In the early weeks of Patrick Ransdell’s time as Missouri State’s new athletic director, he’s taking inventory of how things are done and what changes he wants to make.
When the Bears played their first football game at Plaster Stadium this past weekend, he didn’t speak up or offer suggestions. He instead watched the features of BearFest Village and the routine gameday experience Missouri State normally puts out. He can use the 2024-25 athletic season to see what works and what doesn’t while sprinkling in some trial-and-error ideas heading into Missouri State’s FBS future.
Ransdell still has so much to learn over the coming months as he leads the athletic program during the most transformational time in its history. One thing he’s constantly reminded of is what be believes Missouri State can be.
“There’s so much potential,” Ransdell said. “But I want to do things the right way.”
Ransdell is the athletic director who will lead Missouri State into Conference USA in 2025. So much needs to be done for the Bears to compete as a Group of 5 program in the FBS but he’s trying not to look too far ahead. He just got his university email account set up and he’s awaiting a computer.
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The needed renovations to Plaster Stadium won’t be built nor will the Bears have the money for construction within the next few weeks. It’s going to take time.
“Everyone wants to go really fast,” Ransdell said. “And so do I, but I want to do things the right way and not do things that we’d have to adjust in year two or year three. We need to sit down, figure out the next five years and put the plans in place. I don’t want to rush. I want to be deliberate and move quickly but I just don’t want to rush.”
Ransdell is still learning Springfield, the university and its athletics budget which is pretty much set in stone for the 2024-25 calendar. At some point, he’d like to see the budget increase from the $30 million budget of the past to somewhere in the low $40 million range, a competitive number with fellow Conference USA programs.
He’s also preparing to be involved in the university’s new strategic plan which Missouri State is creating for 2025-30 under new president Dr. Richard “Biff” Williams. Work plans are expected to be presented to the MSU Board of Governors in August 2025.
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Ransdell said he would have liked to form a strategic plan for the next several years even if the university wasn’t in the process of creating its own. The athletics plan will include facility upgrades, staffing, budget increases and integrating a culture of success and teamwork.
Based on Ransdell’s recent history at Appalachian State, where he led a $100 million capital campaign for athletics, a capital campaign for athletics may be in Missouri State’s future.
“At some point, we’re going to want to take a look at doing a capital campaign,” Ransdell said. “We also need to adjust the Bears Fund. our annual fund needs to get more robust and a lot of that is going to lean back on staffing. The more you do this, the more people you need out asking for money and hitting the road. A lot of those revenue-producing positions, you can show a good return on investment and from a business perspective, that makes a lot of sense.”
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In the months ahead, Ransdell will observe Missouri State’s interworkings while starting to plan for the large items to come. If he sees low-hanging fruit, he’ll speak up. Any changes he makes to the gameday atmosphere might not happen until the second half of the football season or at some point during basketball. With no back-to-back home football games this season, Ransdell can see slight adjustments happening from game to game.
Only so much can be accomplished right now.
“From a revenue standpoint, we’re going to start moving quickly,” Ransdell said. “We’re going to fundraise. We’ll need to adjust what 2025 football season tickets look like. There are going to be a lot of adjustments moving forward and I hope everybody would expect and understand that when you go from one level to another, it’s going to mean some different things.”
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Publish date : 2024-09-16 03:33:00
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