Q&A with Missouri State AD Kyle Moats

With the Missouri State men’s basketball team off to such a great start and the Lady Bears quietly winning games, I figured it was time to check in with Bears Athletic Director Kyle Moats, who is in the midst of his first year on the job.

If you’re not familiar with Moats, he served in numerous athletic departments, including Kentucky, Louisville and Marquette, and was very forthcoming in this interview, I thought.

Among the topics we discussed, were Missouri vs. Missouri State, the Missouri Valley’s current scheduling situation and the upcoming TV contract.

Enjoy, and Happy New Year.

Allen Vaughan: How would you rate your tenure thus far?

Kyle Moats: I think we’re still formulating all that. Probably, I think things I’d like to have happened haven’t happened as quick or as fast as I’d like for them to happen, but I don’t know how unusual that is. I think things have gone pretty well or as they’re supposed to. I think there are areas we’d certainly like to do better in, like ticket sales. There’s no question and that’s across the board, Lady Bears, football. We’re going to make some changes next year and I would be greatly disappointed if our tickets sales weren’t improved across the board next year.

If we get that to happen, I’ll feel better. Money is an issue and it will always be an issue. It’s never going to go away. We’ve got to do a better job of getting more Bear Fund members, season ticket holders. If we really want this program to elevate, that’s what’s going to have to happen. Get more people to events. With the men’s basketball team getting off to this start, that’s going to happen, no question. I think Lady Bears basketball is off to a good start. Not as good as the men’s team, but they’re still off to a good start and that program is improving. I think football improved, no question. We’ve got everybody coming back that was significant to that team, except for Clay (Harbor) and I think we’re going to be OK in replacing those folks. So I look for good things next season. I’ll be greatly disappointed if we don’t have a pretty darn good year. I think we have things going the right way. We’ve got to convince people in the community that what we have is a good thing and if they want it to become really, really good, they’re going to have to invest in it. I feel like they’ll invest in it if, one, they feel like it’s worth it and two, the leadership is worth investing in.

That’s where I’m hoping to get out and, the other area that I haven’t done as much as I thought I’d be able to do at this point is to get out and see people as much as I probably need to. I’ve stayed more in-house the first three or four months to make sure I understood internally our folks and the university itself. I started in, but now I’m going to go out more. Originally I thought I’d go out and then in, but after I was here, it was more important for me to understand the internal relationships. I understand external relationships are important and we’re going to get there, too.

AV: What have you learned about the Ozarks, in general?

KM: You really have to show the people here a little more about how we’re going to be successful and see the end product. It’s the only thing that’s been a little different. That’s doesn’t mean there aren’t strong followers, because we have a great following with men’s and women’s basketball, and football needs some help. Why hasn’t there been a great following in football? They haven’t won. Simple as that. It goes back to how people will support you if they feel like it’s worth supporting. I think maybe where I’ve been, you can have a few down years — not too many — but there have been a lot of success at those programs and it’s easy to jump on the bandwagon because they’ve been successful. Last year from a men’s basketball standpoint, we won 11 games. In terms of success, that’s not what people are looking for. But I do think they have a high level of confidence in Coach (Cuonzo) Martin and they really have seen he’s made change. They’re more athletic, they’re (10-0). They will support this program.

AV: With the men’s program off to such a great start and Mizzou off to a slow start, the talks of the two teams playing has sparked again in the public. Is anything going to happen between the two programs?

KM: I would like to hope there would be some type of relationship with them, more than what we have right now. I think it has to make sense for both parties. Everyone’s like, “You know, it would be great for us.” It would be great for us. But it has to be great for both parties in order to do it. I’m not going to speak for Missouri, but I think if we could make it financially worth doing on both sides, we’d have a better chance for it to happen. Football, I think there has been an offer to us, but it wasn’t a good enough offer.  Financially, it has to make perfect sense for both parties to participate. Both coaches on men’s basketball side get along. Coach Martin and Coach (Mike) Anderson get along well and eventually I could see (helping it along). It’s something I’d like to see. I’d like to see some type of series started between Missouri State and Missouri, something similar to what Carolina-Duke, Oklahoma-Oklahoma State, do, an all-sport deal. Right now, we play quite a few sports with one another. It wouldn’t be a huge change and if we got a statewide corporate partner, then it would make sense because financially both need incremental dollars. If we could get that worked out, that would have an interest from Missouri.

