TAMUK- Will it ever recover?

[ccchhhrrriiisss]

Texas A&M University-Kingsville has a long history of football greatness. I think that Sports Illustrated once even wrote about how many former Javelina players were having so much success in the NFL. So, comparisons with other up-and-coming programs in D2 or the LSC is not a good comparison.

In Division 1, there are schools that once had powerhouse football programs that have fallen into mediocrity. I'm looking at schools like Nebraska, University of Tennessee, UCLA, etc. Some of this is cyclical -- or waiting for insurmountable dynasties (e.g., Alabama, Clemson, Ohio State, etc.) to lose their luster. However, that isn't a problem in the LSC.

Someone elsewhere pointed at how Texas A&M University-Kingsville is a small, quiet town. However, this wasn't a problem in the past. I graduated with multiple degrees from the university. I enjoyed my time there. It is a relatively short drive from Corpus Christi, San Antonio and the Rio Grande Valley. The 45-minute drive from Corpus Christi is nothing. I now live in the Silicon Valley. This morning, it took me 45 minutes to drive five miles on the 101.

Personally, I think that it comes down to recruitment, facilities and coaching. As the old adage goes, "you can't make money if you don't spend money." Texas A&M University-Kingsville needs to boost the athletic program. We need a team of scouts that can target real talent -- nationwide -- that might be overlooked elsewhere. This includes high schools, college football cuts and, yes, junior colleges. We need coaches who coach to the strengths of the team they've got. If you don't have a marquee passer, then implement a run option (or vice versa). While Einstein might not have really said it, it is insane to do the same thing repeatedly while expecting different results.

And, of course, we need great facilities. It is difficult to attach statistics to how lucrative a football program is to a school in terms of getting that school's name out. However, prospective students who visit the university do visit the stadium during college tours.

A few years ago, I was taking my sister-in-law around Stanford University. She was an incoming freshman. She -- along with other freshmen -- marveled at Stanford Stadium and the other athletic facilities. As beautiful as the Stanford campus might be, she said that this was when she first realized that she was going to a "big" school (and Stanford's undergraduate population is smaller than Texas A&M University-Kingsville's). What do prospective freshmen think when they see the seemingly ancient facilities in Kingsville?

Someone else pointed out that some premiere high schools in Texas have facilities better than Javelina Stadium. Even a minor face lift could help. The stadium could update the stands and add new locker rooms to the north and south end zones (wrapping around and connecting to the existing structures) to look more like "big name" school's stadium. The old locker rooms could be used for other sports too. This is a relatively nominal cost -- something that many of us would be willing to donate toward.

Not only is recruitment and new facilities (including facilities for the football team) important, but it is also important to tell potential recruits that you will do what you can to get them noticed elsewhere. The athletic department needs to follow through with this too. The school should do whatever it can to help potential NFL draftees be "seen" by NFL scouts. This is where highlight reels come in handy.

I got my hair cut at a Sport Clips in San Mateo during lunch today. The barber is a huge football fan. He has a family member who is a scout for the 49ers. He laughed that I am a Cowboys fan living in the Bay Area. However, he respected my willingness to admit as much (especially after last night's game). I brought up the fact that I once met John Randle. This became a segue in which we discussed small schools. This guy knew his stuff. He knew about A&M-Kingsville (and that it was formerly known as A&I). He knew about Gene Upshaw, Jermaine Mayberry, Darrel Green, Al Harris, Roberto Garza and, oddly enough, Eddie Moten. He said that the 49ers have a scouting ombudsman who acts as a contact for small schools.

When Coach Darren Wilkinson was hired, I was elated. He was coming from a National Championship team. For the first time in a while, I felt optimistic about the prospects for the Javelina football team. However, while I felt that he was (and is) an improvement over his predecessor, success has remained out-of-reach. I wonder how well Coach Wilkinson was vetted in regard to what he knows about how the Colorado State-Pueblo team was built. It isn't just about running plays. It's about recruiting the players who can be optimal for those plays (or, else, devise plays that play to the team's strengths).

Obviously, something needs to be done. The last truly great season for Javelina football was in 2010.

[LSC Fan]

Texas A&M University-Kingsville has a long history of football greatness. I think that Sports Illustrated once even wrote about how many former Javelina players were having so much success in the NFL. So, comparisons with other up-and-coming programs in D2 or the LSC is not a good comparison.

