ECU sports Q&A with CUSA-fans correspondent Bubba Rosenbaum

CUSA-fans.com has a new staff of team correspondents this fall to help bring you, the fan, more detailed Conference USA football coverage. Today, our East Carolina Correspondent Thoms "Bubba" Rosenbaum answers your e-mails in his ECU sports Q&A. You can contact Bubba with your questions about ECU sports at TBRosenbaum @ cusa-fans.com.

Richie Boyd
Greenville, NC

Q: When will stadium expansion occur at Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium? Will it include an end zone seating phase and a press box side (south stands) phase?

A: Richie, this is a question that I can’t answer definitively with regards to the exact timetable; however, I can tell you that I know for a fact that discussions concerning this/these issues have been taking place. How serious are they? Only Terry Holland and the “higher ups” know that.

However, I can also tell you that I’ve heard that permanent end zone seating could be in place as early as next season. I don’t foresee any other expansion phases taking place prior to the ’07 season due to time and money issues.

When the funds allow, the plans are for a multi-purpose football building to be built behind the current press box side (south stands). This building would hold offices, press facilities, etc.

Holland, former athletic director at the University of Virginia, oversaw significant expansions to Scott Stadium during his tenure in Charlottesville. These were carried out in a first-class manner and expect nothing less this time around.

When all is said and done, Terry Holland would like to see Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium’s seating capacity in the 60,000 range. He has stated that the end zone seating will go straight across so as to keep the fans right on top of the action, while enhancing the atmosphere by increasing sound retention.

Whitey Martin
Jacksonville, NC

Q: Why does our crowd make noise when we are on offense? When we had fourth and one early in the game against West Virginia, our crowd was making a lot of noise.

A: First of all, let me say that the crowd was tremendous against West Virginia—very intense and into the football game. Having said that, I made the same observation that you did and I was just shaking my head. So much noise was being made, that a few WVU players motioned the crowd to keep cheering. While watching the replay of the game on ESPN2, I noticed several students trying to get people to stop making noise. It wasn’t the first time I’ve seen it and it won’t be the last. The only logical answer is that you’re dealing with people who aren’t very knowledgeable football fans. If they were, they wouldn’t be making noise because they would understand the importance of the offense being able to make their checks, calls and so forth. Save the noise for after the key play has been made.

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