These days, when Coach Blake Anderson looks to the north during Arkansas State's football practices at Centennial Bank Stadium, he sees beams rising for what will eventually be an indoor practice facility.
If he looks to the south, he sees workers assembling scaffolding that will soon hold a brand new video board and scoreboard.
Less than two weeks before ASU begins its 100th season of football, those two projects are the most tangible signs of the Red Wolves' off-the-field progress. Anderson, Athletic Director Terry Mohajir and other ASU officials touted the projects regularly Monday as they addressed a group of fans at Verizon Arena in North Little Rock.
Along with construction projects, ASU also boasts almost 700 new season-ticket holders over a year ago, associated athletic director for external relations Mickey Ryan said, and a 2015 recruiting class being put together that one service ranks No. 45 in the country.
"If you come on Arkansas State's campus right now and not get excited about what's going on, then you don't have a pulse," said Mohajir, who insisted the scoreboard will be up and running by the Aug. 30 season opener against Montana State.
Anderson expressed similar feelings about the improvement in facilities. The indoor practice facility that is expected to be completed by March and a new football operations center come with a $28 million price tag, and Mohajir said Monday they are close to revealing formal plans for a west-side expansion that will include a new press box and suites.
"It's a fun time to be here," Anderson said. "We try not to focus on it because we've got so many other things to deal with, but it is neat to see the progress. It does get your jazz level going a bit."
Anderson is a bit more reserved when it comes to ASU's prospects on the field.
Starting this season ASU, its Sun Belt Conference brethren and the rest of the teams in the so-called Group of Five -- the American Athletic, Conference USA, Mountain West and Mid-American conferences -- will have a chance to play their way into one of the contract bowls that make up the College Football Playoff.
The highest-ranked team from those five leagues in the playoff poll at the end of the season will be selected for one of the contract bowls that aren't locked into a conference affiliation (Cotton, Fiesta and Peach). Such a bowl would serve as a substantial financial boon for the league.
In the past, during the recently ended BCS era, a team from a conference that did not have an automatic qualifier into a BCS bowl had to be ranked among the top 14 to get an invite.
"There's a chance you can make some pretty good money," Mohajir said. "It's very competitive."
Anderson has said that earning that spot is a goal of the program, but it isn't among his team's immediate expectations just yet. He hasn't changed his mind about his team after 2 1/2 weeks of fall camp. He simply recognizes that ASU has too many questions regarding depth on both lines, at running back and at receiver.
"I think if we get ahead of that, we're crazy," he said. "We've got to stick to one day, one week, one practice and one rep at a time. If we do it the way we're supposed to do it, we'll have things to talk about that matter."
Sports on 08/19/2014