Tulane Athletic Director Supporting Louisiana Tech

[50's PONY]

Tulane AD supports Tech’s C–USA bid
April 21, 2004
By Brian Vernellis

bvernellis@gannett.com

A year ago, Tulane Athletic Director Rick Dickson was fighting to keep his athletic department stable. So this year, when the news is focused on Conference USA expanding, he's more than happy to talk about it.

Dickson, football coach Chris Scelfo and women's basketball coach Lisa Stockton continued their state-wide tour on Tuesday, stopping in Shreveport to meet with alumni and supporters.

Just last year, the Green Wave's athletic program was in jeopardy and considering abandoning Division I for Division III. But the school's board of trustees elected to keep the status quo and Tulane unveiled a massive fundraising drive.

"The support has been evident by people across the state and across the country," Scelfo said. "More and more people are stepping forward so it's really not an issue that we're dealing with like we were last time."

The athletic department is on a $65 million campaign, half of which will support an endowment to ensure the department's long-term stability. The remaining portion is a mixture of increasing annual funding and season ticket sales.

"It's been a greater awareness out there from what we went through," Dickson said. "It got the alumni's attention and they've been more receptive."

The recent issue confronting Tulane is the possible expansion of its conference -- Conference USA.

Conference athletic directors are split on the matter, some favoring the current 11 teams while others wish to add a 12th team -- most likely either Texas-El Paso or Louisiana Tech. Dickson said the conference is probably leaning toward adding that 12th team.

"Personally, I liked the idea of 11 teams," Dickson said. "One of the reasons being with the additions we already got, we got at least three more schools with similiarities to Tulane in Tulsa, SMU and Rice.

"If we stayed at 11 we'd be all right with it, but if we're going to add a 12th, we've already made it clear that we support the state school, Louisiana Tech."

[EastStang]

No surprise there. Turner said as much in his comments about expansion several weeks ago. I suspect that Tulane is SAYING, yeah we support La. Tech, and if UTEP is selected they can say, we tried, but we were outvoted.

[Sam I Am]

Tulane's support for La Tech is good politically, and makes sense geographically. SMU, Rice, and Tulsa have sided with Tulane on this one. How did UTEP become the favorite unless the Sun Bowl is part of the deal.

[Diehard Pony]

My guess is that they became the favorite because of their football and men's basketball programs. They are both very much on the rise, and their fans travel very well.....note their attendance when we play them at home. My powerless vote is for UTEP as well.