FB Recruiting How UK baseball is catching up financially after years of disregard

[Derek Terry]

Keith Madison coached at Kentucky for 25 years. When SEC teams began taking baseball seriously a few years into his tenure, he went to the athletic department for financial support. Their response?

“They basically said, you want it, go out and raise money. You have to do it yourself," Madison said.

UK's facilities are still among the worst in the conference for baseball, but a new stadium will be built starting in 2017. A long read on how UK baseball was ignored for decades and how the athletic department is trying to fix it now.

LINK

 

[Black Diamond Cat]

Keith Madison coached at Kentucky for 25 years. When SEC teams began taking baseball seriously a few years into his tenure, he went to the athletic department for financial support. Their response?

“They basically said, you want it, go out and raise money. You have to do it yourself," Madison said.

UK's facilities are still among the worst in the conference for baseball, but a new stadium will be built starting in 2017. A long read on how UK baseball was ignored for decades and how the athletic department is trying to fix it now.

LINK

Derek, it says in your story that the new stadium will seat 2,500. Is that correct, if so, that is 500 less than CHS seats now. I thought it was to seat 4,500. I really don't understand why a new Baseball stadium would have financial hurdles, when Softball, Soccer, Track, and Football seemed to breeze right along without a hitch. Anyway, Great article, looks like the new stadium should be named after Keith Madison, he has done more for Baseball than anyone at UK by far !!

 

[Derek Terry]

Derek, it says in your story that the new stadium will seat 2,500. Is that correct, if so, that is 500 less than CHS seats now. I thought it was to seat 4,500. I really don't understand why a new Baseball stadium would have financial hurdles, when Softball, Soccer, Track, and Football seemed to breeze right along without a hitch. Anyway, Great article, looks like the new stadium should be named after Keith Madison, he has done more for Baseball than anyone at UK by far !!

Yes, 2,500 is the number Mitch gave me. But I agree about Madison. It would be hard to imagine where UK would be all those years if they had a coach who decided to walk away and go somewhere where it would be easier to win and have financial support.

 

[DubyaT]

One must not follow football if he or she thought the financing for the facility upgrades just "breezed right by". UK was woefully behind its conference peers just as it is in baseball, and after years of exploring avenues of financing, and it finally pulls it off thanks in large part to the increase in revenues then projected for the SEC Network and a unique agreement. The University and the legislature allow the bond issue through because UK Athletics agrees to service the debt for the new Science building on Rose Street ($50-60 million if I recall correctly). Highly unlikely you see UofL or any other SEC schools being effectively forced to do that for upgrades in football, which is far and away the biggest revenue producer.

Regardless, glad UK is emerging from stone ages in its support of baseball, which has now eclipsed basketball as the second most popular sport on the campuses of several SEC schools.

 

[DubyaT]

Great article, Derek. Madison was forced to fight with one arm tied behind his back.

 

[sluggercatfan]

Keith Madison coached at Kentucky for 25 years. When SEC teams began taking baseball seriously a few years into his tenure, he went to the athletic department for financial support. Their response?

“They basically said, you want it, go out and raise money. You have to do it yourself," Madison said.

UK's facilities are still among the worst in the conference for baseball, but a new stadium will be built starting in 2017. A long read on how UK baseball was ignored for decades and how the athletic department is trying to fix it now.

LINK

Thought groundbreaking was suppose to be in July? This is BS on the part of people who have the resources to do this and it not be a burden!!! 40k for a stadium and only 2500 seats? Should be at least 4k you are going big time

 

[Comebakatz3]

Great article. Madison definitely needs something named after him. However, we still need to fire Henderson if we want to further our success.

Speaking of 2016 recruiting, it is ranked 9th in the country and we have 12 total signees, 5 of which are top 100 players. Kentucky actually has the 2nd highest average player points at 8.83. The highest is Vanderbilt with 9.80. As usual, we have to wait until August to really fully see and understand how good the recruiting classs will be. The scary thing is that there are so many top recruits, and we could lose all of those.

 

[sluggercatfan]

Derek, it says in your story that the new stadium will seat 2,500. Is that correct, if so, that is 500 less than CHS seats now. I thought it was to seat 4,500. I really don't understand why a new Baseball stadium would have financial hurdles, when Softball, Soccer, Track, and Football seemed to breeze right along without a hitch. Anyway, Great article, looks like the new stadium should be named after Keith Madison, he has done more for Baseball than anyone at UK by far !!

After reading this story I totally agree , especially after the current stadium being named after ANOTHER basketball player and he tells the coach you will have to raise your own money...nowhere but KENTUCKY

 

[Derek Terry]

Great article. Madison definitely needs something named after him. However, we still need to fire Henderson if we want to further our success.

Speaking of 2016 recruiting, it is ranked 9th in the country and we have 12 total signees, 5 of which are top 100 players. Kentucky actually has the 2nd highest average player points at 8.83. The highest is Vanderbilt with 9.80. As usual, we have to wait until August to really fully see and understand how good the recruiting classs will be. The scary thing is that there are so many top recruits, and we could lose all of those.