In Division 1, there are schools that once had powerhouse football programs that have fallen into mediocrity. I'm looking at schools like Nebraska, University of Tennessee, UCLA, etc. Some of this is cyclical -- or waiting for insurmountable dynasties (e.g., Alabama, Clemson, Ohio State, etc.) to lose their luster. However, that isn't a problem in the LSC.

Someone elsewhere pointed at how Texas A&M University-Kingsville is a small, quiet town. However, this wasn't a problem in the past. I graduated with multiple degrees from the university. I enjoyed my time there. It is a relatively short drive from Corpus Christi, San Antonio and the Rio Grande Valley. The 45-minute drive from Corpus Christi is nothing. I now live in the Silicon Valley. This morning, it took me 45 minutes to drive five miles on the 101.

Personally, I think that it comes down to recruitment, facilities and coaching. As the old adage goes, "you can't make money if you don't spend money." Texas A&M University-Kingsville needs to boost the athletic program. We need a team of scouts that can target real talent -- nationwide -- that might be overlooked elsewhere. This includes high schools, college football cuts and, yes, junior colleges. We need coaches who coach to the strengths of the team they've got. If you don't have a marquee passer, then implement a run option (or vice versa). While Einstein might not have really said it, it is insane to do the same thing repeatedly while expecting different results.

And, of course, we need great facilities. It is difficult to attach statistics to how lucrative a football program is to a school in terms of getting that school's name out. However, prospective students who visit the university do visit the stadium during college tours.

A few years ago, I was taking my sister-in-law around Stanford University. She was an incoming freshman. She -- along with other freshmen -- marveled at Stanford Stadium and the other athletic facilities. As beautiful as the Stanford campus might be, she said that this was when she first realized that she was going to a "big" school (and Stanford's undergraduate population is smaller than Texas A&M University-Kingsville's). What do prospective freshmen think when they see the seemingly ancient facilities in Kingsville?

Someone else pointed out that some premiere high schools in Texas have facilities better than Javelina Stadium. Even a minor face lift could help. The stadium could update the stands and add new locker rooms to the north and south end zones (wrapping around and connecting to the existing structures) to look more like "big name" school's stadium. The old locker rooms could be used for other sports too. This is a relatively nominal cost -- something that many of us would be willing to donate toward.

Not only is recruitment and new facilities (including facilities for the football team) important, but it is also important to tell potential recruits that you will do what you can to get them noticed elsewhere. The athletic department needs to follow through with this too. The school should do whatever it can to help potential NFL draftees be "seen" by NFL scouts. This is where highlight reels come in handy.

I got my hair cut at a Sport Clips in San Mateo during lunch today. The barber is a huge football fan. He has a family member who is a scout for the 49ers. He laughed that I am a Cowboys fan living in the Bay Area. However, he respected my willingness to admit as much (especially after last night's game). I brought up the fact that I once met John Randle. This became a segue in which we discussed small schools. This guy knew his stuff. He knew about A&M-Kingsville (and that it was formerly known as A&I). He knew about Gene Upshaw, Jermaine Mayberry, Darrel Green, Al Harris, Roberto Garza and, oddly enough, Eddie Moten. He said that the 49ers have a scouting ombudsman who acts as a contact for small schools.

When Coach Darren Wilkinson was hired, I was elated. He was coming from a National Championship team. For the first time in a while, I felt optimistic about the prospects for the Javelina football team. However, while I felt that he was (and is) an improvement over his predecessor, success has remained out-of-reach. I wonder how well Coach Wilkinson was vetted in regard to what he knows about how the Colorado State-Pueblo team was built. It isn't just about running plays. It's about recruiting the players who can be optimal for those plays (or, else, devise plays that play to the team's strengths).

Obviously, something needs to be done. The last truly great season for Javelina football was in 2010.

Very nice post. I have that Sports Illustrated from back in the late 90's.

