Athletic Director Kirby Hocutt's Monthly Comments

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Athletics Director Kirby Hocutt welcomes your comments and ideas. Your email will be read by Kirby and answered by either him or a member of the Ohio Athletics staff. Please include your name and hometown, and if you are a Bobcat let us know your class year. Thank you for your interest, your participation and your support of Bobcat Athletics.

February 28, 2006

Dear Bobcat Fans,

I hope this correspondence finds you doing well. Over the past few weeks I have received numerous e-mails inquiring about our 2006 football schedule. Therefore, in this month's column I want to update you on the current status of our upcoming schedule.

Please know as we move our football program forward with the ultimate goal of being the Mid-American Conference champion, Frank Solich and I share a vision and philosophy regarding football scheduling. This shared philosophy is based on two main criteria. First and foremost, we desire to assemble a balanced non-conference football schedule that will prepare our team to compete for the Mid-American Conference championship. Secondly, we must focus on scheduling agreements that will be of current market value and financially benefit our athletics department.

As we diligently work to complete our 2006 football schedule we have based each decision on the above philosophy. To that end, we currently have three non-conference contracted games for the upcoming season. They are:

September 2, versus University of Tennessee - Martin (this is a one-game agreement)
September 16, at Louisiana-Lafayette (this is a two-game agreement, which brings Louisiana-Lafayette to Athens on September 22, 2007)
September 23, at Missouri (this is a one-game agreement)

We are currently in negotiations with several BCS institutions regarding our fourth non- conference game in 2006. In addition to providing our student-athletes with an opportunity to compete against some of the nation's best talent, this approach will assist us with completion of the renovation of the Peden Tower project, specifically our coaches' offices, conference room and recruiting area.

Three other items related to next year's non-conference schedule which I have been asked about pertain to our Virginia Tech and Utah agreements and the rumor we were going to play Boston College. Simply stated, the Virginia Tech agreement was restructured to the benefit of Ohio University. While I know some fans were excited to have the Hokies visit Peden Stadium, the restructured agreement is a much more desirable contract for Ohio University. Similarly, the agreement with Utah and the opportunity to play Boston College did not satisfy our stated scheduling philosophy. There was never an agreement to play Boston College and at this time we do not plan to play Utah in 2006.

We will play five home games and seven away games in 2006. It is our goal to have six home games in 2007. I recognize the scheduling philosophy described above is a change from the past. However, it is the correct approach for Ohio University given our current situation.

While the completion of our 2006 football schedule remains contingent on the MAC schedule, it is my goal to release it, in its entirety, within the next few weeks. I do appreciate the emails and interest in our upcoming schedule. I know it is important to have it released as early as possible so that our fans can make their travel arrangements. Please know we will begin work on the 2007 & 2008 schedule arrangements once the 2006 schedule is finalized.

On behalf of our student-athletes, coaches and staff, thank you for your continued support of the Bobcats! I hope this has provided you with insight into our 2006 football schedule. I look forward to seeing many of you in Cleveland as we support our men's and women's basketball teams' pursuit of the MAC Tournament championship!

Go Bobcats!
Kirby