I actually wrote this story about a month ago and decided to sit on it for a little while because it needed editing, so that was the rankings at the current time. I should have gone back and checked before running the story. Thanks for pointing it out.

Think I posted this a few days ago, but a good source broke down the recruiting class in terms of the likelihood of them going pro as follows: Shelby and Baddoo will go pro, Zack Thompson and T.J. Collett are 75 percent likely to go pro, and Easton McGee and John (J.C.) Flowers are 50/50. Also, William Holland is still listed as a UK commit on Perfect Game, but he will attend Auburn instead.

 

[sluggercatfan]

One must not follow football if he or she thought the financing for the facility upgrades just "breezed right by". UK was woefully behind its conference peers just as it is in baseball, and after years of exploring avenues of financing, and it finally pulls it off thanks in large part to the increase in revenues then projected for the SEC Network and a unique agreement. The University and the legislature allow the bond issue through because UK Athletics agrees to service the debt for the new Science building on Rose Street ($50-60 million if I recall correctly). Highly unlikely you see UofL or any other SEC schools being effectively forced to do that for upgrades in football, which is far and away the biggest revenue producer.

Regardless, glad UK is emerging from stone ages in its support of baseball, which has now eclipsed basketball as the second most popular sport on the campuses of several SEC schools.

"Most other SEC schools" fixed it for you

 

[Black Diamond Cat]

One must not follow football if he or she thought the financing for the facility upgrades just "breezed right by". UK was woefully behind its conference peers just as it is in baseball, and after years of exploring avenues of financing, and it finally pulls it off thanks in large part to the increase in revenues then projected for the SEC Network and a unique agreement. The University and the legislature allow the bond issue through because UK Athletics agrees to service the debt for the new Science building on Rose Street ($50-60 million if I recall correctly). Highly unlikely you see UofL or any other SEC schools being effectively forced to do that for upgrades in football, which is far and away the biggest revenue producer.

Regardless, glad UK is emerging from stone ages in its support of baseball, which has now eclipsed basketball as the second most popular sport on the campuses of several SEC schools.

Yes I follow Football faithfully, former season ticket holder. I just think that Baseball has gotten the short straw compared to other sports. I am certainly glad the other sports have new facilities, they are deserving also. It just seems a new Baseball stadium has been on the drawing board since John Cohen was here, he left after the 2008 season.
I will be in attendance when we get a new stadium, maybe not the 1st game, but early on good lord willing !

 

[AgesBlue]

Hey guys, I love the article by Derek. The old photos show we had a facility for Baseball much like the old Alligator Alley gym that Florida used to play in before the O dome was built. Rupp once said that old gym wasn't wort the gas it would take to burn it down!
It did have a certain home advantage, much like the Cliff does for UK now. I also am looking forward to the new stadium being constructed, although I am quite fond of the cozy confines of CHS.
Count me in on naming the stadium after Coach Madison, he did an amazing job, with apparently NO support from the AD or the administration. Actually the lack of support by the Athletics dept. is shameful and embarrassing.

 

[Big_Blue_1018]

Derek, it says in your story that the new stadium will seat 2,500. Is that correct, if so, that is 500 less than CHS seats now. I thought it was to seat 4,500. I really don't understand why a new Baseball stadium would have financial hurdles, when Softball, Soccer, Track, and Football seemed to breeze right along without a hitch. Anyway, Great article, looks like the new stadium should be named after Keith Madison, he has done more for Baseball than anyone at UK by far !!

If I remember correctly, there will be 2500 chair back seats and the berm will make up the difference for a capacity of around 4600. Also, if you look at the drawings that were shown at the K-Fund luncheon, there's plenty of room for expansion of its warranted.

 

[BluegrassBlake]

I actually wrote this story about a month ago and decided to sit on it for a little while because it needed editing, so that was the rankings at the current time. I should have gone back and checked before running the story. Thanks for pointing it out.

Think I posted this a few days ago, but a good source broke down the recruiting class in terms of the likelihood of them going pro as follows: Shelby and Baddoo will go pro, Zack Thompson and T.J. Collett are 75 percent likely to go pro, and Easton McGee and John (J.C.) Flowers are 50/50. Also, William Holland is still listed as a UK commit on Perfect Game, but he will attend Auburn instead.

So basically all of our top recruits will go pro. Awesome....

 

[Comebakatz3]

I actually wrote this story about a month ago and decided to sit on it for a little while because it needed editing, so that was the rankings at the current time. I should have gone back and checked before running the story. Thanks for pointing it out.

Think I posted this a few days ago, but a good source broke down the recruiting class in terms of the likelihood of them going pro as follows: Shelby and Baddoo will go pro, Zack Thompson and T.J. Collett are 75 percent likely to go pro, and Easton McGee and John (J.C.) Flowers are 50/50. Also, William Holland is still listed as a UK commit on Perfect Game, but he will attend Auburn instead.

Excellent breakdown, thanks. The rankings change somewhat frequently I believe considering that we were ranked 8th just a few days ago, so it's not a big deal.

