By Craig Morgan, special to TheSunDevils.com
TEMPE, Ariz. -- Ray Anderson welcomed Phoenix-area media to his latest media luncheon with a message of openness and respect that has become one of the hallmarks of his administration.
"Your coverage is really important to us," ASU's Vice President for University Athletics said on Monday at Karsten Golf Course. "We know the world isn't always rosy; we know that it's not a perfect world. You've got a job to do. Do it.
"When you have to be critical of us, do so with complete freedom, but when you have a chance to support and acknowledge and promote what we're trying to do here at Sun Devil Athletics, at this institution, with our culture of supporting and really advancing the experiences of our student-athletes, we hope you will also highlight those things beyond the wins and losses."
Monday's gathering was one of those things. A record 17 Sun Devil head coaches turned out for the event to have lunch and mingle with media, provide a short synopsis of their programs, seasons and recruiting efforts, and to share a few laughs.
New men's golf coach Matt Thurmond told media "if you're talking about us, even if it's bad, you're a friend of ours" which sparked this hilarious exchange between football coach Todd Graham and Anderson.
Graham: "I love media, too, as long as you're writing good things. I'm just being honest."
Ray Anderson: "I'm with you on this one. Matt's a different breed."
Graham: "He needs to get a few bad things written about him."
Anderson touched on a variety of topics in his address and Q&A session. Here are some highlights from the day.
-- Anderson said the school is currently in discussions about how to make Sun Devil Stadium a 365-day-a-year facility. That could include classrooms, labs and conference spaces. Solarization and other sustainable efforts are also being discussed.
"Make no mistake about it, we will be in and playing in our facility in 2018 as promised," he said. "The student-athlete facility will be done, the west side will be completely done, a lot of the additions and the upgrades to the east side will be done."
-- Anderson renewed his vow to augment Sun Devil Athletics' commitment to and support of Olympic sports.
"I hope everyone here understands completely that our commitment to our Olympic sports movement is unequivocal," he said. "We will not be shy about standing up when we can do things like attract the ITA (Intercollegiate Tennis Association) and attract the U.S. Triathlon Association and attract segments of the United States Olympic Committee and invite them to come and make this the home for Olympic training and development.
"We will be an Olympic training center going forwards at Arizona State University, representing this Valley, representing this state, representing this institution."
-- Anderson thanked a preponderance of coaches for discussing the important of culture.
"Culture really drives everything for us," Anderson said. "If we have a positive culture across the athletics department and we can convey that culture to our institution broadly, then we'll all be successful.
"The culture has got to be eight because we don't want to ever be standing up here and be talking about some of the horrific issues that some of the other universities are out there talking about in terms of behavior, letdowns, culture and mistakes because they haven't paid attention to that."
-- Women's triathlon coach Cliff English, who led the Sun Devils to the 2016 national championship, announced that ASU is bidding to host the 2017 national championship.
TEMPE, Ariz. -- Ray Anderson welcomed Phoenix-area media to his latest media luncheon with a message of openness and respect that has become one of the hallmarks of his administration.
"Your coverage is really important to us," ASU's Vice President for University Athletics said on Monday at Karsten Golf Course. "We know the world isn't always rosy; we know that it's not a perfect world. You've got a job to do. Do it.
"When you have to be critical of us, do so with complete freedom, but when you have a chance to support and acknowledge and promote what we're trying to do here at Sun Devil Athletics, at this institution, with our culture of supporting and really advancing the experiences of our student-athletes, we hope you will also highlight those things beyond the wins and losses."
Monday's gathering was one of those things. A record 17 Sun Devil head coaches turned out for the event to have lunch and mingle with media, provide a short synopsis of their programs, seasons and recruiting efforts, and to share a few laughs.
New men's golf coach Matt Thurmond told media "if you're talking about us, even if it's bad, you're a friend of ours" which sparked this hilarious exchange between football coach Todd Graham and Anderson.
Graham: "I love media, too, as long as you're writing good things. I'm just being honest."
Ray Anderson: "I'm with you on this one. Matt's a different breed."
Graham: "He needs to get a few bad things written about him."
Anderson touched on a variety of topics in his address and Q&A session. Here are some highlights from the day.
-- Anderson said the school is currently in discussions about how to make Sun Devil Stadium a 365-day-a-year facility. That could include classrooms, labs and conference spaces. Solarization and other sustainable efforts are also being discussed.
"Make no mistake about it, we will be in and playing in our facility in 2018 as promised," he said. "The student-athlete facility will be done, the west side will be completely done, a lot of the additions and the upgrades to the east side will be done."
-- Anderson renewed his vow to augment Sun Devil Athletics' commitment to and support of Olympic sports.
"I hope everyone here understands completely that our commitment to our Olympic sports movement is unequivocal," he said. "We will not be shy about standing up when we can do things like attract the ITA (Intercollegiate Tennis Association) and attract the U.S. Triathlon Association and attract segments of the United States Olympic Committee and invite them to come and make this the home for Olympic training and development.
"We will be an Olympic training center going forwards at Arizona State University, representing this Valley, representing this state, representing this institution."
-- Anderson thanked a preponderance of coaches for discussing the important of culture.
"Culture really drives everything for us," Anderson said. "If we have a positive culture across the athletics department and we can convey that culture to our institution broadly, then we'll all be successful.
"The culture has got to be eight because we don't want to ever be standing up here and be talking about some of the horrific issues that some of the other universities are out there talking about in terms of behavior, letdowns, culture and mistakes because they haven't paid attention to that."
-- Women's triathlon coach Cliff English, who led the Sun Devils to the 2016 national championship, announced that ASU is bidding to host the 2017 national championship.