Gregory Byrne on Thursdays...

dawgstudent · Oct 24, 2008

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A MESSAGE FROM INTERIM PRESIDENT ROY RUBY "To the Mississippi State family: All of us who truly love Mississippi State should remember that the turbulence we sometimes encounter in the life of the institution is temporary. Like our national economy, our university may experience periods of unsettling volatility, but we can be assured that the longer-term prospects for both rest on solid foundations. By far the greater part of my life has been spent as a student, faculty member, and administrator on this campus. My attachments to the university and my absolute confidence in its fundamental strengths made it easy for me to accept the assignment as interim president, even though I regret that the need arose. Now, I am committed to working with all of you to ensure that Mississippi State maintains its momentum in meeting its obligations to our students and other constituents and that we continue to put our best foot forward during the interval until the next president takes office. We have many successes to celebrate and many opportunities and challenges that demand the full attention of our dedicated faculty and staff and the thoughtful support of our alumni and friends. Let's work hard to take advantage of our record enrollment, recent strong showings in research and private fund-raising, and the continuing outstanding performances of students and faculty to finish this semester on a high note and look to the future with optimism and enthusiasm. I seek your support and welcome your advice as we move ahead." * * * BAILEY FEATURED IN NATIONAL MAGAZINES Football player Tim Bailey, who is one of our defensive leaders, was a leader long before he came to Mississippi State. By now, you know his story. Tim was on active duty with his Mississippi National Guard unit during Desert Storm and spent 18 months in Kuwait prior to enrolling here. Still a member of the Guard, Tim was called to active duty again this past summer. He was selected for a National Guard recruiting campaign, designed to highlight Guard soldiers that do extraordinary things in their "off time." One Guard soldier is a member of the Olympic snowboarding team and another one was Miss America's Miss Utah. Tim is one part of what is being called the "Guard Achievers." Those advertisements featuring Time will run in issues of ESPN and Vibe magazines during November and December. Additionally, because the Guard's research shows that their target market highly values peer-to-peer communication, the Guard has taken Tim, his story and his words and created a micro site where people can go to hear Tim's story. Tim's ad will have premium placement in two high-profile publications:

Vibe:
December issue (on-sale 11/18)...This most likely will be a two-page spread (left and right sides of the page).
January issue (on-sale 12/16)...Ad size TBD

ESPN the Magazine:
November issue (on-sale 11/5)...This ad will most likely be a three page ad that folds out (the front cover folds back and out).
 December issue (on-sale 12/3)...The ad will either be a two-page spread or the reverse cover gate-fold like above. Tim's website will go live in a couple of months. * * * NCAA RULES VIOLATIONS MOVE TO SOCIAL NETWORKS

We have included a compliance corner in this column periodically because adherence to NCAA rules is a priority in our department. Oversight of traditional recruiting methods dominates our compliance personnel's time. Unfortunately, well-intended supporters sometimes break NCAA rules in unconventional means. A new area that is being misused in the interest of illegal recruiting is social networks Facebook and MySpace.
 Click here to read a Washington Post story on the latest. * * * ATHLETES CONTINUE TO EXCEL IN THE CLASSROOM The NCAA recently released an academic report covering student-athletes who entered college during the 2001-02 calendar year. The results were interesting, particularly for Mississippi State student-athletes. We graduated 62 percent of all our student-athletes from that incoming class, third-best among all Southeastern Conference freshmen that started that year. We are also proud to report that our graduation rate for those student-athletes was four percentage points higher than the Mississippi State student body as a whole (58 percent). We were the only school in the SEC to have our student-athlete graduation rate exceed that of the general student body. Much credit must go to our athletic academic folks and our entire coaching staff for making that happen. Graduating student-athletes remains our primary reason for being here. * * * THERE IS A WORLD SERIES HERE, TOO New head baseball coach John Cohen will send his first Diamond Dawg team through a Maroon and White World Series game, Halloween night, Friday, Oct. 31 at Dudy Noble Field/Polk-DeMent Stadium. Our Diamond Girls will pass out candy to children as part of that night's trick-or-treat festivities. The game is open to the public with no admission charge. A Dugout Club fall cookout will precede the first series' game at 6 p.m. that Friday. First pitch is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. * * * HITTING THE HOME STRETCH ON THE VIDEO BOARD Workers will begin dismantling the old jumbotron control room under the Turman Fieldhouse at the south end of the stadium following Saturday night's game. The new video controls will be installed early next week and are now awaiting the completion of the video board itself. Light Emitting Diodes (LEDs) are being installed, even as I write. The two vertical side panels, which when wired and ready, will provide advertising sales space for Learfield Sports, our multi-media rights holder, are already hung. The long horizontal ribbon board at the base of the structure, which will carry score, time, down and distance, etc., was installed yesterday. LEDs for the main horizontal board, currently on a flatbed tractor trailer from California, will be here and installed later this week and into next. The state-of-the-art speaker system has been delivered and is awaiting installation above the entire structure. A cement floor has been poured to support the sound system. All of that should be completed tomorrow, though the speakers will not be operational this weekend. High definition cameras have arrived and are being tested by the folks in our television center. They will feed the video to the new HD board. Capturion, a division of Busby Outdoor, the primary contractor on the project, is still on schedule to have the board operational in time for the Kentucky game, Nov. 1. Final detailing, including the skin of the structural supports which will make it blend in with the Fieldhouse, will yet to be in place. * * * BE ON THE CAMPUS EARLY FOR HOMECOMING 2008 The university's student association has big plans for this weekend. If you have the opportunity to come in Friday for the homecoming weekend, the student association is sponsoring a parade that day at 4:30 p.m., with a pep rally to follow. A 15-minute fireworks display will begin at 7 p.m. All activities will take place in the amphitheater area near the stadium. Then on Saturday, catch a glimpse of our men's basketball team. They will scrimmage from 2-4:30 p.m. at Humphrey Coliseum. The scrimmage is free of charge and will end in plenty of time for fans to make their way to Scott Field for the football homecoming game with Middle Tennessee at 6 p.m. * * * LOOKING AHEAD... We will host the Southeastern Conference men's and women's cross country championships on Monday, Nov. 3, at the MSU cross country course on the South Farm near the Mississippi Horse Park. More details to come next week. * * * We appreciate what you do for Mississippi State Athletics and want to encourage you to get others involved. There are three things you can do to help Mississippi State reach its desired goals - 1. Buy Season Tickets
2. Financially Support the Bulldog Club
3. Get Others To Do The Same Thanks for taking the time to read this update. Go Dawgs! Greg Byrne
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Gregory Byrne on Thursdays...

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