The Mississippi State athletic department has split the basketball student section in two, with both new sections being carved out behind each goal in the Humphrey Coliseum. The arrangement, which gained support from the MSU Student Association Cabinet last spring, will produce an overall net loss of 61 student seats (from 2, 682 to 2,621) accompanied by a net gain of 66 lower-level student seats (from 1,339 to 1,405).
MSU athletic director Greg Byrne said the primary reasons for the student section overhaul are to improve the Hump’s atmosphere and to provide increased fairness to donating Bulldog Club members who will now have the opportunity to select former courtside student seats.
“We have heard from some students that are very much in favor and heard some that have questions, but we appreciate the support the student body has given us on this,” he said. “They are very good seats and will actually improve the sound dimensions of the Hump.”
The MSU athletic department stands to gain an annual $15,860 from additional seats now available to Bulldog Club members.
Scott Stricklin, associate athletic director for external affairs, said out of approximately 8,000 Bulldog Club members, between 2,000 and 2,500 actually receive basketball season tickets. These ticket packages, valued at $260, are set aside for club members who have amassed enough priority points, a sum determined by annual donations and the number of years a member has held season tickets.
Bulldog Club members who earn the most priority points choose seats the earliest when all member accounts are briefly frozen in October to tally up points.
Stricklin said the shake-up may provide incentive for Bulldog Club members to increase donations to gain more priority points, along with a better chance of nabbing newly-available, lower-level seats. He also said the lower level will now accommodate about the top-500 Bulldog Club members.
“Bulldog Club members may think, ‘Hey, if I give a little more, I can get a better seat on the side, rather than a seat in the end zone,'” he said. “But I’m not sure we’ll actually realize more money. It’s kind of just a theory. The only thing we can be sure of on the money side is the $15,000 that we’ll gain from selling those 61 season tickets.”
Rick’s Rowdies’ president Will Bryan said his initial reaction to student’s losing their seats was anger, but he said he warmed up to the idea after talking it over with fellow officers within the group. He said MSU students have been blessed with sideline seats over the years but conceded that most major college basketball programs position students under each goal.
Byrne said the Hump does not offer a bad seat, adding he enjoys sitting in section 221 in the upper level along with other MSU athletic officials.
“After I thought about it, I realized it was a good thing,” Bryan said. “Back behind the goals, the students can have more of an effect on the game play.”
Stricklin partly credited last year’s 97-94 double-overtime home loss to LSU — where Tiger guard Tasmin Mitchell sunk 15 of 18 free throws down the stretch — to a lack of intensity behind the goals.
“There was nothing back there; it was like an empty gym,” he said. “I thought, ‘What if we had the energy that students bring during a game on both ends during the second half?'”
Mark Novotny, MSU department head for physics and astronomy, said splitting the student section will have no effect on the overall volume of sound produced within the Hump during games.
“For you, the student, it won’t seem as loud because you won’t be surrounded by all the noise sources; it will seem like half intensity,” he said. “But on the floor — for the players and coaches — it should be about the same as long as the students are equally loud as before and you have an equal number of students yelling.”
However, Novotny said the stereo effect caused by students cheering from two different vantage points could improve the Hump’s atmosphere.
“Maroon and White, Maroon and White … If the cheerleaders and Rowdies coordinate right, it can sound good,” he said.
Bryan said the Rowdies have yet to reach a decision on whether to gather under one goal or both goals prior to tipoff.
“It doesn’t matter where we are,” he said. “We are going to give them hell no matter what. Joakim Noah, when he played for Florida, said the Hump was the hardest place in the SEC for him to play because of us.”
Both Byrne and Stricklin said that out of the 10,235 seats in the Hump, 26 percent are still designated for students — one of the highest percentages in the SEC. Stricklin also said during both instances last year when students surpassed their maximum number of allotted seats, the entire student overflow was allowed into the game.
“We let them keep coming in as long as there were open seats,” he said. “Not to say we won’t turn people away if an absolute capacity is reached, but it will be a rare occurrence.”
Stricklin said the MSU athletic department will reassess the seating change at the end of the basketball season.
“The great thing under Greg’s leadership is we aren’t afraid to try things and if there is a mistake, we aren’t afraid to say, ‘Hey, there’s a mistake,'” he said. “But I think the atmosphere will be electric.”
Editor’s Note: This story has been edited to correct the spelling of a name.