The University of Memphis President Bill Hardgrave and athletic director Laird Veatch shared issues that other university presidents stated needed to be addressed by Memphis involving realignment talks in 2021 at a press conference Monday morning at the Billy J. Murphy Athletic Complex on the South Campus.

Hardgrave and Veatch spent nearly 25 minutes assuring Tiger fans that Memphis is still a part of the realignment conversation.

“I believe this thing is far from over,” Veatch said. “And why we cannot let up and think that well if something doesn’t happen this summer that it’s not going to happen next summer, or the summer after that, or the summer after that.”

For those wondering how the perception of the City of Memphis is impacting the university’s chances of being accepted into a bigger conference, Veatch says the positives of the city far outweigh the negatives.

“One of the things I sort of appreciate about Memphis in many ways is we have that chip on our shoulder, and we feel like we’re fighting an uphill battle,” Veatch said. “What I find though, when I’m out there talking to counterparts across the country, that we tend to be more critical of ourselves than they are. People recognize the passion, the brand, the location all those things that I’ve said before.”

Hardgrave also let it be known that he isn’t bashful about making sure the decision-makers know the positives about the university.

“I think we just have to make sure people know who we are,” Hardgrave said. “We are a well-kept secret and we should not be a well-kept secret. We have incredible things going on here. I have no problem picking up the phone and calling a president as I did this weekend and said, ‘Do you know who we are?’ … That’s the thing that will help us breakthrough. We have to tell people our story and we will going forward.”

When visiting with university presidents in the past, the University of Memphis was told the main issues that needed to be addressed to better position themselves for conference realignment. Here were the three major concerns.

Football stadium

Other presidents pointed out that Memphis needed to address its football stadium if it wanted to make the jump to a top-tier conference.

The athletic department is in the process of fixing that issue after rolling out a renovation plan that could cost up to $200 million. The school has also secured what is expected to be the bulk of the price tag through state funding that was given to the City of Memphis. The allocations of the $350 million approved funding for athletic stadium renovations, which also include the FedExForum, have not been announced by the city.

Veatch said on Monday that the improvements to the stadium are expected to hold for decades and added that construction is currently scheduled to start in early-to-mid January following the 2023 football season.

Academics

Hardgrave reminded people that although athletics drives the conference realignment conversations, the presidents and chancellors who make the decisions are also concerned with academics. Memphis was told by some presidents that it needed to improve in that area, as well.

“Academically, we were not where we probably should be,” Hardgrave said. “We’ve attained R1 (Carnegie) status. We still have work to continue to do there. That’s why we have a strategic plan that lays out what we need to do over the coming years.”

Memphis announced on Dec. 16, 2021, that it was named an R1 institution by the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education. That classification puts Memphis in the top tier of research universities across the nation. Hardgrave and Veatch believe that designation helps make the university more desirable to other conferences.

NCAA Compliance

The University of Memphis has had some recent issues with NCAA compliance, most notably the IARP situation that loomed over the men’s basketball program for multiple seasons. Veatch said the university has taken the necessary steps to clean up its NCAA compliance concerns.

“We’ve addressed those (issues) and I also wanted to be clear that we have clear expectations to do so moving forward as well,” Veatch said.

Veatch and Hardgrave also understand the university needs to keep winning athletically while also showing that it has enough support from its fans and the city. The football season kicks off at 6 p.m. Saturday against Bethune-Cookman and the Memphis athletics program wants to start the season off right with high-volume fan support.

“Much of the conference realignment is built around media and money,” Hardgrave said. “We need to make sure that our fans are continuing to support our teams. We need them out and attending games. We need them watching on TV and watching online. We need our fans to show up and show out.”