Oklahoma State University Athletics
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April 07, 2003 | Cowboy Football
Fowler was not in Stillwater to cover a game, but for the taping of the Athletic Department's annual football video, which will be sent to POSSE members and season ticket holders this spring. The renowned anchor interviewed OSU Athletic Director Terry Don Phillips for the cameras on a custom-built set in the Student Union. Their one-on-one conversation focused on how a football program can become a consistent winner. The two used the same stage to address key members of the OSU family at a special "Stakeholders' Meeting." At the live event, Fowler and Phillips discussed the state of Oklahoma State football and answered audience questions.
"I'm here to give a national perspective." Fowler said. "I've traveled around, and I know the landscape for programs that are playing at the highest level." A graduate of the University of Colorado, Fowler knows the Big 12 Conference, as well as Oklahoma State.
"I still think Barry Sanders is the best player I've ever seen in the college game," Fowler said. "But that was more than 10 years ago. Today's recruits think 1988 was the Dark Ages." Phillips agreed.
"OSU has had some of the best players to ever play the game, and some of the teams here could line up and play with anybody," Phillips said. "The problem has been a lack of consistency. We've had only 19 winning seasons in the last 50 years, and there's a reason for that. We must develop our infrastructure."
Coaching and recruiting are critical to a program's success, and facilities play a major role in attracting and keeping top-quality coaches and student-athletes. "Coaches can only be as good as the tools they have to work with," Phillips said. "You don't have to have the biggest or most grandiose facilities. You don't have to have the most money ... But you have to have quality.
"The type of student-athlete that we have to recruit at OSU are the same ones who are going to visit schools like Texas, Nebraska, Arkansas, Oklahoma and Texas A&M. They're going to compare facilities and determine who has made the commitment for them to be successful." "It's important for OSU to get up-to-speed with the other programs in the conference," Fowler added. "If you can compete for a Big 12 title, then you can compete for a national title. That's all it takes to get to the top."
Upon arriving in Stillwater, Fowler immediately noticed the massive construction surrounding Gallagher-Iba Arena. "As an outsider, to see the Athletic Center project and the way it was conceived is amazing," he said. "It just blew me away." The overall campus also appealed to Fowler.
"It's been about 10 years since my last visit to Stillwater, and I had forgotten how beautiful your campus is -- it's very impressive," he said. "OSU is a well-kept secret." The condition of Lewis Field, however, gave Fowler the opposite impression.
"It's hard to overstate the importance of facilities. When you travel around, you see how facilities affect the morale of the players, the coaching staff and fans, " Fowler said. "To be blunt, Lewis Field doesn't look like a big-time stadium."
"It's a very uncomfortable stadium for our fans," Phillips added. "We've got to make that stadium a fan-friendly, attractive facility that we can recruit to and our people feel good about."
The Athletic Center is Phase I of the Athletic Department's facility master plan. Phase II is the total modernization of Lewis Field, complete with new restrooms and concession areas, a new press box, club seats and suites, a bowled-in west endzone and brick exterior. OSU is also planning to replace the stadium's worn-out artificial turf with a new playing surface in time for the 2000 season.
Phillips believes the Phase II concept can make the crowd at Lewis Field as intimidating as the one inside Gallagher-Iba Arena.
"When you look at the design with the Athletic Center in the east end of the stadium, if you enclose the west endzone, then you can capture the sound and create a tremendous football atmosphere." The price tag for the entire project is approximately $76 million. Phillips said the stadium modernization has become a priority for the entire university, not the just the Athletic Department.
"Our Board of Regents and administration are committed to this project. They understand that this is too good of a university to suffer through another 31 losing seasons in the next 50 years. A good, solid football program can create a very positive image for OSU."
Although OSU has 42 NCAA team championships -- 4th in the nation and best in the Big 12 -- the Cowboys have a perception problem on the national level.
"This is an athletic program that we're very proud of," Phillips said. "But if you walk across state lines, our program is not respected to the extent it should be, primarily because the lack of success in football taints everything else. OSU Football must perform at a higher level." Phillips said the Athletic Department is working on the facility issues with a sense of urgency.
"We have purposely scheduled UCLA to play at Lewis Field on Sept. 14, 2002, and we want to be under construction on or before that date -- the earlier the better. Every year we sit back and do nothing is a wasted year." Fowler said he'd like to bring his GameDay show to Lewis Field someday, provided the Cowboys are playing in the national spotlight. "Chris is one of the most respected sportscasters in America," Phillips said. "It's good to have someone of his stature come to our campus and be made aware of our plans and dreams."
Phillips' dream for OSU Athletics can be linked to the Iba-Fenimore Society, a special group of donors who take their name from a pair of OSU icons.
"We want to go back to the future," Phillips said, alluding the mid-1940s, when Oklahoma A&M had the nation's top athletic program. "When Henry Iba was coaching and Bob Fenimore was playing, we won the Cotton Bowl and Sugar Bowl, we won back-to-back national championships in basketball, we were national champs in wrestling, and our baseball team went to the College World Series.
"That's all we want."