AV: Why would Missouri want to play Missouri State?

KM: I can’t speak for them. I’ve had this situation on both sides of everywhere I’ve been.  We’ve ended up playing everywhere I’ve been. Kentucky-Louisville didn’t play each other for the longest time. The worst-case scenario happened and the state got involved and said, “You’re going to have to play each other” basketball-wise. Football, it was a situation where we thought at the time, it in the best interest at the time for the state of Kentucky in football. Louisville, at the time, didn’t have a very good stadium and the deal was, when you get your stadium done, we’ll play every other year and it was the best thing to happen to the commonwealth of Kentucky. For the whole summer, it was all they talked about was that football game. It brought more exposure too football.

When I was at Marquette, the issue was the University of Milwaukee-Wisconsin, which was right across the street. Why don’t we play them? They’re Division I. Why don’t we play one another? It’s the same thing with Marquette as it is with Missouri. They have everything to lose and nothing to gain. That’s really what the issue comes down to. I think I can agree with that statement, but I also think it’s really great for the state to do it.  I don’t know what difference it makes if you play directional schools and happen to lose to one of them, or lose to us. If we lose to (any of them) it hurts us just as much. I would think it’s a good thing to the state, but financially it has to make sense. It comes down to. “Who has the most to lose? Right now, Missouri has more to lose than we do, based on their thinking. But, it’s just one game. It’s not THE game. It’s great for our fans. It’s great for their fans. They’re excited about playing Oklahoma, they’re excited about playing Texas, I get that. It’s the same way we’re excited to play Creighton and we’re excited to play Northern Iowa. We’ve got to beat those teams. If it helps that we can increase their attendance in Columbia because we’ll help bring some folks, or they have more of their home folks that buy tickets, that’s a good thing. If they come here and more of our folks buy tickets, it’s a good thing. It helps both of us. Again, it has to make sense financially to even have a chance to happen. Philosophically, they probably don’t think it’s worth doing. I hope we can change that for the betterment of the state and each program. Both coaches get along and I think it’s a great rivalry we could build and we should do it because it would be good for the state.

AV: Do you have any grasp of MSU’s perception in the rest of the state?

KM: I don’t have too good of one, yet. One of the reasons we changed our name was to not be so regional and directional. We want to be more national and international. Currently we have more students from St. Louis than we ever have. It’s something like 2,000 students, right now. We’ve got 1,000 from Kansas City. We’re attracting people from all over the state. We’re not just southwest Missouri anymore. That’s what we kept trying to tell people and that we are a statewide institution and want to be a national and international. We look at playing those schools and we do play some of them. We should probably play them, UMKC, Southeast Missouri and we do some of that. We should look to try to help some of those schools out. If you play them enough, you’re going to get beat once in a while. From a budget standpoint, we have to play some of them. We don’t have the dollars to go all over the country and play. I don’t know the southeasts of the world, or the KCs of the world, I don’t know where we fit in there, but I think a lot of people look at it by what type of conference you’re in. Saint Louis being in the A-10, it’s a conference that people recognize because it’s in the NCAA Tournament, sometimes with more than one bid. The Ohio Valley and (The Summit Conference) are mainly one-bid leagues and the Missouri Valley can be more than a one-bid league. I think that’s what everyone is striving for, but not saying, is trying to be more than a one-bid league. We have to play a schedule that helps us achieve that goal.

AV: Could there be a day where playing Missouri State’s could help Missouri’s strength of schedule?

KM: There are teams across the country, look at Northern Iowa. They got to play Iowa and Iowa State. Look at Kentucky, they play Louisville and the other schools within the state. It’s not uncommon to play schools within the state that are D-I schools and could be a tough game. It’s good for the state. We certainly would want it for our RPI and we would like to think we would be good for their RPI.

AV: Has there been any contact or discussion with Missouri about playing in men’s basketball?

KM: Very little. (Missouri AD) Mike (Alden) talked briefly, but it was more of a congratulations on the job. I said, ‘Hey, we’d like to play you.’ He said, ‘Hey, throw something together and we might have an interest.’ That’s really where we are. He didn’t say no, he didn’t say yes. Is it a priority? No. We have other things we want to accomplish. It’s not all I’m going to spend my time on doing, that’s for sure.

AV: Will an SEC team ever come to JQH Arena ever again?

