The AthleticDirectorU Podcast
The AthleticDirectorU Podcast features interviews with college athletics executives on a variety of topics including leadership and organizational success.
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Navigate's College Football Playoff Probabilities: Week 6
12/07/2021
Navigate's College Football Playoff Probabilities: Week 6
With the College Football Playoff set, Extra Points' Matt Brown and Navigate's Jeff Nelson review how Navigate's model predicted the top four teams, the circumstances needed for a Group of 5 team to make the CFP, hypothetical scenarios looking back on the season and more.
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Navigate's College Football Playoff Probabilities: Week 5
11/30/2021
Navigate's College Football Playoff Probabilities: Week 5
As the regular season concludes, Extra Points' Matt Brown and Navigate President Jeff Nelson review the impact of rivalry week, the remaining possibilities for the four CFP spots, the paths for Alabama, Cincinnati, Michigan, Baylor and more.
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Navigate's College Football Playoff Probabilities: Week 4
11/23/2021
Navigate's College Football Playoff Probabilities: Week 4
Extra Points' Matt Brown and Navigate President Jeff Nelson recap a very impactful week in college football ahead of the fourth CFP Rankings release. The pair review the path to the playoff for Notre Dame, Alabama and Oklahoma State, the impact of major rivalry games and more.
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Navigate's College Football Playoff Probabilities: Week 3
11/16/2021
Navigate's College Football Playoff Probabilities: Week 3
Extra Points' Matt Brown and Navigate President Jeff Nelson discuss the updated College Football Playoff projections ahead of week three of the CFP rankings. The duo discuss the Big 12's chances of having a representative in the playoff, the impact of Oregon and Ohio State's head-to-head, teams with an outside shot at making the final four and much more (00:00 - 23:50). Brown is then joined by ESPN's Bill Connelly to chat about Notre Dame's CFP candidacy, Cincinnati's chances of making the playoff and a lot more. (23:55 - 37:05).
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Navigate's College Football Playoff Probabilities: Week 2
11/09/2021
Navigate's College Football Playoff Probabilities: Week 2
For week two of the College Football Playoff rankings, Extra Points' Matt Brown and Navigate President Jeff Nelson discuss the underwhelming performances of many top teams, Cincinnati's chances at a top four finish following the initial rankings, impactful games outside of the top teams, Notre Dame's changes at making the playoff and more (00:00 - 16:55). Brown then sits down with The Athletic's Nicole Auerbach to dig into Cincinnati's initial #6 ranking, the chances to make the playoff as a Group of 5 team, unimpressive outings from almost all of the top teams and much more (17:00 - 30:58).
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Navigate's College Football Playoff Probabilities: Week 1
11/02/2021
Navigate's College Football Playoff Probabilities: Week 1
AthleticDirectorU has again partnered with Navigate to present a rich prediction model – based on 3,500 simulations of the rest of the season – for this season’s College Football Playoff. For 2021, ADU & Navigate have also added a podcast alongside the weekly projections hosted by Extra Points' Matt Brown. For the next six weeks, Brown will be joined by Navigate President Jeff Nelson and/or Senior Vice President for Client Strategy Jordan Bloem, plus a special guest. In this year's first episode, Nelson and Bloem review Navigate's methodology behind the projections, Cincinnati's multi-year ascent, why Ohio State is projected to be ranked above Oregon despite the Ducks' early-season win in Columbus, plus lots more (00:00 - 29:58). Brown continues by welcoming UTSA Vice President for Intercollegiate Athletics Lisa Campos to discuss the undefeated campaign so far for the Roadrunners, which other Group of 5 program can be the model for UTSA and the new contract for Head Football Coach Jeff Traylor (30:03 - 41:05).
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Shaping The Future Through Leadership With Western Michigan’s Kathy Beauregard
08/09/2021
Shaping The Future Through Leadership With Western Michigan’s Kathy Beauregard
Western Michigan AD Kathy Beauregard sits down with AthleticDirectorU to discuss how her and her staff stay innovative after decades together, the highs and lows of being in the AD chair, problem solving methods and much more. 2:10 - How do you stay innovative and creative with a staff that has been at Western Michigan for so long? 5:20 - How differently do you approach things today versus 25 years ago? 9:22 - What is your method of problem solving? 11:08 - What problem solving tools and lessons have you learned from your coaches? 13:58 - Can you recall an excellent idea from a student-athlete? 16:54 - As a former gymnastics coach, what is your perspective on the current state of the sport? 21:37 - As a leader, how do you balance the highs and lows of being an AD? 24:30 - How much do the pressures of the job effect the rest of your life? 26:32 - What are your thoughts on tenured ADs stepping away from the chair? 29:55 - How will this $550 million gift to WMU, $50 million of which will go to athletics, impact the Broncos future? 36:52 - How do you go about creating the future you want to be a part of?
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Maximizing Student-Athlete NIL Opportunities With INFLCR’s Cavale And Icon Source’s Garrett
08/02/2021
Maximizing Student-Athlete NIL Opportunities With INFLCR’s Cavale And Icon Source’s Garrett
INFLCR’s Jim Cavale and Icon Source’s Chase Garrett sit down with AthleticDirectorU to give their thoughts on how the first month of NIL went, lay out best practices for student-athletes and schools, and what schools can do to best maximize student-athletes’ NIL opportunities. 1:11 - How do you think the first 30 days of NIL have gone? 5:45 - What are some of the best and worst practices institutions and student-athletes have enacted in this first month? 14:27 - With the rules differing across states and institutions, is there a right approach being taken and could there be a better approach? 18:53 - What should schools be doing to maximize opportunities for student-athletes? 27:17 - What are the most important things that need to happen over the next year to make sure that NIL gets off on the right foot?