You are pretty much on target about the facility upgrades we need. The East side concrete stands are still utilizable and all is needed is a brand new press box along with some suites and update the locker rooms under the stands which are the Javelina lockers for the visiting team to use so they don't have to go the SPEC. The West side stands need to be totally replaced with a concrete structure of some sort. For the sake of budgeting, it could even be built on a smaller scale to accommodate up to 12k fans instead of 15k. Then that leaves the north or south end to put in an end zone complex which would house the Javelina Locker rooms, training facility, medical rehab and related offices for the Athletic department. I bet all of this can be done south of $30 million. An indoor practice facility which can accommodate other sports like indoor track and baseball/softball for bad weather days during their season probably could be included in that $ 30 Million price tag.

Which begs the question about how much involvement or solicitation of the A&M Board of Regents has been done. I was surprised to see on the Tarleton to the WAC thread, John Sharp who is the Chancellor of the A&M System was personally involved in discussions and signing off on the move. I don't see why the movers and shakers down here can't get him involved because what we have right now begs for since of urgency. All of the A&M system schools save us have either done a major renovation to their existing stadiums or built brand new ones from the ground up. And if the A&M system is conscience of their brand image, it's time for them to show it.

Let's review what has been done at the system schools.

Commerce did some renovations not too long ago to the stadium itself and is building a new locker room facility

Prairie View A&M built a brand new stadium from the ground up and it's very nice and that program got some major mojo from it. Recall it was the holder of the nations longest losing streak back in the 90's

Tarleton just finished a major renovation and built an almost new stadium using some of the existing bones.

West Texas just opened their new on campus stadium.

And we all know what the Mother Ship did to Kyle to coincide with their new home in the SEC.


So the question has to be asked? Isn't our turn? Just slapping some turf down and building some new restrooms really doesn't fit the definition when looking at what the others have done.

[Techster88]

While Javs Fan continues his jaw jacking with Admin others are planning and building.

Another note: Tarleton Prez is not done with Athletic Dept. facilities upgrades (and the BOR are going to help). More later.

Taken from Tarleton move up thread.

Someone needs to wake up.

[Boohaha]

In my opinion Kingsville needs to find a Coach that is HUNGRY, i mean third monkey on the ramp of the Ark and its raining kind of Desperate. Everywhere buy WT the winning ways returned or started with new coaches, THEN the gifts came, upgrades, facilities etc.

GO FIND YOU SOMEONE THAT CAN WIN WITH WHAT YOU HAVE! My gosh if coaches in PORTALES NM can do it yall surely can! Find someone who is willing to run a different system, who is willing to take chances on that kid from that small town who looks really good but everyone says is too small, or only looks good cause he plays weak competition. Find someone who runs a system that uses the undersized athletes that keep getting left out cause they are to short, or a 10th to slow in the 40.

Wyatt Strand wouldn't stand a chance to make the squad on any other team in our conference but WNM, yet the kid came from a school with less than 150 kids k-12 and is a 4 year starter and a double brass ball stud for Eastern. Last Sat he ran the option, kept it made 2 guys miss, and was 10 yards down field, was getting wrapped by 3 guys and pitched out at the last second to the RB who carried it the 30 yards to the endzone, no offense but he made the Kingsville defense look stupid. He played 8 man football in NM by all rights should not be on anyone's roster.

Noah Switzer got CUT by WT and is a stud MLB for the hounds, makes plays on the regular.

Find you a coach that is hungry enough that he will try something everyone thinks is stupid, and THEN you can work on getting things like the stadium and other stuff to push you over the top.

What is the worst that could happen? you keep losing? cause that's already here.

[TexanFan]

In my opinion Kingsville needs to find a Coach that is HUNGRY, i mean third monkey on the ramp of the Ark and its raining kind of Desperate. Everywhere buy WT the winning ways returned or started with new coaches, THEN the gifts came, upgrades, facilities etc.

GO FIND YOU SOMEONE THAT CAN WIN WITH WHAT YOU HAVE! My gosh if coaches in PORTALES NM can do it yall surely can! Find someone who is willing to run a different system, who is willing to take chances on that kid from that small town who looks really good but everyone says is too small, or only looks good cause he plays weak competition. Find someone who runs a system that uses the undersized athletes that keep getting left out cause they are to short, or a 10th to slow in the 40.

