em Horns came soon after and the Baylor Bears have their own as well - "Sic 'em.

Arkansas State recently put up a sign with PackPride on it.  Mickey Ryan tweeted to ASU Assistant AD for football if that was to be A-State's new #hashtag.  While that is a nice 2 word phrase.  It is also the scout.com site for the North Carolina State WolfPack.  I like it and had even thought that I would use RedWolfPride several weeks earlier when I read the story by Meredith Scott in the Herald.

It hit me tonight.  I found what I like and while not everyone will like it doesn't really matter to me.  I have planned to say it; use it as my #hashtag; and promote it as much as possible.  It came while watching the ULM game and sitting with my 7 year old son.  He said that ULM was good, but when they come to Jonesboro we are going to rip em up! 

Like it or not.  Say it yourself or refuse to say it.  Either way I'm Saying It!  Rip 'em!

Tough First Year...

I was looking into the past trying to remember my time at ASU when we had this junior college transfer from Kansas playing safety for the football Indians.  I wanted to try to remember our new AD when he was on the field.  I remember him on campus as a fellow athlete but what I wanted to remember Terry Mohajir as an actual football player.

So I began to dig through some of my older media guides.  It was then that it hit me how tough Terry Mohajir's first year at Arkansas State really was as a football player.  I bet some of you guys that complain about our schedules will find a guy in Mohajir that really knows what a tough schedule is.  It may not have been a tough schedule by name teams, but you will see how tough it was.  I take a look back at a time from December 1989 to December 1990

Mohajir was a mid semester junior college transfer that was recruited by the Larry Lacewell staff and brought to Jonesboro in December of 1989.  He arrived on campus only to have his head coach jump to University of Tennessee as the defensive coordinator.  On January 30, 1990, Arkansas State brought in former Wyoming head coach Al Kincaid to run the "Triple Shoot" offensive.  On February 10th, 1990 it was announced that the A-State Board of Trustees were in favor of moving the program from I-AA to I-A.  The excitement I'm sure was very high!

The school would work toward making the full transition to 1A by the 1992 season.  The tough part of it was that the upcoming fall of 1990 would be the first year that Arkansas State would be ineligible for the I-AA playoffs and Indian stadium would need to be renovated to go from 18,709 to near 31,000 seats. And the 1990 season would also be the first season that the Indians would face 7 I-A opponents but still would not be up to par with the 95 (it was 95 in 1990) scholarship athletes that other I-A teams would have. Lacewell has been quoted before by saying that the 1986 and 1987 long runs into the 1AA playoffs hurt his coaching staff's chance to recruit as successful as they had liked so the talent level was down as well. 

A lack of scholarship athletes and perhaps a lack of talent was just a couple of factors that led to a 3-7-1 record in 1990.  But it was another factor that I want to look at.

Game 1 in 1990 was a 24-24 tie AT Memphis State.  The Indians came home and defeated Northeast Louisiana (ULM) 23-18.  The Tribe then went on the road and took it on the chin AT Wyoming (27-34) and Louisiana Tech (7-40).  A-State went into Carbondale, IL and picked up a win over Southern Illinois 20-17.  A home game the next week put the Indians record at 3-2-1 with the win over Northwestern (LA) State (16-8).  It was then the season went down hill with 5 consecutive losses.  Two big road losses AT Northern Illinois (0-35), Ole Miss (13-42) and one tight loss AT North Texas (26-35) put the Tribe at 3-5-1.  The Southwestern Louisiana (ULL) Ragin' Cajuns tripped up A-State in Indian Stadium 16-17 before the ASU went up to Toledo (28-43) face the Rockets for the last game of the season.

For those of you that were paying attention or counting, that was 3 home games!  That is correct - Terry Mohajir's first season as an Indian he was on the road 8 times and got to play in Indian Stadium just 3.

While I know that ASU was working on upgrading facilities for "The Move", I expect that Mohajir will work with Gus Malzahn to make sure the Red Wolves have more home games as they work on upgrading our football stadium and complex!  It was a tough first year for Mohajir, I expect his "first year" on his second time through will be much better!


Thursday, September 20, 2012

Wolf Tracks Trivia - 9.20.12






The Sun Belt Conference offers 4 post season awards for players in football.  The Player of the Year; The Offensive Player of the Year; Defensive Player of the Year; and Freshman of the Year.  Since 2005 there have been 4 awards each year for those 6 years for a total of 24 awards.  How many times has an Arkansas State players won one of the awards since 2006?

