Even though he took over midway through the 2021-22 academic year, Michael Alford has had quite a busy first few months on the job as Florida State director of athletics.

He's hired three new head coaches — Link Jarrett, Brooke Wyckoff and ran Pensky — a few new senior administrators and continued supervising quite a few notable projects that are in various stages of progress. All while keeping up with a rapidly evolving college athletics landscape.

Before his first football season as AD, Alford took time to sit down with the Osceola Tuesday afternoon to address an expansive series of topics surrounding FSU athletics.

You’ve been around for a few football seasons now, but what’s your excitement level going into Mike Norvell’s third season, your first as FSU AD?

Alford: When you look back and you see, being here two years, going into my third season, you’ve seen the progression. I say this phrase, but we look the part (more) than we did two years ago. To see what he's building and to see the values he's putting into the organization, and just how excited the kids are about the direction of the program. That’s what’s fun to sit back and evaluate and watch and do both. I attend a lot of practices as y'all know, for 10, 15 minutes. A lot of that's just because I want to read the reaction of the student-athletes and see what kind of day they're having on the practice field or court of whatever practice it is, and just really get a feel for how the program's going. And right now you just feel the energy. As you did at the end of last season as well, you felt the momentum going into this offseason and going into spring practice and then going into the start of fall just how exciting it is.

As someone who is around Mike Norvell a good amount, what do you see that makes him successful?

Alford: He builds a great culture. He really brings in the right student-athletes that fit his program and really fit our department and the university as well. Kids with high character, the coaches that he hires have very high character, the support staff around him are people of high character. And the culture that he's building, I talk about core values a lot. He is really putting in great core values that I believe for long term success you have to have. Hopefully we have great short-term success this year. But long term, we’re building this for the long term and a program that can sustain consistency. And that’s what’s exciting to watch.

What have you seen that leads you to believe this season will lead to the continued growth that is necessary for Norvell’s tenure?

Alford: I go back to we look the part. We're looking like a Florida State team. We’re executing a little better. Not only look the part on the field, but physically we look the part. And just seeing the execution of this team, seeing it grow. You’ve got to remember two years ago we were the youngest team in football. Last year we were once again, two years in a row, the youngest team in football. And you look at our roster right now, other than some senior leadership that’s very important that we have, we’re young again. We will have probably about 80 percent of our starters back after the season. And so that's what's exciting to see the program getting built the way he’s building it for the long term.

For fans heading to Doak Campbell Stadium this weekend or this season, what differences can they expect for the gameday experience?

Alford: We’re bringing in Legends as a concessionaire. We’ll get more power, more outlets. A 71-year-old stadium, when we first started looking at it we only had about 200 points of sale. Now we’re trying to get up to that 600. Not quite there yet. Still drawing power from all over campus to different parts of the stadium but we're gonna get it there in the next year to 600 points of sale in the stadium. A stadium this size, that’s what it needs. But I think you're gonna see the amenities, they've now taken over the premium spaces so you’re going to see an upgrade there in my viewpoint. And that's what's exciting, just the fan experience that we're able to provide our fans and constituents who travel. You've heard me say it before, we lead the country, 60 percent of our fanbase travels over three and a half hours (to attend games). We have to provide that experience, not only to keep them coming but also for the impact that we have on the community as a whole financially. So it's up to us to have that fan base continue to want to come to Doak and have an enjoyable time. We’re taking little steps every day to work on that.

Obviously, the state of college football and conference realignment is the hot-button topic at the moment. What is ACC commissioner Jim Phillips’ message during the AD conference calls about how to keep the conference competitive in the changing landscape of college athletics?

Alford: That's the million dollar question. I've talked to Commissioner Phillips, he's actually coming in for the game on Saturday. The ACC has been very successful, won more national championships than any other conference last year. Looking at how we're doing, our football programs across the league are getting better. But they need Florida State to be good. And that’s something I openly talking about in meetings. We need Miami to be good. That’s something we openly talk about in meetings. Because when you look at the TV numbers, the brands still carry a lot of weight. If you look at it in the last 10 years, we still carried higher viewership than any other program in our conference. So we need to be good to help the conference propel itself. We talk about that openly. We’re looking at various ways we can change some of our revenue streams. You’ve heard me talk about what we need to do to Doak to change because right now we're about $13 million behind the average SEC team in stadium revenues. We’re about $10 million behind the average Big Ten team in stadium revenues. So we need to address that. Because that's a part of what we can control as a fan base and as a university that can help cut that gap even a little bit more in what you’re bringing in revenue. So we're looking at various models. Our new concessions contract is really helping us on the revenue side of things. So we're addressing it not only internally but then also talking to the conference about what we're doing as conference-wide to help narrow that gap.

The big upcoming project for the department is the construction of FSU’s football operations facility. Is that still scheduled for breaking ground in December?

Alford: Yes, sir. We're still on track. I have a meeting tomorrow on it. I'm very involved in that process, as you know, and fundraising is going extremely well. Got a seven-figure gift the other day for it and we're really excited about it and work with coach Norvell on it every day. It's a must for our program. For us to get back to the elite of college football, we need a facility to not only attract student-athletes but also develop them while they're here in the proper way and the high-tech way. We’re really excited about it and it’s moving right along.

