Tracking the Cats
Wide ranging discussion of Western Carolina University athletics hosted by long time alumni and supporters, Bob Sabin & Steve White.
Tracking the Cats
Copy of James Hogan talks about stadium renovation 4/1/2025
Welcome to Tracking the Cats. I'm Bob Saban, along with Steve White, and we have a great show for you today. As you know, we talk about all things Catamount, and we're always brought to you by Stanbury Insurance with offices in Silva Waynesville, and. Highlands and we have a great guest with us, James Hogan. He's from the Office of Advancement here at Western. Been with us a while worked at Davidson for a little bit before coming to Western, and now he's in charge of the Office of Advancement. So welcome James.
james-hogan_1_04-01-2025_143051:Thank you so much, Bob. And, and I don't get to run the entire Office of Advancement, but they do let me play with all the engagement folks. And that means our annual giving and alumni engagement and, and communications folks are sitting in, in my office. But great to be here and thanks certainly for having me.
bob-sabin_1_04-01-2025_143051:Great. Well, tell us a little bit about, if you would start us off, tell us a little bit about what the office does, what you're responsible for, how it interfaces with athletics.
james-hogan_1_04-01-2025_143051:Yeah, absolutely. So Western
bob-sabin_1_04-01-2025_143051:I.
james-hogan_1_04-01-2025_143051:University has about 85,000 living alumni that we have records for, and our office is one of the few offices I. is tasked with engaging with that group of tens of thousands of cat mounts scattered near and far. So we do that principally through our alumni engagement efforts, our annual giving, fundraising and, and communication stuff. And that looks like things like homecoming weekend when everybody comes back and watches the, the ALS take the field and comes to alumni events around homecoming. But it also looks like things like. But we're about to kick off here very soon with ballparks and Brews where Stacy Miller and the alumni engagement team goes out to Minor League baseball stadiums around the Carolinas. And we put together Western Alumni nights. So everything in between those two things, we, we do a lot with our alumni. Hopefully if folks have a, a current email address with Western, they get something called Colory Connection. It's our monthly newsletter. We do a podcast out of engagement called Western Wednesdays. That's a, a podcast that we, we ship out usually the first Wednesday of the month. A lot of folks get the alumni magazine that comes from university communications and marketing to our alumni who we, we've, we really wanna make sure everybody who makes a gift to Western gets that, that beautiful magazine that they put together. So those are, those are just a handful of things. And then most recently. You probably got more than one message, probably, probably a dozen messages around one Day for Western, which was our university's campus-wide Day of Giving. That's something that runs out of the engagement office. And this year, to answer the last part of your question, this year. Our primary focus for One Day for Western was around building support around the Catamount Club. Back in the fall chancellor Brown put the Catamount Club in with the advancement team and we were really excited to join forces with those group with that group of colleagues. And this year. For one day for Western, we, we put up at the very top of the priority list building a, a pipeline of donors through the Oun Club to support our student athletes and the programs that they participate in. So we are still tallying up the gifts from last week. It takes some time for all those credit card card gifts to process and get deposited in Colory. But we're really close to being able to to share out some data around the success of. Of one day for Western. So it was a great, great effort.
squadcaster-hfig_1_04-01-2025_143051:You know, James, that I was the first executive director of the Catamount Club back in 1971. It's changed a little bit. I, and you've heard this story. I. The first year we raised about$75,000. as I say, we were like pigs and slop that year because that was about a quarter or maybe a fifth of our entire budget. And as far as athletics was concerned at that time, times, times have changed a little bit. And you guys are doing a great job with informing the, I see all of the stuff that you've been talking about and do a tremendous job of in keeping the alumni. Formed and on top of things going on here in Callway, it's, it has changed over the years and fortunately it's y'all are just just to a step and step ahead of everything that we've had in the past.
james-hogan_1_04-01-2025_143051:Well it's, that means it's been 54 years, Steve. And I always like to say in fundraising, especially, I. You know, you're always standing on the shoulders of, of the folks who, who got to come before you. And we, we have a, a good legacy. In fact, at, at Western Carolina, the longest legacy of fundraising is around athletics. Because of that and, know, it's, it's, it's a lot of work, but it's really important work for our university.
