Here is what we know about Wichita State president John Bardo: He will talk about football. Dr. Don Beggs, his predecessor, preferred not to talk about football. He knew that no matter what he said, people would interpret him as saying either “Football is coming back!” or “I hate football and it’s never coming back.”
Bardo appears to be different. He will talk about football. He will tell you what he thinks, the pros and the cons and the timetable. And, no matter what he says, people will misinterpret his words.
That happened today when Bardo mentioned football at a strategic planning session. KAKE’s Deb Farris tweeted: “WSU Pres. says will look into bringing back fball in the next 3-4 years.” The limits of Twitter aren’t meant for a discussion of WSU football. Some took that as a sign to start saving for tickets in 2016. Jay Sanderson at KGSO jumped on the topic during his afternoon show and somebody said – all evidence to the contrary – there is a “hunger” for Shocker football in Wichita.
Bardo’s position on football is: WSU will consider it, only after several other priorities are addressed. Chief among them will be increasing enrollment and building more housing. In four years, should WSU’s enrollment grow to 20,000 with 3,000 students living on campus, it might make sense to look at football and evaluate the expense and the support.
As of today, football is not on WSU’s agenda and it will be much longer than three or four years before Shocker football is revived.
He talks about football in more depth here.