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Cook. Dr. Cook, we appreciate you coming on. Hey, glad
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to be here. You know, I joke about it. You know,
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normally we do pre-recorded interviews quite a few. You like
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to do it live.
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Yeah, I want to be a part of the atmosphere,
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being here, being a part of the environment.
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Yeah, I understand. I mean, you're live and in person
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and it's okay. Some people like to do that impromptu stuff.
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That's what I'm about. You know, we're blessed with a
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beautiful day. Pretty good fan base here. Had my ASU
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Foundation meeting today. We was able to get a lot
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accomplished there. Looking for the new exciting things that are
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going to take place along the athletics.
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Well, how about this exciting first half? It was 7-7
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at the end of the first quarter, 28 unanswered. You know,
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I was nervous. And you're a former football player. First game, Jitters,
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would you say? Yeah, I'd say that.
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But I know as you play, take part, go on,
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you'll be able to wear a team down.
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Yeah. And we were able to do that. Just talk
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about Jalen Tolbert. Everybody talked about him. And I was
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able to sling it around and move the pocket a
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little bit. Yeah.
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Now we got to work on that running game.
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Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Carl McDonald, he was highly touted in
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the offseason defensively. What did you see in the first half?
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We was off key a little bit, you know, going–
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practice against each other. That's a different playing against another team.
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So they was able to work out the jitters.
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They came together as a defensive unit, as one unit,
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and they was able to put some big stops up
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and some turnovers.
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Well, playing Miles College wasn't something we thought about several
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months ago. Just talk about getting Miles College on the schedule. Originally,
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we were supposed to open up next week in Hattiesburg
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against USM, trying to get a game on the schedule
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like this, a home game Against UAPB, we're playing it
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in Memphis, so we're able to get a home game.
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Talk about that process. A.D.
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Robinson gave me a phone call and said, hey, President Cook,
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there's an opportunity that we can have a game at
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Week Zero at home. The fan base would say, hey,
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we only have four games. We would like to see
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five games. So opportunity came about. Miles, it was a
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good opportunity. pregame till we actually get into the season, uh,
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to knock the jitters and the bugs out. So it
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was a win-win for us. There's a lot going on
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on campus, Dr. Cook, the renovations and stuff is happening.
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What are some of the big highlights or some of
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the highlights that, uh, Braves fans can look forward to
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here in the coming weeks, days, and months? Uh, September
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the 7th, 8th, we're going to break ground on the
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tennis courts with the lighting system, tennis court, uh, A
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couple weeks from there, we'll finally get the Whitney project
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on the way.
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A couple of weeks. A couple of weeks, yeah. A
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couple of weeks. They told me we got to find
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the signatures.
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So that's roughly about $ 23, $ 24 million. We have a
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$ 30 million pot for the Whitney renovation for Phase 1
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and Phase 2. The track, soccer field, we're going to
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have that. That'll be starting probably about a month or so.
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Wow so finally with people asking the whitney the whitney
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when does the renovation come in and i understand these
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things sometimes can go back and forth an i not
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dotted t not crossed there's there's a lot involved in
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getting these projects signed sealed.
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And delivered yeah whitney project gonna be two years so
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now we got to work through renovation for two years
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now what that looked like uh relocating locker rooms um
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i had to bring some portable units in uh Football
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now will be out of the gym. Probably have to
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use the stadium locker room for two years.
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Wow.
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Because there's going to be a 2028, June of 2028
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completion day on the Whitney Complex.
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From an academic standpoint, Dr. Cook, talk about where things
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are from the academic standpoint. An exciting fall, enrollment, and
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all of that here. The fans are really into it here. Yeah.
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Academic footprint. We're going through evaluating all. Our academic programs,
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our academic programs have been dated for years. Last time
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we had a program review, probably about 25 years ago.
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We got to adjust our programming to the workforce now.
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You know, it got to be a catchy phrase for
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the students to say, hey, they got to look at
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the opportunity if I decide to come to Alcorn and
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major in this particular degree pathway, what type of revenue
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I'm going to be able.
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To receive from that particular degree. I see Monte Ellis
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was down there, our men's basketball general manager. How much
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sizzle has that brought to men's basketball, to athletics, and
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to Alcorn since he's come on board? He's a great person.
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He's a down-to-earth person. Got a chance to have a
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conversation with him just a few minutes ago on the sidelines.
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You know, you got a chance to come in on
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campus early today. He said, I love Alcorn. And there's
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so much potential here. I have a lot of outreach.
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Some of the stakeholders that have a big interest in Alcorn.
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So I'm going to keep my lip seal on that
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until all that comes about.
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In other words, stay tuned.
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Yes, stay tuned.
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Yes. Well, stay tuned for the second half. That's coming up. Dr. Cook,
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we appreciate you giving us a couple of minutes. Hey,
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thank you. All right.