squadcaster-hfig_1_04-01-2025_143051:I remember typing up those membership cards on a manual typewriter, an Underwood typewriter, typing in, mess them up. Every once in a while you'd have to start over with little membership cards.
james-hogan_1_04-01-2025_143051:I love it.
bob-sabin_1_04-01-2025_143051:So was the effort last week, did it bring in some new folks? Did we see any folks join the Catamount Club or get additional donations from that?
james-hogan_1_04-01-2025_143051:We certainly did. And I don't, I don't have the final numbers on all of that, but we had just hundreds of Catamount Club gifts last week which, which will be a big step forward. We also had folks who had already joined the Cat Mountain club who stepped up and gave more, which I, I look at that as a, a wonderful thing, a big vote of confidence from our current supporters and our current members to, to know that they've made their gift already and then they came back and, and added to it to maybe hit that next membership level or give to a, a team or a program that, that they really care about.
squadcaster-hfig_1_04-01-2025_143051:James, one other thing just to add, even though I don't, I assume this was not an official function of of advancement in the Oun Club was the event Saturday night over at the Ramsey Center, the NIL fundraiser over there, colory Collective, and I don't know if you were there or not. I was outta town up in Virginia and I was seeing the granddaughter and so forth. So I just can you comment on that, how that went? Yeah.
james-hogan_1_04-01-2025_143051:Oh yeah, no, I was there. It was a really great event. We had a, a good crowd especially for the first time ever doing it. And you know, I, I definitely wanna say thanks to. The Colory Collective folks. I know Eddie, Eddie Wells was up on the stage, and and, coach, coach Kraft had a big part in it as well. And it was, it was a lot of fun. The entertainment was really, really great. I mean, those guys you've never been to some kind of songwriting. like that, it was a chance for those guys to talk about the songs they've written and the stories behind them and, and how some of these songs end up getting played on the radio. So the entertainment was great, the crowd was great. The food, the, the drinks, the, the beverages were all very good. I, I haven't heard yet quite what the output of that was, but guys, you know, it's, it's a new world. In college athletics with NIL stuff. At the end of the day, I, I think we look at it as we, we were all back in the cats, and so everybody who wants to show up and help us do what we can to promote our athletics program, man, we'll take the help and, and cheer'em on.
bob-sabin_1_04-01-2025_143051:So did Eddie or any of the guys from the collective have any updates on how they're doing and what, what their results are, either financially or the, the number of athletes that they're working with? I.
james-hogan_1_04-01-2025_143051:Not at the, not at the event Saturday. And, you know, the, those guys have a, a website and, and I'm sorry, I don't know it right off the top of my head. It may just be color we collective.com. But if you Google it, you can find it. They have a page I. Where they, they list the student athletes that they're, they're partnering with and working directly with. They, they cover a, a number of sports and, and teams. So you can, you can learn more about the, the athletes there. I don't know if they share any financials there or not.
squadcaster-hfig_1_04-01-2025_143051:Yeah, I heard a rumor very, from a very reliable source that they cleared well over 30,000 from Saturday night's event. So like I say, that's like unofficial, but just one of those things, a well-informed source.
bob-sabin_1_04-01-2025_143051:And the music was pretty good too, right?
james-hogan_1_04-01-2025_143051:Music was great especially if you like country music. You know, Brad Paisley I think most people know Brad Paisley. If they don't listen to country music, they still know that name. You know, one of those songwriters has put several songs in front of Brad Paisley and gotten him on the radio. And so it was, it was just really neat to be able to have that, that kind of interactive time. And I, I had not heard$30,000 but, regardless, that's a great number and it'll go a long way.
bob-sabin_1_04-01-2025_143051:So James, you and I had some time together last week, and one of the things that, that we talked about was the uniqueness of Western Carolina University, where we are situated the benefits and the challenges of having an organization like yours to fundraise, but. Talk to us a little bit about the culture of Western, both on campus and alumni.
