Blake James: Team should be in IPF this week
On Monday afternoon Athletic Director Blake James updated the status of the indoor practice facility, saying “We got the certificate of occupancy last week, we’re just finishing up the turf and I believe that’ll be done tomorrow or Wednesday so we’ll be in there at some point this week. Obviously we’re excited about that. It’s a huge win for our program to have that facility in place.”
* James said he’s “working on some games” as it pertains to UM’s football schedule.
“We’re set up pretty well for the next few years, are excited to open in Dallas this year,” he said. “We have the game in Orlando against Florida the following year. We have Texas A&M, the year after open in Atlanta against Alabama. We’re looking at what makes sense for us, but we’re pretty much set for the most part almost to 2024. So we’re looking at what we can do in those years that really puts us in the best position.”
Is James happy that he scheduled the LSU game back when things looked bleak for the Cane program [James finalized the game before Mark Richt was hired]?
“Can I tell you the Monday after the game?” James joked, adding, “You set things up with the idea of where you believe you’ll be. From the day that Mark stepped foot on this campus his vision for the program is one I felt my job is to support that vision. I was looking big picture at that time. I had belief that as a program we’re going to be a team that should be in those types of games. By this point I felt the issues we dealt with in the past, that I was dealing with when I first became athletic director, that should pretty much be in the past by this point.
“It’s good for us to be in these types of games going forward.”
* James says that “everyone wants home games” so it’s “not as easy to set up home-and-home (games) as it was in the past.”
* What is the mindset James takes in running this Cane program?
“Start with our basic core philosophy, it’s excellence in academics, athletics and in life,” James said. “And so how do we best position our students to achieve at the highest level and recognizing one of our core values is family. So whether you see Jim Kelly talking about his time at the U, Ray Lewis talking about his time at the U, it’s one of the things I’ve always been very proud of and we want all of our alumni to feel they’re part of the University family.”