Your Weekly Michigan State Athletics Question and Answer Article

 Hey Hondo, I am not a soccer guy, but I sure have enjoyed Coach Rensing on the radio show talking world cup. I love his energy and enthusiasm. I hope they

 

The Spartan fans are what makes the Spartan Nation great. Photo courtesy of Bill Marklevits

Hey Hondo, I am not a soccer guy, but I sure have enjoyed Coach Rensing on the radio show talking world cup. I love his energy and enthusiasm. I hope they have a game on a home football Saturday and if they do I will go. I like that he is so media savvy and does the show with you. I watched the world cup final because of him on the radio show. What a great Spartan. Michael

Thanks Michael, he is great. I like Damon as a coach and personally. You hit the nail on the head. He gets it. For a non-revenue sport to grow and thrive you have to be that way and Damon understands it. Mark Hollis couldn’t have picked a better coach for MSU and to lead the soccer program.

 

 

Hondo, last year you did a show with all the Olympic sports and hear Coach Gee and Coach Rensing on the show often along with Jake Boss and Coach Joseph. I guess I just wanted to say thank you. I am a life long Spartan and frankly have never heard much from those Olympic sports. Thanks for giving them the platform. Keith

Don’t thank me Keith, thank them. To coach a non-revenue sport at MSU is not easy, and sadly there are some that make it even worse on themselves, Mark Hollis, and the athletic teams. There are three primary sports on campus: football, men’s basketball, and hockey. They are the ones that are self-supporting or have proven they can be. The first two are currently profit producers and hockey once was prior to the Comley regime. All three of those coaches understand the power and the importance of media. Damon Rensing has gotten kids to his camps from doing our radio show. The tennis program, swimming, baseball, and softball have also. Those sports get the media and they embrace it. I remember when Comley was here that the media practically begged the SID (Sports Information Department) during the Olympics when Ryan Miller was kicking butt to come to a weekly press conference at the Breslin Center with a large media group and he wouldn’t. He was in a “propped” up position. He knew that they weren’t going to cut hockey and in my opinion he could care less. He flat told me once that he, “Just didn’t enjoy doing media,” and that is fine if you are a top revenue sport and you are going to get the coverage either way. He wasn’t. NONE of the MSU Olympic sports can have that attitude. Every single one of them needs to follow Dantonio, Anastos, and Izzo and use the media. Some of them are ‘propped’ up and they don’t’ get the sense of urgency. It is fine with me and others in my profession because frankly the fans don’t care if an Olympic sport is on or not or written about if we put a football or basketball story in. What stinks is when Hollis and his staff have to hear that they need more funding or more help, when they aren’t helping themselves.

 

Hondo, what do you think is the hardest or worst part of Mark Hollis’ job? Gary

Gary, that is a great question. I was asked something similar in Los Angeles recently and here is what I said then and maintain today. It isn’t actually raising money, but the glad handling of the job. Let me give an example. Every alumni group in the nation wants a part of him. Every major donor wants the one-on-one face time. He then has coaches, parents, administrators, and the list goes on all the way down to the bottom where he still has to find time to be a father and husband, which he is marvelous at. With so many people demanding of him on top of his normal administrative duties the dream job can become a nightmare. To his credit he still loves it, but that is in my opinion the worst part (the glad handling and the babysitting). Let me tell you an interesting story. As you know I came out 18 months before Hollis had the job on TV and in print and said he was the only choice. One year before he got it I said he would get it. I was the one to break that even though Ron Mason was technically the A.D. that he was only a figurehead and Hollis hired Dantonio. Not saying that to pat myself on the back, but to remind you that I have been pretty close his tenure as the leader. A few years back after a 6-7 football season he had to raise ticket prices. Now you need to understand that a few days later when I saw Mark he was distraught. When I asked what was wrong he talked about raising the prices. He truly didn’t have a choice, but here he was thinking about the fan. He wasn’t raised poor, but he certainly wasn’t raised wealthy. There isn’t one other high-ranking administrator on the MSU campus that cares about the fans like Hollis. In my opinion, there is a culture in some offices at MSU that feels like they are entitled and they take you the fan for granted. Not Hollis. He stews and brews and thinks about you all the time. He gets it. The glad handling is tough not because he doesn’t like people; in fact he is a people guy. It is hard because if you miss something or someone you have to deal with the whining or what will be their reaction and you simply can’t win.Â

OK everyone, there you go, our weekly general MSU athletics Q and A article. We will continue them every Tuesday morning so if you have a question (not about basketball or football) here is a simple way to get it here. Send your questions to SpartanNationMail@yahoo.com and put in the subject line general. If it doesn’t get answered in the article you will get a personal response. Thank you!