james-hogan_1_04-01-2025_143051:You know it is funny. Earlier this week we were talking about a survey that, that we commissioned, I think in 2020 or 2021. And it was an alumni survey. We hired a firm that does surveying. I. it was a responsible, real survey with real data that came out of it. And one of the things that continues to just, you know, blow me away is when we polled over 2000 alumni and asked them to, to share their overall opinion of WCU. It was like 85% of alumni who said that they looked at Western either very favorably or favorably, which is hands like, like hands down about the best thing you could ever ask for. And I, I know you guys shared this, the same attitude about WCU and I know a lot of folks that I've interacted with through our work with alumni engagement and, and elsewhere people. For the most part, people have great experiences in Colory and they do that because Western has a culture and a tradition where people matter and relationships matter. And when you come to Western as a student you've got people on this campus who are ready to help you. Who put an arm around you and help take care of you. And, and those relationships matter. They persist even after you graduate or, or move on into the next stage of your life. There are, there are those people who you keep in touch with. I know that it that those connections absolutely show up in our athletics programs as well where you have teammates and coaches who stay connected long after their time here at WCU and, and that that culture doesn't just happen. not something that is, you know, in the bylaws or something that has to be that way. It's that way because we collectively have a community of people who choose to make it that way. And, and Bob, since last time you and I talked, something happened that I think is a just beautiful. Illustration of what our culture is here at Western and especially with our student athletes. Last week on Thursday night, we had a a, a basketball game. you, you may wonder like, what do we, do know who's playing basketball? The SoCon tournament's over, we're not playing anymore. But we had a program here at the Ramsey Center called Unite For Up. And if you're not aware of it, the The UP program is a university participant program. It's a residential program here at Western. For students who have significant learning disabilities. So sometimes these are students who have Down syndrome. Sometimes these are students with other disabilities but they come to Colory, they're in a certificate program, and I. They're partnered with mentors in the College of Education's special education program. And so you see these kids across campus. They, they take their meals in the cafeteria. They participate in very, very many ways. They're included on our campus and they're part of our, they're part of our campus community. And, and we see that our students invo or are involved in their lives and interact with them regularly, and it's really a cool thing. Well, last Thursday we had a kind of InterVarsity. Basketball game and coach craft coached one team and coached CPUs, coached the other team, and we had a mix of up students and student athletes who formed a you know, the two teams and, and those two squads went out and played a basketball game. Well, lemme tell you what, I bet there were close to a thousand people. In the Ramsey Center, maybe more because this community showed up and thought, this is really cool. Let's celebrate this group of students and let's share some joy. Matt Henley had. You know, 50, 60 people in the PEP band. We had a full pep band. The cheerleaders were out there, the dance team was out there, and at the very beginning it looked just like, it looked just like a SoCon basketball game. The big flag drops from the end zone in the Ramsey Center, and one of the, the UP students sang the Star-Spangled Banner, and it just, I mean, the hair on the back of your neck just stood straight up because it was beautiful. And then
bob-sabin_1_04-01-2025_143051:Oh.
james-hogan_1_04-01-2025_143051:we had, you know, our Ramsey center PA announcer, he does the player introductions, you know, starting at guard from Monroe, North Carolina. And, and oh my gosh, you've never seen a group of people so pumped up. Like these students come out and they just start making laps around the court. They're waving their arms and everybody's on their feet cheery. Then they do the tip. And Jake Robinson, by the way, one of our trustees,
bob-sabin_1_04-01-2025_143051:sure.