Is the design layout for that building complete or still being worked on?

Alford: Right now, we're in the design phase. We're looking at what we will take out, what we need and doing some of those edits through the process. But we're still on track. That is all part of moving it forward…We're just going through right now and seeing what kind of cost savings we can do in the building, which is standard practice.

How much money have you raised as of now towards that project?

Alford: We’re a little over $60 million right now (collected) and have about another $30 (million) in asks out there that we're going through the process of trying to secure those pledges as well. But also part of the revenue, part of the pro forma that we're going to build, comes out of the stadium to help fund the facility so it’s going to fund both projects so that’s part of the pro forma that combines both of them.

What’s the state of the west sidelines renovation fundraising? How many of the suites and sideline loge boxes have been sold?

Alford: We have sold the owner’s suites. Sold the founder’s loge boxes. So we have raised in construction capital, we have commitments there and then construction capital gifts as well. Construction capital gifts are about $44.8 million that we have pledged towards the project. Next, we have to go in and look at club seats and how we want to do that and then look at the south end zone would be the next project. But we’re still going through the process.

How have the conversations with boosters gone about the project? How far down the priority list are you currently?

Alford: People have been very receptive, when we show them what we’re building and what experiences they’re going to have. They have been extremely receptive to that …This fall will be big. Right now, we’ve gone through 110 people. Now is when all the affected and club seat holders in the south side and anyone who is impacted, we’ll be having those conversations … I’ve gone through this several times elsewhere. There’s some days you’re having 50 meetings a day in the preview center because just the volume that we’re about to get into with our fan base.

What’s the timeline for that project as of now?

Alford: 2025, 26 season. We’re told we can go implement everything we’re trying to do in one offseason. They said they built Texas A&M in one offseason so they can do our project in one offseason. Right now we’re hoping for the ’25 season. It’s on pace for that if everything stays on target.

With the blueprint money now secured from the city commission, what will that go towards?

Alford: ADA issues, it’s a 71-year-old building. Lighting, ramps going in are not equipped for today’s standards, looking at bathroom plumbing, looking at steel beams. There’s a couple of steel beams that need addressing.

Can you start spending that blueprint money now to address some of these issues?

Alford: Yes. We start to identify with our partners and working with downtown as well to identify what is getting done and what timeline. We don't want to disrupt the season. A lot of things we have to do will disrupt this season. So right now we're looking at some elements that we can do during weeks that we're not playing, small projects to go ahead and address those and then address the major projects later down the road.

You’ve chaired a group of athletic directors to address the issues of NIL long before it was released.

Alford: Over two and a half years ago, we started that process. I'm actually going to be in DC Sept. 1 meeting with some congressmen regarding NIL. There are a couple of bills going in front of Congress and they want my feedback on them. I’m going to be over there just seeing some congressmen and talking to them about how great Florida State is and also addressing some NIL questions that they have.

From where you started the NIL process to where it is today, how has it evolved?

Alford: To be honest with you, it's kind of evolved the way I thought it would. That’s 100% honesty. Because when we went in and presented guardrails to the NCAA and modeled how it would work and really looked at fair market value for arrangements and having to go through a checks and balances system, much like the NFLPA. Our group took the NFLPA, from my experience and that of some others and really collegialized it a little bit is the way I like to put it. When the NCAA said, ‘Well, we don't know if that would work. We're going to roll the dice, kind of go about it a different way,’ it's going the way I thought it would. You're gonna have a Wild West. I do believe water always levels. I do believe the market always corrects itself and I've said that from day one. I think after year one, you're gonna go to year two and it's gonna look a little different out there. Year three will be a little different. And then eventually, it'll just be part of what the collegiate landscape is. I don't ever forget when people thought cost of attendance, would destroy college athletics and it's just part of what we do. I think it’ll be the same way. Title IX. It’s just part of how we’re going to be conducting business going forward.

The NFLPA is a union. How would that work applied to the college game?

Alford: We would still go out in their marketing arrangements and work. So if you work for an organization, I use Jason Witten all the time in my analysis and (Tony) Romo. But if I when I did the Albertson’s deal for Witten, I would work with him and his agent on what his fair market value was to be a representative of that organization throughout Texas. When we worked with Tony and his agent on his Starter deal, what does that look like and how does it impact his name, image and likeness? And how does it impact the relationship with the organization? So you did it as an organization and modeling it after what contracts go to the NFLPA so they can take a look at it. And then they wouldn't measure fair market value so you'd have three, sometimes four different organizations measure that and say, ‘Ok, that deal for Tony Romo was worth this because they're measuring everything.’ It’s the same organizations that would tell me what Tobey Maguire is worth to do a movie. They measure, go in and look at social media and their impact and even performance and put it all in and tell you what the fair market value is, we take the middle one and go and work out that arrangement. That's how it was done. We did them all the time, everything from a big one like that down to let's say a quarterback that's not well known going to a local chain of brewpubs in Dallas. It was all around the board, you'd send them and get the fair market value for that particular athlete.

