FSU president Thrasher discusses football, facilities, finances, more

Florida State University President John Thrasher sat down recently for an interview with Warchant.com managing editor Ira Schoffel to discuss several issues related to the Seminoles' athletics department. Among the topics they discussed were the proposed football operations center, the challenges of fundraising when the football team is struggling on the field, balancing the need for improved facilities in numerous sports, and more.

Here is a transcript of that conversation:

Q: You and some members of the Board of Trustees made the trip to Duke last week, and I heard you were able to take a tour of their facilities to see the improvements they've made. Is it important to kind of see what else is happening around the conference?

A: Stan (FSU athletics director Stan Wilcox), having worked there, got us a tour. So we got to see some of the facilities. Got to go in Cameron Indoor. Saw the new football stadium and their boxes. Their president’s box, by the way, holds 96. Ours holds about 400. I’d trade that some days, I promise you that. (laughing)

Q: So, do you actually get around to 400 people during games?

A: You know, what Jean and I do is, the box opens about an hour and a half before kickoff. So when we have the pregame stuff at the house, we usually get in the golf cart and drive over there in time to be there when the first group comes up. And we try to greet everybody, up until right close to kickoff. I like to at least be in my seat for kickoff and be there for the national anthem and all that. But I’m happy we have it (the president's box). I think it’s a great asset. I hope people get a chance to come sometime. We try to broaden the base as much as we can. Get as many people that are good Seminole followers exposed to it as we can.

Q: The reason I bring that up is you were in the postgame press conference at Duke when Jimbo Fisher made the comment about how much even Duke has invested in its athletic facilities.

A: $325 million, yeah. It’s an arms race. And I know Jimbo understands this, but we got out ahead of a lot of that. We were kind of one of the leaders, and I think because of the success we had on the field and building new facilities, everybody else paid attention to that. They’re all coming back up now. Even the Dukes are putting an emphasis on athletics, which is maybe a little different for them, and Wake Forest, people like that.