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campaign from the former players has put about $60,000 worth of new equipment in the Mollenkopf weight room. Certainly that's been complemented by a very significant increase in the strength and conditioning staff, and a lot of that is pointing towards football. You've got the Shelbourne Sports Medicine Center, Newell-Combs auxiliary Sports Medicine Center, the remodeling of the Hall of Glory, remodeling of the reception area on the third floor. There's a former player to endow learning specialists, and you have the new Brees Academic Center. So there are a lot of things that have been done. "Still, I have been open (to additional improvements). We are going to employ HNTB to perform an architectural study on the south end zone. We have lots of ideas and concepts, but I think that is the natural step. Tom Campbell "I (also) think the fan experience It was a trying football season with Burke, here with Robert Marve, sayin these venues has to be enhanced. ing he didn't see enough consistency to stick with Coach Danny Hope. People expect to be entertained. So need to be concurrent with fan support. you're not just selling a game, but Burke: "We will communicate with the fan base af- you're selling a three-hour game with 90 minutes on ter the first of they year. It's not going to be a significant either side of the game, for the experience. I think jolt. We did Mackey (reseating and seat licensing/legacy right now, maybe we should all be taking a page from charges for seats), maybe we have to do the same thing Major League Baseball's book. I saw the Giants play with Ross-Ade. I think the after tax you will see on aver- out in the park in San Francisco, and I saw the Reds age about $10-$15 a game. It's not astronomical." play. The parks are more compact, tighter, and it's a Gold and Black: Seat licensing money does not tight ticket. And so to me, given where we are located get shared with the league? geographically, between the Colts and the Bears, I Burke: "That's right. That is why you do it that think we are at the point where right now, trading out way. We will likely call it a legacy fund." 7,000 or 6,000 seats in the south end zone, you've got Gold and Black: As athletic director, one of the capacity up in the north horseshoe. your duties is to always have a short list of possi"Let's tighten the ticket up, let's get a better scoreble coaches for any sport. How did that come into board so we can really enhance the fan experience play during this football search and how often do and make it dynamic. And I'm not giving up on the you look at it or update it? deck, but I think you need to do it sequentially. And Burke: "I look at it maybe once a year. You get a you might get (a stadium capacity of) 56,500 and find third party to help and assemble information as part out your yield per ticket goes up because you don't of the process. These three guys (Grigson, Smith and have to discount as much." Polian) know just about every coach in the country; Gold and Black: Switching gears a bit, Matt it's just the nature of the work that they are in. Painter is going through a tough beginning of the "Danny and I had that discussion where this was season. the year that we had to step up the bowl ladder and we Burke: "I think his loss of (Kelsey) Barlow probahad to be more consistent. The bottom line was we bly, not as a scorer, but as a passer and an experienced were not consistent. point guard, and Matt might not agree, has probably "We probably had 20, 25 names and when it be- been a reason. But I think if the Barlow situation had came apparent we were going to make a change, you been different, that would have given him a little more start to freshen up the list. There's some that came off stability at the point, and maybe not had to push some and some that came on. The 'gang of three' were very, other people into it. Ronnie (Johnson) has had to pervery helpful at that point." form a little sooner than maybe he should have fullGold and Black: What is your vision for where time, but he's going to be a hell of a talent. this football program can and should go? "They're going through a hard period right now, Burke: "My vision is Pasadena. It's about putting but they should be. I mean how many shots did we yourself in a position to go back to Pasadena, that's miss around the basket (in a Dec. 8 loss to Eastern my vision. With the facility issues, I think it's helpful Michigan)? We're still trying to figure out who should to look at what we've done in the last four or five years shoot. D.J. (Byrd) had a tremendous game against (to help football). Clemson and he's been off a little bit. But I think "There's a whole series of things: The Next Step overall, people can see the talent, we just want to get GBIprint.com GoldandBlack.com there faster. And people sit back and they look at what this team will look like with (Basil) Smotherman and (Kendall) Stephens and (Bryson) Scott, and really it's a pretty nice little pipeline (for 2013-14). But we're being humbled early in the year." Gold and Black: With the women's basketball team and director of operations Terry Kix's treatment for stomach cancer, what role do you have? Burke: "I think it's that of a co-worker and a colleague. Terry has been here for quite a while and we've been good friends; she's a battler. And I think everybody will rally around her. I applaud her for being open, so she doesn't have to carry that burden by getting it out there. If there's any program that's learned how to circle the wagons when people have a problem, it's the women's basketball program. So, we just got to help her. "When you have something like that happen to your close-knit group, it causes you to reflect on what's important. So I think at the end of the day, we'll rally around Terry. It's always a shock to the system to find out something like this because she is a dear person." Gold and Black: Looking at your year in review, baseball's performance had to be one of the most gratifying things to finally get that program recognized as the Big Ten Champion. Burke: "It certainly was, but I will also tell you women's tennis is on par with that one by having to win the three matches that they won (to win the program's first Big Ten title). "I think each of them (the Olympic sports), we're starting to move a little bit. Soccer was disappointing, and we have to do better there. Rob (Klatte) has helped me make that turnaround (before). That comes with some experience. "I think women's swimming and diving will have a good year. (John Klinge) got a good nucleus and gets those divers back. The men's swimming team, I have to see those divers first as I have a lot of money tied up in that program. "I think Kim Maher has got a good (softball) team. They were sixth in the Big Ten and just missed the NCAA Tournament by a game, and she's added to the pitching staff so you don't have to pitch the same pitcher every game, which psychologically has to be a burden. "I think men's tennis is starting to grow. "Lonnie Greene is off to a good start (in his first year at Purdue in track). I mean, we have had two people go to the NCAA cross country meet and a member of his staff has coached them for just a few months. If you could see his recruiting, I think he will get (us) back to the NCAAs and score some points. "Devon Brouse has been solid (in golf) and given a consistent performance, and I think Doug Schreiber's baseball team will probably be a little better than people think heading into the season. Every year he seems to get some talent. "Wrestling is off to a pretty good start too. "There are no excuses as we've pretty much taken care of the facility (deficits). We are hoping to get a Board authorization in April for softball to get done. I think we're at a point in time where we should expect Gold & Black IllustrateD • volume 23, issue 3 • 13