Wyatt Strand wouldn't stand a chance to make the squad on any other team in our conference but WNM, yet the kid came from a school with less than 150 kids k-12 and is a 4 year starter and a double brass ball stud for Eastern. Last Sat he ran the option, kept it made 2 guys miss, and was 10 yards down field, was getting wrapped by 3 guys and pitched out at the last second to the RB who carried it the 30 yards to the endzone, no offense but he made the Kingsville defense look stupid. He played 8 man football in NM by all rights should not be on anyone's roster.

Noah Switzer got CUT by WT and is a stud MLB for the hounds, makes plays on the regular.

Find you a coach that is hungry enough that he will try something everyone thinks is stupid, and THEN you can work on getting things like the stadium and other stuff to push you over the top.

What is the worst that could happen? you keep losing? cause that's already here.

Love this post!!!!

[LSC Fan]

In my opinion Kingsville needs to find a Coach that is HUNGRY, i mean third monkey on the ramp of the Ark and its raining kind of Desperate. Everywhere buy WT the winning ways returned or started with new coaches, THEN the gifts came, upgrades, facilities etc.

GO FIND YOU SOMEONE THAT CAN WIN WITH WHAT YOU HAVE! My gosh if coaches in PORTALES NM can do it yall surely can! Find someone who is willing to run a different system, who is willing to take chances on that kid from that small town who looks really good but everyone says is too small, or only looks good cause he plays weak competition. Find someone who runs a system that uses the undersized athletes that keep getting left out cause they are to short, or a 10th to slow in the 40.

Wyatt Strand wouldn't stand a chance to make the squad on any other team in our conference but WNM, yet the kid came from a school with less than 150 kids k-12 and is a 4 year starter and a double brass ball stud for Eastern. Last Sat he ran the option, kept it made 2 guys miss, and was 10 yards down field, was getting wrapped by 3 guys and pitched out at the last second to the RB who carried it the 30 yards to the endzone, no offense but he made the Kingsville defense look stupid. He played 8 man football in NM by all rights should not be on anyone's roster.

Noah Switzer got CUT by WT and is a stud MLB for the hounds, makes plays on the regular.

Find you a coach that is hungry enough that he will try something everyone thinks is stupid, and THEN you can work on getting things like the stadium and other stuff to push you over the top.

What is the worst that could happen? you keep losing? cause that's already here.

I get what you are saying. However you have left out one very important variable which makes recruiting in this part of Texas much harder compared to the your sweet spot up there.

Get a Texas map up on your computer and locate US HWY 290 on there. Anything south of that highway which runs east to west through the central part of the state including Austin until in merges with Houston with I-10 is our traditional recruiting grounds. This includes everything from those small town high schools, to your urban schools to some of the wealthier zip codes in the state. And with this many of these Burbs and small one high school towns which are classified anywhere from Class 3A to 6A have some very nice facilities. You've heard about the $50 million stadiums and athletic complexes. Yep there are a few of those in this zone where we try to recruit. Even some of the smaller ISD's have kick ass facilities that rival the larger ones of course on a much smaller scale. And this includes weight rooms, locker rooms, etc.

Let's look at this at how it effects the situation we are in down here vs you all have to recruit against in your area . And my friend ASU Pops can chime in here to see if this is correct because he's been there and done that.

Here we have Johnny Boy who is being recruited by several schools in the state. He has All District and All Metro Honors and his stats are very good, but he might be a little short in size and speed for the typical FBS QB. Let's assume he lives in the Houston area and to narrow it down, the Katy area. He's had some passing interest from Houston, UTSA, Texas State and heck I'll throw in SMU just to make it look like he has some eyes watching him in the DFW area. Johnny knows in his heart and head that the best he might get from one of these schools is preferred walk on status, so he pretty much writes them off because he doesn't want to wait two or more years to play QB if he gets a shot at all . But since he's officially received interest from a few of the FBS schools in the state, his stock goes up at what might be the second group of schools on his radar which would be a pool from D2 and FCS schools. As a result, he has offers from let's say Sam Houston, UIW, Tarleton, and TAMUK and they are all with the ballpark as far as scholarship money. So then it becomes an issue with Johnny about playing time and Sam Houston is stacked at QB, but they want him to move to WR or a DB slot. UIW says they might give him shot at QB, but not guarantee he will even sniff the field in another slot if one becomes available. But Johnny really wants to play QB and he has the numbers and stats from his high school to back up his drive to get a shot right away at the next level. So he opts for the D2 schools on his list (for arguments sake we just assume TSU is in D2). Johnny finally does his campus visits to see if the glossy catalogs he gets in the mail are just BS or if they show some truth to them. He goes to visit Javelina Stadium and it's aged infrastructure around it vs the nice and modern Tarleton Stadium. I bet your bottom dollar he picks Tarleton and you can bet this is happening in the recruiting sphere we live in right now. Unfortunately and like I've noted before, 'bling" is a big factor driving recruits. If it wasn't, the millions upon millions being spent on stadiums and football facilities around the country would be non existent. I don't like it, but it's been almost a decade since this stadium and facilities arms race started with the big boy schools and the high schools