Wednesday, September 19, 2012

The new Leader of the Pack

I have been accused of having a one track mind.  Arkansas State athletics is my passion and I talk way too much about it for some.  Not enough for me though, which is why I created this blog to basically talk to myself about the Red Wolves.  Well I have said to friends, and to myself many times, that Arkansas State needs a certain type of Athletics Director.  Now this is going to be a little bit blasphemous but it has to be said.  The type of AD that ASU needs is a Fr Fra Frank Brr Broy Broyles type.  Damn that was hard to say.  But in all seriousness, Arkansas State needs an AD that wakes up in the morning with the thought of how can I make this program better today.  That is the way Broyles treated his job.  Not as something that paid the bills, but a passion for building something special.

Terry Mohajir was announced as Arkansas State’s Athletics Director this morning at a 10:30 press conference held in Jonesboro.  Mohajir is a former ASU Indian football player.  He has a well-rounded resume’ of experience in college athletics that has prepared him to be the “Leader of the Pack”.  You can see his profile here Terry Mohajir - New AD

Mohajir showed tons of emotion during his press conference, getting choked up several times but mostly when talking about his experience 20 years ago this fall when he began his athletics career after football at Arkansas State.  It has been 20 years since he wore his Arkansas State Indians uniform and you could see the memories flooding back to him as he addressed the crowd when being announced as the new AD.  Of course it was nice to see the same breakdown in emotions when introducing his family as well.

Mohajir spoke of a personal importance of customer service for his administration.  That was my number one goal for our new AD.  Arkstfan and myself have spoken about this topic tons of times as a priority for the athletic department and it will be interesting to see how Mohajir follows through with his statement that “I have no patience for non-customer service”. 

Some statements made during the press conference that also were big hits were the comments about “creating a culture of winning” and that we need to “develop an attitude that we will not take a back seat to anybody in the nation, the region or the state”.  These are important goals and I believe that it is just as important to have a plan on how to get there.  Mohajir has been around a number of big time coaches and administrators that I’m sure have mentored him on how to build such a plan.   He said the we are in a competitive business and that he wants to know what the coaches goals are so he can help them be successful and that means winning conference championships.

The first step in that plan was on his mind when the former Larry Lacewell recruit spoke about the importance of building budgets for the athletic department and the individual sports.  Without going into any type of details, he mentioned that the next 90 days will be an evaluation period when he will do a complete audit and review the data of the department, specifically the Marketing and Promotion plans.   Mohajir mentioned that along with customer service the athletic administration will work to make the fan experience a great one, stating that “no one in the country will out work us”.

Mohajir said that he “loves being around people and listening and learning.  He talked about his time at Florida Atlantic and how they had to work to raise money in an area with many schools and that he would build relationships with Florida Gators, Miami Hurricanes, Florida State Seminoles, and even Rutgers Scarlet Knights (snow birds) and that many of them became supporters and donors to FAU.  He said that for A-State to be successful they will need to cultivate current donors, new donors and “old warriors”.  

Mohajir showed a fun personality and even better an ability to talk about things we all have fond or maybe not so fond memories of.  When Chris Hudgison mentioned he was from KAIT, Mohajir asked him about former KAIT weather man Terry Wood and that he had sat with him at Roy’s during his time at ASU.  Mohajir is one of our own and has been through the times that we have been through as an ASU fan.  It was great to have him talk about how proud he was of our campus and the way that Arkansas State has grown since he was here in the early 90s.  He even mentioned that he remembered how ASU lacked resources when he was here and you could feel his passion for wanting to make sure that the student athletes were going to be taken care of during their time at A-State. 

Have we found our AD that has the passion for the program?  Will he wake up every day with the burning question of “how can I make ASU athletics better today”?   These questions remain to be seen, but I believe A-State has found someone that is going to work hard every day to improve the perception of how our Athletics department treats its fans and the community.   Mohajir is an A-State guy.  He has seen ASU at its lowest.  If he can rally the fans and convince them to buy in with their heart and their money, then he will be on track for getting us to the “Next Level”.

Tuesday, September 18, 2012

New AD?



Sources are saying that former A-State Indian football player Terry Mohajir will be named the next Athletic Director at Arkansas State tomorrow morning at a 10:30 press conference.

Here is Mohajir's Bio...

Terry Mohajir
Senior Associate AD - External Relations
Kansas University

Terry Mohajir joined the Kansas Athletics staff May 31, 2011, assuming responsibility for the Williams Educational Fund. He also directs the efforts of the Marketing and Game-Day Experience staffs.  In July, 2011, Mohajir was named Senior Associate Athletics Director - External Relations.