james-hogan_1_04-01-2025_143051:player, great, great guy. He and his wife were the refs. So they, they do the tip. There it is, we're underway. It goes back and forth a little bit. Well, the first bucket that gets made comes from a kid who's, who's, you know, student who's maybe like four feet tall. Like, it's like, is she ever gonna make it up there? Here comes that bucket and the roof almost gets blown off of the Ramsey Center. People are ecstatic. Then another student comes down, drains a three pointer. Now this whole time, this whole time, you've got students like Bernard Paolo out on the floor. I. OT is, you know, he's, he's taller than me. He's like, you know, seven feet tall, right? He's, he's there. He catches a rebound. He comes down the court and you can see the muscle memory where he is like, oh my gosh, I'm wide open. I've gotta take a shot. He stops himself and he makes the pass. You got other student athletes out there from volleyball, from women's soccer, from other teams and programs, women's basketball, out there. They're, they're making sure they're coming up and down the court. But hands down, I don't think the thing took more than 45 minutes. It was one of the most thrilling examples of community that you could ever say about a place at WCU and to see the student athletes out there. On their own time, nobody made'em do it on their own time volunteering to be part of that group. I think that says everything you need to know about the caliber of student athletes that come to Colory, that put on the purple and gold that go out and compete and by golly, guys. I'm never gonna be embarrassed to ask people for their help in supporting students like that. And I'm never going to be ashamed of, of harassing people on the phone and saying, it's one day for Western Steve White. Where's your credit card? We need to go, buddy. Let's go. Let's go, let's back these catts.
bob-sabin_1_04-01-2025_143051:Oh, that's why I did it. Dang. Somebody beep. No, no.
squadcaster-hfig_1_04-01-2025_143051:that's right.
bob-sabin_1_04-01-2025_143051:Steve and I were all in on that day.
squadcaster-hfig_1_04-01-2025_143051:Yeah, you're right. James, I've, you know, I worked around student athletes for over 40 years, and now I still love to be involved with them, but that's, they're special. It's a special group and you go to other campuses when we compete. It's just, you just don't say that atmosphere, that comradery between these athletes, student athletes. You're right, it's, it's special.
james-hogan_1_04-01-2025_143051:It is, it is the kind of place here at Western athletes do not get, I don't wanna say privilege'cause it shouldn't be a privilege but athletes don't live in their own universe on this campus. I,
squadcaster-hfig_1_04-01-2025_143051:Right.
james-hogan_1_04-01-2025_143051:won't name names, but I, I, you know, walking across campus today, going to Starbucks, just being around this place, I, I know I was around about a half dozen student athletes. I see their backpacks, I see the shirts that they're wearing. I know who they are. And, and that's because their normal students here, they get up, they go to class, they go hang out with their pals out on the plaza'cause it's a nice day. It's, it is in so many other universities. Some of these powerful programs, those, those student athletes live on their own campus. And,
squadcaster-hfig_1_04-01-2025_143051:You are exactly right.
james-hogan_1_04-01-2025_143051:and they're not part of the community in the same way. But that's not the case here at Western. And, and you know, not to just keep f flogging the dead horse Bob, but that culture is so important. It is. It's because what it means is student athletes aren't just their own subset on this campus. They're part of the entire, every student. Is touched by the athletics program at WCU, whether they come to a game or not, those athletes are in their classes. They're in their residence halls, they're in the cafeterias, they're at the Starbucks. And, and so those student athletes make an impact on the entire campus community.
squadcaster-hfig_1_04-01-2025_143051:James, I'd really like to get in, talk a little bit about the facilities upgrade. I think that was one of our the reasons for getting you here today along with just what you've said and that's you've expounded, much further than, than I had anticipated on talking about this. And I think it's great talking about this community, a special place we have here, Western Carolina. But I saw the video on the facilities upgrade the stadium, the West Side emphasis and so forth, and, which is great, and I hope people. might won't be able to tell where all they can find that, that the video because yeah, I was very impressed and you know, I'm tough to impress, but I was very impressed with with that video that really it, I mean, that made me wanted to start getting my wallet out and throw it out some money.
james-hogan_1_04-01-2025_143051:No, that's the response we were hoping for Steve.
squadcaster-hfig_1_04-01-2025_143051:Yeah.