KM: Boy, I hope so. It will be tougher and tougher. Plug in a conference that’s in the BCS, then beat them, it makes it tougher and tougher to convince them to come to your place. That’s the whole dilemma we have with getting into the NCAA Tournament. If you get a little bit better, teams don’t want to play you. It’s so important to get in those preseason tournaments. You get to play those teams on a neutral site, three conferences you need to play. Whoever is in them, you’ll probably not get a chance to play them on your home court. We’re going to play Oklahoma State coming up in a 2-for-1 deal. Those are the types of things we’re going to have to do to get people here. Maybe even a 3-for-1. I’d rather not do that, but we’re always going to be in a position where we’re going to have to compromise to get to play them. If we have to go to a neutral floor, we’ll have to go to a neutral floor.

In the short time I’ve seen it, our league collectively, has to get better. Creighton has done a great job of playing people. Creighton (was 3-5 at the time of this interview), but I tell you what, they’re probably the best (3-5) team in the country. You don’t want any part of that. They’re doing what they need to do to make themselves better. Northern Iowa has done the same thing. Everybody else, we all have to collectively play better schedules if we’re going to get one in, besides the team that wins the conference tournament. We can complain about the committee and we can complain about the process, but we’re going to have to bend a little in order to get a chance to play those schools.

AV: Anyone other large names besides Oklahoma State coming down the pike?

KM: Not coming to our place. I’d like to think we can keep the rivalry between Tulsa, Saint Louis. They’re both good schools and they’re regional. Tulsa is picked second in C-USA and I think they’re consistently going to be a contender in that conference. I think coach Majerus does a great job. They’re always going to be in the upper echelon of the A-10. That’s a good one for us to play. Little Rock has won the Sun Belt before. If they can be in the top of that league, we’ll continue to play them because of geographics. If we can play those types of teams, they’re not big schools, and the Mountain West Challenge, as we get to be better, we’ll get better teams to go home and away with that. Bracket Buster was set up solely for that reason. If we can throw in a Big 12 school and get someone else to come in, I’d love to. We’ll continue to try to get those types of school in to get a good balance. We can’t kill ourselves, but we need to try to play a tougher schedule than we have in the past.

AV: You’ve been around some great facilities. Any thoughts on JQH in Year 2?

KM: It’s a great facility. It has everything you need. 10,000 seats, chairbacks, all the amenities you need. The Big 12 schools, the Big 10 schools, the SEC schools, if you look at them, we’ve got one of the best facilities in the country. We have 10-11,000. Well, they may have 17,000, but it’s not a better facility, just because they have more followers. We need to get the locker rooms done. When that happens, we’ll have as great a facility as anyone. Creighton’s is great. Bradley’s new one is good. We’re in a good position in the conference. I’ve told places, when you get a chance to travel and see other places, that’s when you get to really appreciate what you have. But, most of our folks don’t go anywhere else. Some don’t really understand what they have.

AV: Do you like having the high schools coming in and playing here?

KM: Love it. The more we can have, the better. It showcases our town and our facilities. The Tournament of Champions is great. I think it’s a good thing. Kids aren’t even thinking about Springfield, MO. I’ve talked to recruits, I’ve talked to coaches, I’ve talked to parents and almost all of them will tell you, ‘I didn’t realize how nice of a place this was.’ If they get over the perception of Springfield, Missouri, whatever that is, because they don’t know about it, just get here, it’s like an oasis. If we can just get people here, this thing will work. That’s what we’re fighting is the perception. The more successful we can be, especially at men’s basketball and Lady Bear basketball, that’s where it’s going to get the recognition. Once that happens, we’re going to be in good shape because of the facility. They’re mindboggled by it. The university has 22,000 people. I think people think it’s Midwest USA, you know, 5,000 people in Springfield. Well, they get here and find out it’s a wonderful community, the campus is cleaner than a lick. It’s a beautiful place. It’s not just some little town. That’s the part I think externally we’re fighting and to a degree internally. Many liked being a small directional school. I don’t know how much they want to open up. People need to realize what they have is a gem.

AV: Where does the TV contract stand?

