From The Desk Of Randy Spetman

Director of Athletics Randy Spetman answers your questions about Florida State Athletics

Florida State University Director of Athletics Randy Spetman wants to hear from you! In a new feature series on Seminoles.com, Randy will be taking your questions and providing his insights from inside the Moore Athletics Center.

Please submit your questions by Monday at 8pm and check back on Wednesday at to see if your question has been selected.

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Paul Wallace: Any possibility of the BYU game next year being in Tampa or Jacksonville? Also maybe the Oklahoma game in Dallas?
Randy Spetman: We don't anticipate either BYU or Oklahoma being played away from Doak Campbell next year and we are very pleased with our 2010 home schedule. But I appreciate your question as it gives me a chance to explain a little about neutral site games.

In most cases, a neutral site game comes about because the venue solicits a game that they might be interested in. For instance, a stadium or city representatives may contact us and ask if we are interested in playing at their location in a certain season, or they often have several opponents in mind so they might ask if FSU would be interested in play team x, y or z during such and such a year.

It is quite rare that we would have a home game scheduled against a team and then begin to entertain the idea of moving it to a different location. It can happen, but it would be rather unusual.
John (JAX): Love the new seminoles.com website. Is there anywhere (top or bottom of the page) that you can have up comming games/times of all our sports. The old website had it at the very bottom.... Thanks and GO NOLES!
Randy Spetman: Thanks for the compliment on the new Seminoles.com, I like it too. I commend Ryan Pensy, our director of digital media, Deputy Athletic Director Kellie Elliott, Sports Information Director Tina Dechausay and Associate Athletic Director Rob Wilson for their hard work.

There is a lot of interesting information on the site and some really novel fan related links. I hope you take advantage of the facilities section and the 360 degree photos of facilities, including Coach Bowden's Office. I'm told we are shooting more of these facility tour shots in the next couple of weeks so that area should expand even more.

As for the calendar and schedules on the site, we still have it on the front page. Click on the Calendar button under Blogs and the Calendar will expand with all of the day's events. You can also download the schedules into your Microsoft Outlook by clicking on the icon in the Schedules & Scores drop down menu on the top of the page. It's not the same as the format over the last few years, but I hope it works for you.
Kelvin sanderson: Why did you guys decide not to wear black helmets for this game
Randy Spetman: Black helmets were never a consideration for the game.
Alex (Tallahassee): The fan support at the Miami game was spectacular but was blemished by the horrible display of the student section shouting profanity during the game. Do you plan on doing anything to stop this from happening in the futre? And if so, what is a possible solution?
Randy Spetman: The fan support was indeed remarkable for the Miami game. I can tell you that our players and coaches were genuinely appreciative of the huge number of fans who were already in their seats and cheering when they came out to warm up an hour or so before kickoff.

We are aware of a number of crowd related issues from the Miami game and are taking steps where we can to improve the overall experience. As for the profanity coming from the stands, I know this has not occurred during my tenure before and in talking with some folks with a pretty good history of the program this has not been a pronounced issue in the past.

Most authorities will tell you that suggesting an incited crowd to quit doing something generally just brings about more and more of the activity. They sort of get a bit of a mob mentality. Having said that, we will monitor the situation to make sure this does not become a regular occurrence and will evaluate several courses of action should it become a persistent issue.
Tom Jacksonville: In lew of the way the team struggles after the Labor day night game in 06,07,and 09,and having lost 3 of 5 labor day games,why does FSU continue to schedule those games?
Randy Spetman: The Florida State vs. Miami game proved to be the second most watched game in the history of ESPN and it was second only to the 2006 FSU/Miami game. Coach Bowden will be the first to tell you that the exposure for his program and this university throughout the country is invaluable. Having said that, neither FSU nor Miami necessarily wanted to play each other this early this year. The network worked and worked on the ACC and both schools using every bit of influence they have to get the game and it paid off with record ratings. One could argue that our quick return to the Top 20 in the polls two weeks later came as a result of an exceptional game against Miami that quite literally every voter in the country watched.

Part of the responsibility of playing in a conference is that you sometimes are asked to do some things in the best interest of the league as a whole and not necessarily your individual institution. North Carolina and Duke basketball are regularly asked to play premiere games for television. Our men's and women's basketball programs have reached the level that national games are being arranged for them, and we will be asked in the future to consider football games that may not give us the easiest path to an undefeated season.
Ralph (Niceville, FL): I heard you talk about how hard it is to win at BYU, did FSU's win impress you?
Randy Spetman: I was the most impressed person in the whole stadium I can tell you that. I've taken both Utah State and Air Force teams into Provo and I promise you it is a very difficult place to win. They had won 18-straight home games before our game and I was concerned all preseason about this game.

I think the opening drive was just critical. When we drove down and scored on them and put them down seven points right away that really made a statement. When you look at our defensive effort, a number of the big pass plays that BYU had were just remarkable throw and catch plays. Several times we had a defender right there and the BYU receiver just made a great play.

I was so impressed with our preparation and poise for the game. Our fan presence was great and important out there as well. I'm sure that I probably appreciated more than anyone else on the plane returning home just what a tremendous accomplishment we had just experienced.
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