This is the world we live in down here. And I am not BS'ing when I suggest that even what you would consider "poor" school districts have better football facilities than we do. Many schools in the Brownsville area along the border up to Laredo have multi million dollar weight rooms, stadiums, and even indoor practice facilities while TAMUK offers a very outdated locker room among other outdated facilities. The further north you go in what I defined our recruiting area, the quality is bigger and better (see Katy).

So in an ideal world where facilities are not a huge selling point (like a decade ago), the get after their ass (GATA) coach would be ideal. I think we get that point. But we could get that same GATA coach and he'd have his hands tied and if fact you all saw first hand last Saturday what it's like to have the hands tied. I mean you have to admit as an ENM fan that for years TAMUK was just physically bigger and stronger than you all, but in games we had issues with you all it was due to brilliant coaching that night, execution and the thing about The Draw because you never would even get close to beating us in Kingsville. I watched on line and in a number areas we were whooped physically by you all. Some of it's coaching while some of it is due to pool of talent we can attract after some of the above named schools get their pick of litter. Once upon a time we were able to compete with the FBS schools and even lower end FCS schools for talent. Now? Only if they transfer in and can't find another taker which often means they probably were meant to be at a FBS Or FCS in the first place. We do have some of those on our roster who either under perform or don't perform at all, so take that for what it's worth.

[ccchhhrrriiisss]

You are pretty much on target about the facility upgrades we need. The East side concrete stands are still utilizable and all is needed is a brand new press box along with some suites and update the locker rooms under the stands which are the Javelina lockers for the visiting team to use so they don't have to go the SPEC. The West side stands need to be totally replaced with a concrete structure of some sort. For the sake of budgeting, it could even be built on a smaller scale to accommodate up to 12k fans instead of 15k. Then that leaves the north or south end to put in an end zone complex which would house the Javelina Locker rooms, training facility, medical rehab and related offices for the Athletic department. I bet all of this can be done south of $30 million. An indoor practice facility which can accommodate other sports like indoor track and baseball/softball for bad weather days during their season probably could be included in that $ 30 Million price tag.

That's a very good idea.

Javelina Stadium has a large capacity for a Division II stadium. It wouldn't hurt to lower total capacity somewhat -- because a filled stadium always feels better than a half-empty stadium. Stanford Stadium went through a major overhaul some time back. This is a college stadium that once hosted a Super Bowl. However, Stanford's student body (as a whole) has never been heavily fanatical about sports. It also doesn't help that the academic year is divided into quarters -- and students don't arrive sometimes until the third or fourth game of the season.

So, Stanford decided to lower the seating capacity at the newly renovated stadium. It went from over 89,000 seats to about 50,000 when its renovation was complete in 2005 -- roughly 39,000 fewer seats. Jim Harbaugh arrived a couple of years later. Soon, Stanford began a long run to football greatness (with bowl invites each of the last ten seasons). Despite the winning records, the stadium is still relatively empty each game in August and September. In fact, there are often as many visiting fans (now working in the Silicon Valley) as Stanford fans. However, it looks better with fewer seats.

So, I am all for Javelina Stadium being renovated with a 12,000 to 15,000 seat capacity. The student population is the largest that it has ever been; however, it would be nice for students to experience a full stadium. A new locker room/training/athletic/medical facility in either the north or south end zone (from which the Javelina players can make their entrance) would be exciting (and a draw for potential recruits). A new press box would be helpful too (as well as designated camera locations).