james-hogan_1_04-01-2025_143051:know, so, so first of all, I'm glad you saw it. The, the video you're talking about is the, the kind of fly through video is, is kind of what we refer to it as here. We were so excited to get that from our architects because it shows viewers. Kind of a, a three dimensional composite of what our new athletics facilities will look like. The first piece of that. And, and, and something that's happening right now. They've got the construction fencing up. We're getting ready to, to really get this thing underway is the, the for lack of a better term right now, the western sky box which is going to be built on the western side. Of the stadium. It is a multi-level facility that will house our football coaching staff and provide them a lot of brand new meeting space and will also house our game day operation staff. So I. boxes for game day operations for home and away teams. Press box area for all of our media folks. And, and then other space there. And then on the top level, a a hospitality area for for guests on the roof level. We're, we're hoping to be able to, to make that a really nice space with a roof over it, but an open air in the front. To where viewers and guests can have a, a prime location to watch a football game. All of that is sort of what we're referring to as, as our byte, one of a multi byte facilities plan around athletics. That was for a number of reasons, a project that jumped out. If you spend much time around the current press box facility, you know, it's worse for the wear.
bob-sabin_1_04-01-2025_143051:Yeah.
james-hogan_1_04-01-2025_143051:We were, we were
squadcaster-hfig_1_04-01-2025_143051:Yes.
james-hogan_1_04-01-2025_143051:few weeks ago. You know, there, there are gaps in the walls. You can see daylight. If you, when you look at that whole upper piece of the, the stadium, I. It's served its time and it's done very well for us. But the, as the chancellor likes to say, these, these are these are terminal facilities here. They're reaching end of life status. And we've been patching'em together and our, our facilities crew has done a great job keeping'em going. But we, we've gotta get moving on'em as fast as we can. One of the things I wanna make sure to say out loud just because of the situation we're in right now you know, we are in the search for wcs next, director of Athletics and, and that director of athletics gets to have the privilege of, of helping to prioritize projects moving forward. In that Talking Heads video, you'll see in the end zone a really beautiful athletics training facility and academic facility that. We take the place of the current Jordan Phillips field house that's on the horizon and on the deck. But that's something we still have to fundraise for, and that is certainly a project that our next Director of athletics will have some influence on as well. But we know that the, the Sky Box project is a top priority. We've got the, the plans are ready to go. We've got the construction fencing up. They're gonna start, beating into the ground and, and putting in the, the iron and and getting the, the structure started. And there's a know what, to me, one of the biggest challenges is how we build this thing without disrupting the 2025 football season. So they'll do everything that they can to, to build around that football season, which may mean that we push pause from time to time around game days but we should have occupancy of the Western stands throughout the fall of 25. then once that facility is finished in the spring of 2026, we'll take full occupancy of the brand new facility and time for the fall 2026 football season.
squadcaster-hfig_1_04-01-2025_143051:Well James, along that line, I don't know if you can comment on this stuff, but that west side parking area behind the new, what would be the new facility I think is 120 or 30 spots. There some very important owners there are tailgate there and park the cars and so forth. I don't know what the plan, I don't even know if you can even speak to that right now. What the plan is for relocating those people in that lot, the west side lot
james-hogan_1_04-01-2025_143051:one of the things that if you've been to a, a Western event with our chancellor, she, she likes to say, guys. You're gonna be inconvenienced. And it's, it's for the right reason. It's the best reason possible. And that's
squadcaster-hfig_1_04-01-2025_143051:right.
james-hogan_1_04-01-2025_143051:we're elevating this whole thing and we're gonna make it great. But yeah, it's, it's a lot of parking spaces, Steve.
squadcaster-hfig_1_04-01-2025_143051:Yeah.
