CLARKSVILLE, TN (CLARKSVILLE NOW) – Austin Peay athletic director Gerald Harrison met with the media Tuesday to discuss the state of affairs surrounding the school’s athletic department.

Now entering year four as AD, Harrison is pleased with the progress he and his staff have made since July 2018.

“We’re trying to be consistent,” Harrison said. “That’s the most important thing. We’ve had a lot of change. We’ve thrown the ball down the field and connected on some attempts and some we haven’t. I don’t regret any of that. I think our staff has come together and been very innovative and energetic. I just think we’re better in a lot of ways when I look back on things.”

Navigating the landscape

With the Governor fall football season set to kick off Thursday on the road against Chattanooga, Harrison shared where the team sits percentage wise on COVID vaccination.

“The goal is to be 100 percent vaccinated,” Harrison said. “We’re not there yet. … We’re making progress. We’re somewhere around the 70 percent number, but we’re working hard at it. We’re going to continue to provide them the facts. We can’t obviously in this state mandate a vaccination, but we can give them the facts and try to put themselves in the best situation possible, and that’s what we’re doing.

“As far as our protocols and stuff, we have the book from the spring and are pretty much using the same plan. Our team room is our wonderful indoor facility, our kids are masked in buildings and we hurry them in locker rooms and hurry them out. It’s the same stuff we did last year to try to stem the tide, but the No. 1 defense is being vaccinated, so that’s the route we encourage them to take. We’re still doing surveillance testing, and we have to do that before every game.”

According to Harrison, the Governors roster will be at full strength when they take on the Mocs.

“We’re ready to go for Chattanooga,” Harrison said. “At this time, we don’t know of anybody who won’t be available due to COVID.”

Fun time ahead at ‘The Fort’

Since the university made the decision in June to return to full capacity for all 2021-22 athletic events, Austin Peay is expecting large crowds on hand for the upcoming fall campaign.

“I’m hoping that there’s 10,000 people in the stadium,” Harrison said. “I think we’ll have good attendance. I think we’re on the verge of breaking a season-ticket record for Austin Peay. I’m excited about that. I hope our students come back in full force and feel welcomed back. Our premium areas are sold and our suites are full, so we feel really good about that.”

Harrison is optimistic that the game-day atmosphere provided for fans in and around Fortera Stadium on Saturdays will be second to none.

“We’re throwing out a lot of things to get people there,” Harrison said. “Stache Street is back. We will have a stadium DJ this year, which is different from what we’ve done in the past. We’ll pull out different giveaways and things. … I really hope that folks will come out Sept. 18 for our first game, see it and then want to come back. Tailgate Alley right now is already at 80 percent capacity. Everything is trending in the right direction.”

The more the merrier

The topic of expansion within the Ohio Valley Conference was also discussed with Harrison stating he believes more schools will likely be added to the league in the near future.

“From an immediate standpoint, the OVC has took a hit with two members leaving,” Harrison said. “I think there will be some kind of movement within a year. That would be my guess. I’m not sitting in Commissioner (Beth) DeBauche’s chair, but I know the conference is very anxious to get back up to the right number of football-playing schools to balance this conference out.”

Harrison was also asked what his take is on the NCAA’s rule changes that allow collegiate athletes the ability to monetize their success with the use of their name, image and likeness.

“I actually like it,” Harrison said. “I believe our student athletes deserve an opportunity to benefit from their NIL in a proper way. I think it’s great. My biggest thing for us is education. I just don’t want our student athletes being taken advantage of by others, and I think we’re doing a good job of preparing them as we go along the way.”

Room for improvement

Harrison said he and the rest of his staff are going above and beyond to ensure that Austin Peay will continue to provide the best atmosphere imaginable not just in the OVC, but in the entire area.

“I think the most difficult challenge is always going to be growth,” Harrison said. “We’ve taken some bold strides here in the last three or four years and we have to keep taking those chances. Sometimes they’re not the most traditional things and everybody doesn’t like them, but you have to take those risks. We’ve taken those by some of the coaches that we’ve hired, with some of our marketing campaigns and also from a digital, media and external standpoint. You either get better or you get worse. You don’t stay the same.”