By the way, I saw some images of the proposed future architectural and infrastructural plans for Texas A&M University-Kingsville. If I remember correctly, the north end zone would house a building that looked as though it wrapped around the outer edge of the track. It looked fantastic! Have you ever seen those images?

*EDIT - I found where I think that the images originated. It was part of the Texas A&M University-Kingsville "master plan" -- which envisioned the school in ten years or longer.

https://www.slideshare.net/scoulston...ster-plan-2020

I labeled one of the images and uploaded it here:
https://i.ibb.co/ZJRbKBH/TAMUK00001.jpg

Unfortunately, I cannot find the actual images of the stadium that were included in that plan. I'll continue to search.

[javs26]

The problem with a smaller stadium is if the Javelinas do eventually move up to D1. To me this is the only way the school is going to spend money at this point with a move up. It is embarrassing that a school that Kingsville used to whip on for many years is moving up to D1 while Kingsville is still stuck back in the 80s and 90s. Something needs to happen. The one thing I am seeing on other social media sites are some are starting to complain. I think every time the school social site puts something up about the football team (score, homecoming, etc.) people need to start voice their opinion even if it sounds negative. The ball needs to get rolling fast. Even this homecoming game, it would be better server for fans to make a statement. The football team is going to get embarrassed during homecoming and to top it off they are going to be wearing their throwback Texas A&I uniform, which is going to make it worse.

[ccchhhrrriiisss]

The problem with a smaller stadium is if the Javelinas do eventually move up to D1. To me this is the only way the school is going to spend money at this point with a move up. It is embarrassing that a school that Kingsville used to whip on for many years is moving up to D1 while Kingsville is still stuck back in the 80s and 90s. Something needs to happen. The one thing I am seeing on other social media sites are some are starting to complain. I think every time the school social site puts something up about the football team (score, homecoming, etc.) people need to start voice their opinion even if it sounds negative. The ball needs to get rolling fast. Even this homecoming game, it would be better server for fans to make a statement. The football team is going to get embarrassed during homecoming and to top it off they are going to be wearing their throwback Texas A&I uniform, which is going to make it worse.

There really isn't a seating capacity requirement for D1 football (or D2 for that matter). Javelina Stadium is very big by D2 standards. Still, I think that there are ways to make the stadium keep its seating capacity while feeling more intimately crowded at the same time.

Right now, Javelina Stadium's old-fashioned and low-key design kind of resembles Kent State University's Dix Stadium. However, Dix Stadium has a large capacity (roughly 30,000) but a fantastic press/media box and "luxury" suites. Personally, I'd like to see the west bleachers of Javelina Stadium remodeled to look a bit more like San Jose State University's CEFCU Stadium.

I don't have a problem with removing some of the seating capacity. In fact, The Javelina Marching Band takes up a big section of the west bleachers. They could be moved to special end zone seating (keeping the 15,000 capacity) with the potential of adding more end zone seating capacity in the future. I like some of the "smaller" stadium designs like the ones at Grand Valley State, Pittsburgh State, Winona State and others.

Did you click on the image from the Texas A&M University-Kingsville "master plan?" The future design for Javelina Stadium is very cool. I'd just prefer this to be sooner rather than later. I mean, the west bleachers don't have to be changed. However, there is certainly a need for new facilities (particularly on-site locker rooms, etc.).

[LSC Fan]

That's a very good idea.

Javelina Stadium has a large capacity for a Division II stadium. It wouldn't hurt to lower total capacity somewhat -- because a filled stadium always feels better than a half-empty stadium. Stanford Stadium went through a major overhaul some time back. This is a college stadium that once hosted a Super Bowl. However, Stanford's student body (as a whole) has never been heavily fanatical about sports. It also doesn't help that the academic year is divided into quarters -- and students don't arrive sometimes until the third or fourth game of the season.

So, Stanford decided to lower the seating capacity at the newly renovated stadium. It went from over 89,000 seats to about 50,000 when its renovation was complete in 2005 -- roughly 39,000 fewer seats. Jim Harbaugh arrived a couple of years later. Soon, Stanford began a long run to football greatness (with bowl invites each of the last ten seasons). Despite the winning records, the stadium is still relatively empty each game in August and September. In fact, there are often as many visiting fans (now working in the Silicon Valley) as Stanford fans. However, it looks better with fewer seats.