james-hogan_1_04-01-2025_143051:We're, we're, our goal is to make sure that folks are accommodated as well as we can in, in the constraints. It does mean we're gonna have to probably move some folks around. We are in the middle of season ticket renewal. And we're gonna lock down parking renewals as well for those folks who do that as part of their Catamount Club membership. Wes Codel, who I know you guys had on recently, he and his team are working on that. My, my general assumption is that if you got to park real close to the stadium, we're gonna keep you as close to the stadium as we can. But also, you know, to your point, the tailgate piece is a huge part of the game day experience. One of the things that. I'm hoping that we're able to do is to bring those tailgates over to the stadium lot, or at least keep'em very close to the stadium. We are looking at what's possible. We don't get to make all the decisions. We can't just close roads. Apparently the, you know, the fire marshal has some issues if we just start camping out on public roads. But we're looking at a lot of different alternatives to, to giving folks an opportunity to keep their tailgates. Have a great time out there on a game day and, and help us also keep that great atmosphere, which is a football game day in Callway because it's, there's nothing like it. And we know that there are tens of thousands of fans over the course of the season who show up for it. Fall of 25 is gonna be a little bit hairy and a little bit messy. But I'll tell you what, Steve, the first thing I said was. Golly, we could just move those, those visiting team buses and when they, well, when Citadel parks their, their tractor trailer over there. Just get those guys outta the way. Tell'em they can park across, up at the airport and, and keep their buses up there. We need the spaces for our donors and our tailgates and, and they'll just have to put the buses somewhere else.
bob-sabin_1_04-01-2025_143051:Yeah. Didn't I hear a rumor that the, Citadel freshmen, the plebes have to ride up in that semi. They don't get a bus seat.
james-hogan_1_04-01-2025_143051:Well, you know, I didn't know that's what it was. I, I just thought when they opened the door and all these guys came out, I, I didn't know what was going on in there. I wasn't gonna ask any questions, you know? Oh gosh.
bob-sabin_1_04-01-2025_143051:Well our sponsor, Kevin Stanbury, is going to be very interested in what you do with the parking'cause he feeds about 50 people for the tailgates over there.
james-hogan_1_04-01-2025_143051:he's responsible for the nutritional supplementation of a
squadcaster-hfig_1_04-01-2025_143051:Right.
james-hogan_1_04-01-2025_143051:people, so,
squadcaster-hfig_1_04-01-2025_143051:Yeah.
james-hogan_1_04-01-2025_143051:it's a great tailgate.
bob-sabin_1_04-01-2025_143051:Speaking of search for athletic director, I know you probably can't say a whole lot, but help us understand the process and is there maybe a timeline that we're looking at or something like that?
james-hogan_1_04-01-2025_143051:Yeah, that's a, it's a good question and, and thanks for so, so recognizing I am on that committee, it,
bob-sabin_1_04-01-2025_143051:Yes.
james-hogan_1_04-01-2025_143051:constrict what I can, I can talk about what, what I will talk about is that WCU has it is, is working with a, a. Search agency. And, and Col Collegiate Sports Associates is working with Western to lead this search. And, and it's, it's underway. Their folks have been on campus, they've been meeting with you know, coaching staff and members of the, the chancellor's cabinet and the Chancellor and, and other. Participants and you know, the nature of an search is different from a lot of other searches. Those searches move quickly. The season of hiring is, is different. In the athletics world, it's a lot like head coach searches. But I know that in, in the, right now, where we are in the process is, is, is at the very beginning, but it's a search that'll that'll move quickly, I think. And and certainly the chancellor expects us to have that that search completed as, as soon as we can. The, the, the piece of it that I think is really important is that. The Westerns athletics program is in really, really good shape. We have Alex, Gary did a fantastic job hiring coaches who knew how to come in and be successful at WCU. We've got, as evidenced by the response last week, a great group of, of folks who are willing to join the Catamount Club and, and put, put dollars into that program. There are a lot of advantages to. To Western Carolina's Athletics program that make it, I hope, a really attractive position. So I'm excited to see see what this search looks like and see the candidates who are interested in brought to us by this search agency. And I feel really positive about what the future can hold for us.
bob-sabin_1_04-01-2025_143051:Sounds good. Well anxiously await the decisions and, and, and the outcome of that. Steve, you got anything else?
squadcaster-hfig_1_04-01-2025_143051:Well, I just want to tell you James, that take my name out because I'd have to take a pay cut. No, I'm just kidding. I've gone through what eight or nine ad's in my career here and, and enjoyed most of them and look forward to the, the, the new one and helping to indoctrinate the new person. He or she.
james-hogan_1_04-01-2025_143051:Sure that there's a Steve White question in the process somewhere along the way. Yeah. Yeah.