Mohajir came to Kansas from his position as Senior Associate Athletics Director at Florida Atlantic University, where he oversaw development, marketing, ticket sales, corporate sales and the media relations department. Foremost among his responsibilities was a fundraising campaign for a $70 million on-campus football stadium. He also created and implemented the revenue plan (operations and personnel) for the new stadium, which includes corporate sales, premium seats, ticket sales and marketing. He also served on the design team for the stadium. His efforts helped FAU's football program reach the 2007 New Orleans Bowl in just its fourth year as a FBS (formerly I-A) program, an NCAA record for the fastest start-up program to go to a bowl game.

Mohajir joined the FAU staff in December 2004 as Associate Athletics Director for Development, and was heavily involved in creating a comprehensive fundraising program that focuses on major gifts, the annual fund and special events. During his tenure FAU's athletics department enhanced its major gift program 800 percent, Owl Club giving increased 400 percent, and special-events revenue increased 150 percent.

Mohajir joined FAU after serving in a similar role at the University of Missouri-Kansas City from 1997-2004. As the assistant athletics director for external relations at UMKC, Mohajir supervised marketing and promotions, sports information, fundraising, radio and TV contracts, corporate sales, tickets, event operations, sports medicine, strength/conditioning and men's soccer. While at UMKC, Mohajir was responsible for a 450 percent increase in the education athletics endowment. He oversaw an 80 percent increase in sponsorships and an 89 percent upswing in the athletics fund donor base. There was also a 33 percent increase in ticket revenue under his direction. One of his more visible accomplishments was leading the fundraising and construction efforts for a new training room and strength and conditioning center.

Prior to working at UMKC, Mohajir was a football ticket sales and promotions account executive for the University of Kansas from 1996-97, and was an assistant offensive line and game-day special team's football coach for the Jayhawks from 1993-96.

Mohajir graduated from Arkansas State with a major in sports management and a minor in marketing in 1993, where he was a starter on the football team. He earned a master's degree in sports management from the University of Kansas in 1997. Mohajir and his wife, Julie, have two daughters, Maria and Molly and son Marco.

A-State Great! - Richie Woit



Richie Woit was a running back at A-State from 1950-1953.   He scored 57 touchdowns and gained over 4,000 total yards in his career.  Woit guided the Indians to an undefeated season in 1953 and was named to the Associated Press All-America first team for his efforts. 

Woit came to ASU from Shurze HS in Chicago, IL.  As a freshman #83 gained 759 yards and scored 7 touchdowns.  In 1951, the 2nd year man crossed the goal line 21 times while carrying the ball for 1,125 yards.  Woit was named AP Honorable Mention All-American for his sophomore efforts.  In 1952, Woit had his highest rushing season putting up 1,250 yards from scrimmage and tallied 17 TDs and once again was named an Honorable Mention All-American.  In 1953 as a senior, Richie rushed for 874 yards and 12 touchdowns while leading his team to an 8-0-2 season. 

Woit still ranks at the top of many records at Arkansas State.  He still holds the record for most net rushing yards in a career with 3,847 and has the 2nd highest single season rushing yardage with 1,250 (1952).  He is the only non quarterback in the top 10 career yardage leaders – currently ranking 10th.  The ASU Hall of Honor member also has the most touchdowns (both rushing and total) in ASU history with 57.  That stat puts him with 22 more TDs than the 2nd place finisher.  With so many TDs it isn’t surprising that Woit has the number 1 and 2 most TDs in a season – 21 in 1951 and 17 in 1952.   His 342 total points ranks him as ASU’s all time point leader. 

Although it is still being worn today – Richie Woit’s #83 was retired during the 1959-1960 school year at Arkansas State.  Woit is without question one of the A-State Greats!


Wolf Tracks Trivia - 9.18.12






Who was the first Associated Press Football All-American in Arkansas State University History?


Either add a comment to give your answer or tweet your answer to @Red_Wolf_Apache!

Monday, September 17, 2012

A-State Birthdate Shoutout - John Brady

RedWolfNation wants to send out an A-State Birthdate Shoutout to Head Basketball Coach John Brady!






Excited about the future of ASU basketball and can't wait for the 2012-2013 season to start!  #OnAMission


Indoor Football Facility!

On Sept 6th, 2012, Arkansas State University announced the 22 Million Indoor Football Complex.  This is the press conference and the animated video that will show the facility. 



Friday, September 14, 2012

The "Budget" Games!