So, I am all for Javelina Stadium being renovated with a 12,000 to 15,000 seat capacity. The student population is the largest that it has ever been; however, it would be nice for students to experience a full stadium. A new locker room/training/athletic/medical facility in either the north or south end zone (from which the Javelina players can make their entrance) would be exciting (and a draw for potential recruits). A new press box would be helpful too (as well as designated camera locations).

By the way, I saw some images of the proposed future architectural and infrastructural plans for Texas A&M University-Kingsville. If I remember correctly, the north end zone would house a building that looked as though it wrapped around the outer edge of the track. It looked fantastic! Have you ever seen those images?

*EDIT - I found where I think that the images originated. It was part of the Texas A&M University-Kingsville "master plan" -- which envisioned the school in ten years or longer.

https://www.slideshare.net/scoulston...ster-plan-2020

I labeled one of the images and uploaded it here:
https://i.ibb.co/ZJRbKBH/TAMUK00001.jpg

Unfortunately, I cannot find the actual images of the stadium that were included in that plan. I'll continue to search.

Thanks for finding those pics of the master plan.

The concept they envisioned is a good one. Now only if they had started the ball rolling when the plan was written in 2010, maybe the facility would have made it's target date of 2020. And that's the problem with Master plans. They pay high dollar consultants to do these things and three quarters of the stuff never gets done. Happens with cities, schools, counties, private industry... you name it.

The current university capital campaign calls for something like $15 million of the $100 million they are raising to be directed for athletic facilities, but it doesn't specify which facilities. Our administration needs to get with John Sharp and guys and gals on the BOR and get them to match the final total of whatever the final amount for athletic facilities and get on with doing what needs to be done. Because after we finish 1-10, 2-9 or 3-8 in November and the cleanup begins, the program is going to need multiple shots in the arm to get some life back in to it.

In regards to the capital campaign, I think the past leadership missed the boat with not finding a separate fundraising vehicle to get more money in for athletic facility improvements. A few years ago when we played WTAM up at Jerryworld, every school was given multiple PSA time slots on the big jumbotron to brag about themselves. WTAM spent their PSA's on hyping up their then plan to build what they called "Buffalo park" which I believe is their athletic complex that houses their baseball and softball fields, track , athletic training facilities and field house for football. It was all part of a fundraising effort. We should do the exact same thing here and this way you get the "A&I until I die' folks involved because they might not donate to the university in general because of hard feelings, but some will still donate to the football program.

And it's just not the stadium and other football related facilities that need attention. The SPEC is about due for a mass update or maybe even a replacement. And the baseball/softball fields could use some stadium upgrades along with some new things like indoor batting cages which would enhance what are two very bright spots in our overall athletic program. Now I don't know if the rules and state laws have been loosened somewhat to allow state or university money to be used for athletic facilities, but it sure sounds like it if you hear the Tarleton folks talk about how John Sharp is going to help even more with their move into Div 1. Our administration needs to find these loopholes and get after it.

[wisdomgymrat]

[LSC Fan]

Got it. What I meant by loopholes is what many schools like A&M CC have done to get some athletic facilities built with some state funding vs relying almost exclusively on private money. Such as calling a basketball arena or field house, a health and wellness center because it has classroom space for health or PE classes and student activities like intramural sports.

[javs26]

There really isn't a seating capacity requirement for D1 football (or D2 for that matter). Javelina Stadium is very big by D2 standards. Still, I think that there are ways to make the stadium keep its seating capacity while feeling more intimately crowded at the same time.

Right now, Javelina Stadium's old-fashioned and low-key design kind of resembles Kent State University's Dix Stadium. However, Dix Stadium has a large capacity (roughly 30,000) but a fantastic press/media box and "luxury" suites. Personally, I'd like to see the west bleachers of Javelina Stadium remodeled to look a bit more like San Jose State University's CEFCU Stadium.

I don't have a problem with removing some of the seating capacity. In fact, The Javelina Marching Band takes up a big section of the west bleachers. They could be moved to special end zone seating (keeping the 15,000 capacity) with the potential of adding more end zone seating capacity in the future. I like some of the "smaller" stadium designs like the ones at Grand Valley State, Pittsburgh State, Winona State and others.

