Missouri State football coach Ryan Beard reviews offseason
Missouri State head footblal coach Ryan Beard talked about his team’s performance following its final scrimmage of fall camp.
Vince Volpe, the associate athletics director at Arizona State University, touted his fundraising prowess and desire to “modernize” Missouri State athletics during his community forum as a finalist for the university’s vacant athletics director position.
Volpe is one of two AD candidates in contention for the job. Appalachian State Deputy AD Patrick Ransdell held his open forum on Friday. Roger Denny, the Chief Operating Officer at the University of Illinois, withdrew his name from consideration.
Brent Dunn, Missouri State’s Vice President for University Advancement and chair of the MSU AD search committee, said the school has yet to decide whether it will bring in additional candidates. He previously said if Missouri State President Dr. Richard “Biff” Williams decided to do so, they would be brought in this week.
More: All of our 2024 Missouri State, high school football preseason coverage in one place
Volpe talked to what appeared to be the largest crowd of the three open forums for about 30 minutes. He said he believes he’s “uniquely positioned” to help Missouri State in four key areas:
FundraisingCommunity engagementHelping to build a football program from scratchConference realignment experienceVolpe touted his ability to fundraise from his previous stops
Using a golf analogy, Volpe said that fundraising is the biggest club in his bag.
At two of his previous stops, Volpe said he’s helped land the school’s largest gifts in the school’s history. Volpe said he’s personally raised over $60 million between the four schools he’s worked at.
“A modern-day athletics director needs to be in the community,” Volpe said. “It’s about developing meaningful relationships and that’s what we’ve done at every institution I’ve been at. That’s how it’s going to be successful at Missouri State. It’s about building relationships until ultimately making the ask. Everybody understands that. Everybody is willing to lock arms and, in a common way, elevate athletics here at Missouri State into Conference USA.”
Volpe talked community engagement, importance of corporate partnerships
Being in the community is something Volpe promised to do. He remembered the names of those he shook hands with before his open forum while addressing them in the question-and-answer portion. He did his homework and congratulated Art Hains, addressing him as the Voice of the Bears.
Getting more corporate engagement was also an emphasis for Volpe. He spoke of Arizona State’s accomplishments, landing one of the largest naming rights deals for a football stadium in college football and the ability to attract corporate dollars in a city like Phoenix when competing with professional sports franchises were among his highlights.
“Meaningful relationships are critical across all revenue units,” Volpe said. “Whether it’s corporate, whether it’s butts in seats, ticket sales, group sales, single-game sales, season tickets or philanthropy, it’s all about meaningful relationships.”
Volpe helped build a football program from scratch at UT Rio Grande Valley and would need to help build Missouri State football
Volpe was there when UTRGV hired its head coach. The school only had a pair of footballs and helmets so they were available with photos at the introductory press conference. After putting $200 million into building the new program, UTRGV will play its first season in the FCS Southland Conference next year.
Missouri State appears to be in the business of putting nine figures into its football program, based on public statements from Williams. The Bears already have the bones for a football program but renovations and better infrastructure are needed if they’re ever going to compete at the FBS level.
“Is it easier to build a house from scratch or strip it to studs and renovate the house you already have?” Volpe asked. “At our previous stop in South Texas, we did not have a football stadium. We were fortunate enough with some timing with a donor that owned a USL team folded with a stadium that was less than 10 years old. Within six months, we were able to buy that stadium with $60 million with $20 million coming from a lead donor from a couple in South Texas.”
Volpe didn’t share much of a vision for Plaster Stadium and its inevitable renovation. He mentioned what has been shared publicly, like upgrades to premium seating, and said Williams shared other possibilities that aren’t public. When asked about the stadium, he said it needed to be modernized along with the rest of the department.
“You have to modernize your facilities and you have to modernize your staff,” Volpe said. “That’s a modernization piece that we really need to tackle. The piece of moving from the Missouri Valley to Conference USA is based on football. (Great Southern Bank Arena) will probably be one of the best basketball arenas in Conference USA. That football stadium is arguably maybe dead last.
“It’s going to take a unified approach from a campus and a community perspective to modernize that in every way whether that be the locker room, coaches’ offices, weight room, academic center, on and on and on, fan amenities, concessions, restrooms and parking.”
Volpe has experienced 3 conference realignments
Missouri State will head to Conference USA in 2025, which is something Volpe has experienced before. He has been a part of three conference transitions, dating back to his time at UConn when the Big East dissolved.
At UTRGV, Volpe went back to “modernizing” the athletics department from the inside out being crucial to a successful transition. In addition to facilities, Volpe said infrastructure and staffing will also be needed.
Volpe said the department made 30 full-time hires when launching a football and women’s swimming and diving program. Twenty-five of them directly interfaced with student-athletes with five others being revenue-generating positions. Of the 25, they worked in academics, sports medicine, compliance, nutrition and psychology.
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Publish date : 2024-08-19 13:38:00
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