I logged on to read the Jonesboro Sun yesterday and as I did I came across the weekly "match-ups" between the Red Wolves and the Nebraska Cornhuskers.  I wasn't shocked to see that the local sports guy picked 'Huskers as the better team in each position match up.  What was interesting, though obviously not shocking, was the article about how ASU was playing a "money game" to fund the athletic budget by going  to Nebraska.  The reason I didn't find it shocking is because the article has been written what seems like a thousand times.  The thing that I find most interesting about these worn out articles is that they rarely offer anything more than a shot at Arkansas State.  I wanted to try to explain why the games are what they are...

According to USA today, in 2011 Arkansas State University had an athletic budget of $13,374,507 in expenditures.  That ranked ASU 103 out of 104 D1A programs and 8 out of 9 in the Sun Belt.  (Not all programs report their budgets but rest assured that Notre Dame and USC and the other private schools that don’t report are higher than ASU’s)  Arkansas State was behind 41 D1AA (FCS) programs in total expenses as well – including South Alabama (D1AA in 2011) which would make ASU 9 out of 10 SBC schools.  To fund the 200 or so scholarships it cost a little more than $4.5 million.  To fund the salaries it cost around $4.4 million.  The other expenses (travel, recruiting, game day operations, etc.) added up to around $4.4 million.  (UPDATE: Thanks to an inquiring mind - Winston - the cost for ASU athletic scholarships should be closer to $3.15M than the 4.5 that USA Today suggests) 
 
The ticket sales and contributions for all sports combined came in at $1.7 million.  Student fees added another $3 million in “revenue” and the rights and licensing brought in near $1 million.  The university once again transferred monies from the general and auxiliary funds that added up to around 2.2 million dollars.  With the 3.8 million worth of “other revenue” which mostly came from game guarantees that put the ASU athletic “revenues” at 11.7 million.  That adds up to about 1.6 million short of what was spent.

In 2012 the mantra for ASU is that we are going to the “next level”.   A couple of programs that we have eyed as the type of program that we need to model ourselves after are ranked 62nd (Boise State – $37,524,722) and 87th (Southern Miss – $20,673,597).  That means we are $7 million less than one and $24 million short of the other.  Now, I do agree that money isn’t the magic bean that gets you to the next level but it can help you fix problems that can arise much quicker.  And there are things like facility upgrades, recruiting budgets, and coaching salaries that have to be at the competitive level if we truly want to take the step forward.  The money needed to get there is really only coming from a few avenues.  The state is not going to allow ASU to transfer an unlimited amount of money to athletics.  There is only so high you can go with Student Fees.  So, in order to move the money stream higher we have to address the areas that we can address – ticket sales, donations, and game guarantees.  ASU has to increase the ticket sales and contributions in order to become that next level athletics program.
 
My expectations are that this issue is the number one thing discussed in the Athletic Director interviews that have gone on the last week or two.   The new AD will have to build an atmosphere around ASU athletics that can help generate more “paying” butts in seats and contributions, both individual and corporate.  And while it is important that the athletic department decide that they are going to be the type of place that wants to provide great customer service to the RedWolfNation, it is also absolutely necessary that the ASU fans buy in and are willing to be passionate about supporting the program.

Even if all the financial support from the fans and community increases, and ticket sales are boosted, the question remains is it enough?  Is that increase enough to move the budget up the ladder to that $20M or $37M budget that may be needed to provide Malzahn, Brady, and Raffo the support needed to be competitive at the “Next Level”?  7 million – 24 million more from ticket sales and donations sounds unlikely.  That is why I still see the need to fund the budget with “money games”.  

 The truth is that programs like Fresno State, Southern Miss, and Boise State all relish these games against the big boys.  They don't sit around and complain about them as money games.  Their fans don't cry about being led like lambs to the slaughter.  The media that covers these programs don't bitch about how they have to go play a major powerhouse.  The teams, the fans and even the media that cover them see these games as opportunities to be Giant Killers.  To get national exposure for being willing to play anybody, anywhere, anytime.  Do you have to win some of these games?  Well, sure.  ASU has had chances in the past and just fallen short in some of these money games - 8 point loss to Texas, 3 point loss to Iowa, 2 point loss to Indiana.  And of course the Red Wolves have knocked off Texas A&M.  All of those games have happened within the last 6 seasons.  

Let's allow Malzahn the chance to recruit, install his offense, and put that bunch up against some of the teams from the big conferences.  I'm pretty sure that there will be a different mentality in how we describe the "budget games"!