Long term, would you rather all schools be involved with NIL, no schools be involved with NIL or are you ok with either so long as there is uniformity?

Alford: Uniformity one way or the other. Right now under this state law, we can't be involved and we're not. But, you know, at the end of the day, you want what's best for the student-athlete. We have a great Apex program, we try to educate them on their rights. We have a great partnership with the entrepreneurship school on campus and brand entrepreneurship. The business school comes in and teaches some classes that athletes and regular students can attend to understand their brand. That was something that was very important to me that not only athletes but a student also needs to be able to come in and understand that they want to work for the corporation one day that they need to understand how to brand themselves. Just as valuable as a student-athlete possibly. We do a great job of education, but once we educate our student-athletes on the rights and the particular interest of how to go about conducting that business, then we kind of step out of the way because that's the state law at this moment.

Any plans to start paying student-athletes for their success in the classroom after the NCAA vs. Alston ruling opened the door?

Alford: We are participating in Alston this year for our student-athletes. I think it's a great thing for them to be able to come in and get performance (bonuses) for academic achievements so we will be participating in Alston.

You added a few new senior administrators this summer. Tell us a bit more about them.

Alford: We'll start with new deputy director of external (operations), Janeen Lalik. Being able to get her and her wealth of experience from the private sector, 18 years at IMG/ISP and then she was at Fanatics and Ticketmaster. Being able to come in, she's negotiated every media deal that was and has experience with the NIL spectrum from her days at IMG. Just being able to get her expertise here, especially where we think the future of college athletics is heading as we've just discussed. To be able to get her expertise here to help assist me and use her experience to do what's the best thing for Florida State, make sure we're set up with the right processes and procedures to have success and forecast the future of college athletics. Then to get Lisa Varytimidis here, she’s an ex-Division I athlete, ex-Division I volleyball coach. To be able to get her to come in, that relationship she builds with not only our student-athletes, but across campus as our new senior women's administrator is just going to be very beneficial to some of the core things we're trying to get accomplished and culture things we're trying to get accomplished with the leadership academy that our student-athletes are going to go through and our student development office and making sure we're doing the right things there. Educating our student-athletes on Title IX and partnering with campus to make sure we're doing all the right things. Her experience is going to be second to none so I couldn't be more proud of being able to get those two to join our staff here at Florida State.

Having worked across sports, how important is it to have that female representation in sports administration?

Alford: I didn't even know it. Somebody reached out to me and goes, ‘You know, your whole senior staff was almost all women.’ I said, ‘Well, I go home to all women (his wife, Laura, and three daughters) every day.’ I didn’t realize it at the time, maybe that's my subconscious. I really wanted to look for the most qualified and Janine and her experience, her qualifications are second to none in this business. Someone who has unbelievable contacts and reach not only in the college-based professional space, but in the private sector space. When she calls, people are gonna return her call because of the respect that the industry has for her. The same with Lisa as well. A lot of respect for what she's accomplished in her career. So just being able to get them to join us, it’s really setting us up for the future here. That's what's exciting.

You enter your first full year as AD with two new coaches on your staff, one of whom kicked off the athletic season last week in new FSU soccer coach Brian Pensky. How impressed have you been with how he’s hit the ground running as he fills the big shoes left behind by Mark Krikorian?

Alford: He has really developed an authentic relationship with the team. It’s a fun style, to watch them play against Georgia and South Carolina and to get that win and see the aggressive approach that the team has taken offensively is something I'm enjoying. He's just doing a great job and his personality is second to none. He and his wife are going to be great additions to this community and we couldn't be more thrilled to have him here.

At Link Jarrett’s introductory press conference as the new FSU baseball coach, you talked about building/renovating a stadium around him. How have those talks gone? What’s the state of that project?

Alford: We talk all the time. We've addressed the field. We started last year with addressing some things inside the field that I thought needed to get done. Then we addressed the grass and wanted his opinion on what he wanted as a playing surface and were able to do that. We let him get in, take a look at it and we're addressing that. We’re addressing some of the fan amenities within the stadium. Looking at some of the practice areas that need addressing, looking at a locker room, team room and starting to build a project list for baseball. Because at the end of the day, this is Florida State baseball and we shouldn't be second to anyone. Just making sure he has the resources to go out and win a national championship that Florida State baseball deserves. That's what's exciting, to see his vision of what he wants out of the program and, really, he and I are eye-to-eye on what needs to be done and working together on it.

Can any of those projects be done immediately?

Alford: Yeah, some we can do immediately. Of course, the field we’re doing immediately. We're looking at addressing some of the fan amenities, concourses telling our story immediately. We're addressing the turf and the practice area immediately and then with that we're looking at, ‘Ok, now what do we do next?’ The locker room needs to be addressed. It’s pretty old, outdated. We’re having people look at it. Do we build a new facility? Do we build a new locker room that connects to this facility and maybe turn an old locker room into a premium space? We’re getting we're getting some different looks from sports architects to give us some concepts. We’re excited. We've actually done three studies on it and kind of taken from each one that we've done in the past and kind of combining them to see what can be successful and getting his thoughts on all of those. We're addressing some immediate needs right now, but also looking forward to long term over the next few years.

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