squadcaster-hfig_1_04-01-2025_143051:Yeah. Going back to the facilities upgrade, James, I know that maybe you talked about, alluded to what maybe the second phase is gonna be and then the east side stands. Yeah. Mike, correct me if I'm wrong, I know eventually that top level will have to come down and they will have to be rebuilt. That's turning into a, a lot more. Costly project than they thought because of the concessions, the restrooms, the new codes and all of this stuff. But that old press box and the top level will come down and that, that's gonna be interesting. We won't even talk about that right now. But they, they. Down the fieldhouse, down at the track and field for the track and field teams, the, the soccer teams and so forth. I'm sure that's down the, down the road also. And also the improvements to the baseball facility. But I know that's time and a lot of money away right now, but there's, that's still on the radar. All of those projects.
james-hogan_1_04-01-2025_143051:It, it sure is. And, and Steve, just to, to so one of the things I think that Western is kind of due. Do is to do an athletics facilities master plan. I, I, just to be completely fair here, it's like a strategic plan. When you get a new chancellor at a university, typically what happens is that Chancellor gets their feet under'em and they do a strategic planning process, and that plan forms the chancellor's agenda. For his or her tenure at the university. And the same thing is true with an athletics facilities master plan. A new athletics director can come in, take stock of what we've got, and opportunities for us to really be successful and grow and look at what facilities are going to be prioritized in order to make that happen. All of those needs that you talked about absolutely still exist. They are a hundred percent on our radar. You know, one of the things that screams at me is that Camp Lab gymnasium,
squadcaster-hfig_1_04-01-2025_143051:Oh yes.
james-hogan_1_04-01-2025_143051:mean, it is, it is completely out, I mean, it's, it terminal is not even, it's, it's dead and buried. It's like a zombie building right now. It, it is, it's a, you know, to me, the, one of the things we don't talk about enough. This new Skybox facility is going to allow us to put co football coaching staff into a new space, and that frees up their space in Ramsey Center. Well, that means that track and field and women's soccer and I believe tennis are all over a camp lap. We can get those coaches out of that setting because, you know, when Chad
squadcaster-hfig_1_04-01-2025_143051:Right.
james-hogan_1_04-01-2025_143051:a soccer recruit to campus. He doesn't take that recruit to his office because it's over at Camp Jeff. You know, we want him to have the best, the best accommodations that we can give to him. So, you know, it's a little bit of a domino effect here, but that Western Sky box absolutely has a benefit down the line to track and field, right? Because it gives those coaches better opportunities to have better offices, get'em out of the Camp Lab gymnasium, and into a space that that is a lot better. I know to your point, we have needs elsewhere. And I, I don't want to not miss an opportunity, to say this, you know, one of the things that is unique to North Carolina, we do not get public funding for facilities for athletics. I. You know, that is something we, we, it's not everybody gets that or, or you know, it's some kind of an inside baseball thing to talk about, but we get, we get dollars from, from the state of North Carolina to do great things. We get it for the NC Promise that makes Western affordable. We get it for things like our College of Engineering building that's gonna come out. Pretty soon and help us grow that enormous program. We get it for a, a number of things. We don't get public dollars, taxpayer dollars for athletics facilities, and that means that every facility that you see on this campus. We gotta find a way to pay for it. And a lot of it comes down to philanthropic support and other revenue sources, including the fees that our students pay when they come here. The students have a big piece in this Western sky box, and that's because they, and the SGA led this this way. The SGA voted and proved it, pushed it to the trustees, and the trustees took it and took it to the Board of Governors to raise the student athletics fee. Around that, it's. It kind of gets moved around a little bit as it becomes now a project. So it's a, you know, capital debt fee. But at the end of the day, the students took ownership and said, this is important and we think it's worth increasing our cost of attendance to help pay for it. I want every donor to know that and to hear it too, because the young people who are paying their way to come here are, are helping us make these facilities a reality. But we're not using taxpayer dollars. Other states. You know, if you go across the border into Tennessee, that's not the case. Other colleges where you, you might have a private college that we compete with different, different kind of setup. So what we do at Western has to really rely a lot on philanthropy to help us make these things into a reality. That makes it a little bit more challenging for us at WCU. But you know, again, as I. You know, as I, I can't stop talking about the kids that we have here, the student athletes, the programs, and the culture. It's a hundred percent worth investing in.