KM: TV is up this year, after basketball season. My goal with the TV is two things: 1) Maximize the exposure for our fans. 2) Help promote our sports. The money part of it is something that’s a factor, but not that big of a factor. I think we’ll be able to retain the dollars and the inventory we need to help sell. We need exposure and promotion of our product. Who can do that the best? Daily there are more and more people that have satellite. (Shrugs shoulders) It’s a factor. You have over-the-air, you have analog, you have HD. That’s a factor. You’ve got video streaming, that’s a factor. You’ve got regional cable, that’s a factor. You put all of that stuff in the pot and you’ve got to come up with what’s best for you. We’re aware of the issues and we need to satisfy the most Bears fans. And I go back to it, we’re not just southwest Missouri and that’s not just who we are trying to cater to. We’re border to border. We’re Tulsa, we’re southeast Missouri, we’re Illinois, we’re going north to Iowa. We’re trying to get to Kansas. We’re a regional school, not just a corner-of-Missouri school. We’re getting bigger and bigger and we’re getting more and more people from outside the area. That’s a good thing and we certainly want to stay true to our roots, but we want to expand for the region. It’s good for the whole university, not just athletics.

AV: When will you make an announcement?

KM: Probably not until the summer. After the first of the year, we’ll try to look at the issues. It will be a bid process. We’ll get the specs together and get into negotiation and get it wrapped up early in the summer. Late spring/early summer.

AV: Any idea who will bid?

KM: I have no idea. You’ve got Mediacom. The two groups that have both stations. I don’t know if either one will have an interest. I don’t know if regional cable will have any interest (like Fox Sports Midwest) and there’s video streaming with ESPN. We’ve got to make sure we don’t step on any toes with the conference. I want the most exposure to get for the program.

AV: Anything else you’d like to add?

KM: One of the questions we’ve had is the pricing of everything. I’ve probably spent more time on that than I thought I would. With Lady Bears and men’s basketball, which are two different products, I think maybe we’ve tried to make them the same product. I’m not for sure that’s been the best thing. Financially, we need both of them to succeed. No question. Historically, Lady Bear basketball has been more successful. In terms of NCAA Division I, we haven’t done that in men’s basketball. We’ve had success and I’m not knocking the history of our men’s program, but it is what it is. I know we’ve had sellouts for women’s basketball, so it can be done. I know we haven’t had that since Hammons, but the pricing structure has been different. We tried to get that more in line than it was in the past. I’m not sure if that’s the reason people haven’t come back yet. I think economics is one thing and the success of our team is two. I’m not naive to think that’s not the case.

For men’s basketball, I don’t get the sense that price is a huge issue. I think it’s more of the success of the team. We have plenty out there, deals, discounts, plenty of ways to get to the games. I’ll go back to what I said about the arena. Not everyone can sit in the lower level. We just can’t do that. We’ve got 10,000 seats, chairbacks, and they’re great seats. If you go anywhere, and that’s been the real difficult part to get them to figure out, not sitting in the lower level isn’t the end of the world. Financially, we can’t afford not to have priority. Is that too high, are some of those seat assessments too high? I don’t know and we’ll look at that at the end of the year. We might tweak it, but not too much. We’re not going to make it to where people can walk up and pay $5 and sit in the lower level. It’s not going to happen. If people want this program to succeed, you’re going to have to invest in it. It doesn’t mean you’re going to have to invest millions of dollars. They’re going to have to invest in season tickets. I’ve said it over and over, fans, people who have written me, emailed me, I’ve been on the radio and I’ll stand by it, I am a huge supporter of the season-ticket holder. They are my best customer. I’m going to protect my season-ticket holder as best I can. Not that I’m not appreciative of the guy who walks up and buys a ticket for him and his family on gameday, but I’m really going to be more inclined someone who chose to invest in us in the long haul with season tickets. That’s who I’m going to look out for. I’ve been criticized about it and I don’t feel bad about it.

I’ve tried to do some things to help folks get to games. Monday through Thursday, kids come free. If you’re a family and I know times are tough, you can bring your three kids, bring your family and your kids are free. There’s nothing wrong with sitting in the upper deck to watch a ballgame and you’re paying $50 bucks for a family of four and we’re going to give you $25 to go eat. Not everyone has kids, so I get that. Maybe we can get something going for young alums. I’m sensitive to young alums. I think that’s something we can do next year. It’s almost like a junior membership at a golf course. Maybe that’s something we can do. For four or five years, this is what you’re going to pay and maybe after you get your feet under you, you can step up and you’ve enjoyed it so much that you want to be a part of it. I will look at that. I just got here and I wanted to see how things were going to go. But, I’m also very sensitive to our season-ticket holders. They are the lifeblood of our program. And we have to have more of them.

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