Did you click on the image from the Texas A&M University-Kingsville "master plan?" The future design for Javelina Stadium is very cool. I'd just prefer this to be sooner rather than later. I mean, the west bleachers don't have to be changed. However, there is certainly a need for new facilities (particularly on-site locker rooms, etc.).

I had not clicked on the image as I did not see it the first time. I agree that does look cool and I think I now remember now seeing it when that plan came out. I am with you, how long do we have to wait to get started on this? It would be nice if the university provided an update with a timeline of the stadium renovations.

[ccchhhrrriiisss]

Thanks for finding those pics of the master plan.

The concept they envisioned is a good one. Now only if they had started the ball rolling when the plan was written in 2010, maybe the facility would have made it's target date of 2020. And that's the problem with Master plans. They pay high dollar consultants to do these things and three quarters of the stuff never gets done. Happens with cities, schools, counties, private industry... you name it.

I would add one thing: The "Master Plan" seems to have been broken into two parts: 1.) Ten-year plan; and, 2.) Long-term plan.

The first ten-year plan (with implementation by 2020) included things like the new Music Education Complex, the new Student Recreation Center, the new Javelina Dining Hall, new dorms (Mesquite Village West, Lucio Hall, Newman Housing Center), NCAA sport complexes (located west of the Mesquite Grove), Thomas Aquinas Newman Center (with chapel), etc.

Those things have all been built or are currently under construction (along with some major renovations -- to the SUB, Honors College, Financial Aid/Registrar, etc.).

One of those ten-year plan proposals was a renovation or add-on to Javelina Stadium. It seemed to indicate a building between the SPEC (Steinke Phys Ed Center) and the northern end zone of Javelina Stadium. This would include a curved northern wing of the building that is seen in the image. It would also include a building parallel to the west (student) bleachers. If you look at the previous image (showing only the ten-year plan), that project is shown.

https://i.ibb.co/LrSYXdr/tamuk00002.jpg

The rest of the building projects in the long-term plan were simply meant to be further up the road.

For comparison, here is the current map of the university: https://www.tamuk.edu/maps/

I really hope that they begin construction on those buildings at Javelina Stadium. It could provide plenty of facilities for the Athletics Department as well as major improvements to stadium. I think that this would be a great draw for potential players to the Javelina football team. It would also make watching the games more of an experience.

[ccchhhrrriiisss]

I had not clicked on the image as I did not see it the first time. I agree that does look cool and I think I now remember now seeing it when that plan came out. I am with you, how long do we have to wait to get started on this? It would be nice if the university provided an update with a timeline of the stadium renovations.

I agree. The Master Plan was released in 2010. Since then, enrolled at Texas A&M University-Kingsville has increased by about 25%. Enrollment is now approaching 10,000 students.

My wife and I care about our school. We both enjoyed our time there -- and both of us earned multiple degrees there. My wife is from a large family. Of that family, a total of five siblings attended school at Texas A&M University-Kingsville. Between the siblings and spouses in that family, ten of us were students representing a total of fourteen degrees earned. In some ways, we had better times in Kingsville than the siblings who attended Stanford, Harvard or other more well-known universities.

In fact, I undertook some major revisions to the Wikipedia page for the university some time ago. Someone had created a page, but it was short and contained a single photo. Since I had taken a class in photojournalism as a grad student and also worked at the South Texas Archives, I was able to update the page, add quite a bit of information and include some photos that I had taken. It's funny that some of those photos ended up on other websites that include pages about the school.

I felt that it was important to have a good Wikipedia page because it is often the first impression of students searching for information about the school. Others have offered edits since then; however, I was disappointed that a few of my sections were removed (along with some great photos that were flagged).

One of the benefits of athletics -- and football in general -- is that it offers a sense of unity and belonging to a school. Javelina Stadium is that one place on campus where more students gather at one place and time than anywhere else. It offers school spirit, pride and -- win or loss -- a sense of fellowship and kinship. I actually have life-long friends that I met for the first time at Javelina football games. It was the destination for the fun, low-key first date with the girl who would eventually become my wife.

While watching last week's football game, I noticed that it was broadcast live via a local New Mexico PBS television. It would be great to see that for the Javelinas too.