squadcaster-hfig_1_04-01-2025_143051:James, that's the same thing. And I think people just really don't understand at about the funding of athletics and by the state of North Carolina that I keep telling people we state doesn't build athletic facilities. They do in Tennessee, they do in Georgia, they do in South Carolina. They do in Virginia, not in North Carolina. And that's another reason why that. The sky box up there is gonna be very important for enhancing, stimulating efforts for fundraising, for the, for the private money coming in to build these facilities that are not covered by state funding. Yes.
james-hogan_1_04-01-2025_143051:know, and, and I, I think it's also important to note too, that we do find as many there, there are some ways where you can, you can, justify using some state dollars. One of the reasons that, where we play basketball is called the Ramsey Regional Activity Center. You know, we use that building for a lot more than just playing basketball. It is not just an athletics facility. Likewise, back in the fall when Hurricane Helene came through, we realized very quickly the university doesn't have a large space that can be used as an emergency command center for a crisis like Hurricane Helene was. And so we're also going to have some space that will be prepared in that Sky Box facility where we can operate an emergency command center. God forbid, another thousand
squadcaster-hfig_1_04-01-2025_143051:Yeah.
james-hogan_1_04-01-2025_143051:comes through here. But that allows us to use not a lot. But it allows us to use some state dollars to help contribute to that. And so I hats off to our folks in the administration here. They, they find they find ways to help us use every dollar that is allowed for us to use by the state of North Carolina to make these things a reality.
squadcaster-hfig_1_04-01-2025_143051:You have to be creative and we have some very creative people.
james-hogan_1_04-01-2025_143051:We sure do.
squadcaster-hfig_1_04-01-2025_143051:Yes.
james-hogan_1_04-01-2025_143051:I'll, I'll tell you, our CFO, Mike Byers one of the most respected CFOs in the entire university system. And, and he does a phenomenal job helping us use every dollar to the greatest extent that we can here.
bob-sabin_1_04-01-2025_143051:Well, this has been really, informational, educational and entertaining too. James, we appreciate your time. It's been a, a good afternoon and I'm looking forward to people seeing this and, and learning more about what your office does and what we can do moving forward.
james-hogan_1_04-01-2025_143051:I thank you, especially both of you for the opportunity, but thank you more for caring. I, one of the things I, I just absolutely love is folks like you guys who. Who y'all aren't on the payroll anymore, and least Steve and but you guys show up so much and you help us tell the story. And, and again, going back to the, the people who. Are so proud of Western and who believe in what we do that's so important. My number one ask of anybody is make sure you tell a friend. Make sure you pick up the phone. If you haven't been back to Kie in a while, get in the car. Come up and see us. If you haven't been to a basketball game or a football game or anything, get in the car. Come up to Callie. Remind yourself of what this place is and why it is so important to you and to this entire region because we do amazing work. And then if you can join the Cat Mount Club, support our student athletes, back the cats, and help us go even further.
bob-sabin_1_04-01-2025_143051:That's right back to cats and I can't say it enough. Times and, and we've had it on Facebook, we've had it on Twitter, is, you know, if, if you're looking to support the university do the academics, if that's where you're led, and do the athletics, if that's where you're led. But the Catamount Club is the most visible arm. Thanks again for having us on today for us, having you on. We appreciate your time and as usual, as I say, Stanbury Insurance in Silva, Waynesville and Highlands helps us pay for our costs. And that's the only income we have is the, the reimbursement of our cost to put this podcast on the air. Tracking the cats is about all things Catamount. And by golly, James, you are certainly right in there. We appreciate your time today.
james-hogan_1_04-01-2025_143051:Thank you both.
squadcaster-hfig_1_04-01-2025_143051:Thank you, James. Thank you so much.