 

[DubyaT]

Black Diamond Cat, I agree with you re the historical neglect of the baseball program and the need to focus more resources and attention to the sport that is second most popular at several SEC schools. I'd love to see UK have a big time team and make it to Omaha.

Just pointing out that financing big capital projects has proven challenging for UK with the football and other projects requiring financing. Seems like UK has done whatever it can pay for in cash (track, soccer, softball, etc.), but anything requiring bond issuances has taken UK way longer than it should due to political sorts of issues. As long as this is taking, hopefully they won't only build a new stadium, but they do it right, so to speak.

 

[Black Diamond Cat]

Black Diamond Cat, I agree with you re the historical neglect of the baseball program and the need to focus more resources and attention to the sport that is second most popular at several SEC schools. I'd love to see UK have a big time team and make it to Omaha.

Just pointing out that financing big capital projects has proven challenging for UK with the football and other projects requiring financing. Seems like UK has done whatever it can pay for in cash (track, soccer, softball, etc.), but anything requiring bond issuances has taken UK way longer than it should due to political sorts of issues. As long as this is taking, hopefully they won't only build a new stadium, but they do it right, so to speak.

In other words they pay as they go. The bond issues have seemed to be a problem for a while now !

 

[DubyaT]

Brent Ingram, who is apparently no longer working for UK, is being very candid in recent Twitter postings re the lack of support for the program and the bleak outlook for next season.

 

[Black Diamond Cat]

Brent Ingram, who is apparently no longer working for UK, is being very candid in recent Twitter postings re the lack of support for the program and the bleak outlook for next season.

That sure doesn't sound good, I believe we will struggle next year also, unless the newcomers are really good ! Even if we do get a new HC.

 

[2Adulterers]

Derek, it says in your story that the new stadium will seat 2,500. Is that correct, if so, that is 500 less than CHS seats now. I thought it was to seat 4,500. I really don't understand why a new Baseball stadium would have financial hurdles, when Softball, Soccer, Track, and Football seemed to breeze right along without a hitch. Anyway, Great article, looks like the new stadium should be named after Keith Madison, he has done more for Baseball than anyone at UK by far !!

4,500 I was at donor meeting with Keith and Mitch I donated 10,000 dollars..let's get this thing rolling

 

[Comebakatz3]

4,500 I was at donor meeting with Keith and Mitch I donated 10,000 dollars..let's get this thing rolling

Thanks for your contribution! If I were you I'd be really pissed at the lack of progress.

 

[2Adulterers]

I graduated from UK in 1972 Coach Rupp taught me to be persistent..

 

[maysvilleky]

Sounds like Madison was definitely fighting an uphill battle. Why is the stadium named for Cliff Hagan if he did so little for Baseball?

Why would you build a stadium with only 2500 seats? Can that even host a regional?

Has anyone from the Admin not watched Field of Dreams? "Build it and they will come"!

 

[DubyaT]

Sounds like Madison was definitely fighting an uphill battle. Why is the stadium named for Cliff Hagan if he did so little for Baseball?

Great question. It's beyond ridiculous that the baseball stadium is named for Hagan (and similarly ridiculous that the field at Commonwealth is named for C.M. Newton). It's embarrassing.

 

[Comebakatz3]

Dropping the number to 2,500 would be one of the dumbest things in the entire world. The Cliff currently sits 3,000... why would you want fewer seats? I can understand putting in some boxes or something to attract more money, but that cannot and should not be done in the expense of general admission type seating. I understand that we don't often go over 2,500, but you have to put in new amenities to bring someone to your park and make them want to come out and see a baseball game and plan to give them enough space and have enough tickets available so that it is easy for them to get access. Anticipate that you'll get bigger crowds through these changes and you may very well get those crowds. It's dumb to limit yourself. We don't need an 8,000 seat stadium, but 2,500 is well below what it should be for an SEC stadium.

 

[Black Diamond Cat]

Dropping the number to 2,500 would be one of the dumbest things in the entire world. The Cliff currently sits 3,000... why would you want fewer seats? I can understand putting in some boxes or something to attract more money, but that cannot and should not be done in the expense of general admission type seating. I understand that we don't often go over 2,500, but you have to put in new amenities to bring someone to your park and make them want to come out and see a baseball game and plan to give them enough space and have enough tickets available so that it is easy for them to get access. Anticipate that you'll get bigger crowds through these changes and you may very well get those crowds. It's dumb to limit yourself. We don't need an 8,000 seat stadium, but 2,500 is well below what it should be for an SEC stadium.

Field a winning team annually and there will be 2500 plus on a regular basis. Everyone loves a winner !

 

[167Hike]

Found this from an older post on the subject (the one that outlined the plans)

According to the proposal, the seating would be as follows:

General Chair Back: 2420
Accessible Seating: 19
Companion Seating: 19
Berm Capacity: 1850
Berm Accessible: 15
Berm Companion: 15
Outdoor Club Seats: 164
Accessible Club Seats: 4
Companion Club Seats: 4
Suite Seats: 62
Athletics Suite: 22
Coaches Seating: 44

Total Capacity would be 4562