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How Much Money Can An Expanded College Football Playoff Generate?
07/25/2021
How Much Money Can An Expanded College Football Playoff Generate?
AthleticDirectorU's Tai Brown and Matt Roberts sit down with Navigate Senior Vice President for Analytics and Innovation Matt Balvanz to dig deeper on the financial projections of an expanded College Football Playoff. 1:15 - Give us some initial thoughts on the analysis. 3:45 - Walk us through how you came to the projected $1.9 billion in total revenue. 6:03 - How does the projected CFP increase compare to other professional sports leagues' media rights? 9:54 - How does Notre Dame's independence factor into these projections? 12:10 - How did you project the average number of teams included in the playoff and the average payout? 15:30 - How does the possibility of first-round games being played on campus impact the projections? 20:47 - What could go wrong in the next 24 to 36 months that somehow changes the paradigm of the value of this property in the marketplace? 25:22 - Do you think any streaming platforms could be involved with an expanded playoff's media rights? 27:44 - How do the rumors of conference realignment effect these projections? 34:03 - Why does the Power 5 need the NCAA to create this type of value proposition to the marketplace? Read more about this analysis at https://athleticdirectoru.com/articles/how-much-money-can-an-expanded-college-football-playoff-generate
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Leadership And Evolution In College Athletics With Fresno State’s Tumey
05/31/2021
Leadership And Evolution In College Athletics With Fresno State’s Tumey
Fresno State Director of Athletics Terry Tumey sits down to chat about his leadership philosophy, the ongoing evolution in college athletics, researching and hiring coaches and much more. 2:05 - What is your leadership philosophy? 5:59 - How do you balance the importance of all sports and the excitement they can bring to campus with the importance of football to the institution? 9:39 - How do you analyze whether a coach would be a good fit at your institution? 11:36 - What is your research process for finding coaches? 13:01 - Is the hiring process something you look forward to as an Athletic Director? 14:43 - How has your dynamic with the new president changed from when he was the provost? 17:31 - What is your opinion on the changing evolution of college athletics?
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Early Effectiveness As An Athletics Director With Florida A&M’s Kortne Gosha
04/12/2021
Early Effectiveness As An Athletics Director With Florida A&M’s Kortne Gosha
Florida A&M Vice President and Director of Athletics Kortne Gosha sits down to discuss his vision and changes made early in his tenure leading the Rattlers. Gosha touches on bringing in new staff, “Purpose with a Pace,” moving from the MEAC to the SWAC, the new apparel deal with Nike and much more. 2:07 - What are your thoughts on being effective early in your tenure as a new Athletics Director? 5:28 - What are your thoughts on making challenging decisions as a new leader? 10:41 - Provide some insight on the promises made between you as the new Athletics Director and the leadership of the institution. 14:34 - What was your hiring philosophy when you began your tenure leading the department? 19:09 - How did you assess the people and positions necessary to build a successful department? 21:32 - Explain your philosophy of “Purpose with a Pace” and how it relates to your thoughts on external affairs. 24:38 - What was your approach to handling a pre-existing NCAA infractions case? 28:38 - What was the strategy behind moving to a new conference? 32:38 - Give us some insight on switching apparel companies. 36:05 - When you leave one apparel company for another, do you keep the relationship with the original company? 38:09 - How important was it to be direct in your negotiations with Nike? 40:56 - How do the comprehensive experiences of your life impact your current role and leadership philosophy?
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Sports Creatives Podcast: Alabama State's Lynne Williams
04/01/2021
Sports Creatives Podcast: Alabama State's Lynne Williams
Alabama State Director of Athletics Jennifer Lynne Williams joins Jay F. Hicks on the Sports Creatives Podcast. The duo discuss Lynne Williams’ use of social, her philosophy on telling the Alabama State and HBCU story, the impact of her communications background, lessons in leading digital and much more. 2:48 – As an Athletic Director, how do you go about using social media? 4:46 – How do you work to strike the balance between your personal brand, your personal life and the brand of Alabama State athletics? 8:50 – What is your philosophy on telling the HBCU and Alabama State story using digital and social? 11:42 – How do you lead your strategic communications team given your background in communications? 15:06 – What went into the recent redesign and rebrand of the Alabama State athletics website? 18:09 – How do you inspire your external team to be innovative and not be afraid to fail? 20:33 – Who are you inspirations to create the culture you have fostered at Alabama State? 23:36 – What is the biggest thing you’ve learned in terms of leading, guiding and directing the strategic and digital, from where you started to where you are right now?
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RisingADs Book Review: Portland State's Cleary & Oakland's Stone on WOLFPACK
03/18/2021
RisingADs Book Review: Portland State's Cleary & Oakland's Stone on WOLFPACK
In this RisingADs book review, Portland State Director of Athletics Valerie Cleary and Oakland Associate Athletic Director for Student-Athlete Experience Ashley Stone discuss Abby Wambach’s new rules for leadership in WOLFPACK. The duo focuses on leading from the bench, making failure your fuel and finding your pack and how each of those rules applies to leading in college athletics. 2:17 – What first put this book on your radar? 5:48 – One of Wambach’s eight rules is “Lead from the Bench.” While it is easy to understand how a student-athlete could apply this rule, what does leading from the bench look like to you from an athletic director standpoint, in all the roles that you have and everything that you oversee? 9:34 – iI you see someone who is leading from the bench, what are those qualities that stand out to you, other than creating change and seeing that impact? 10:22 – In what ways have you utilized rule four “Make Failure Your Fuel” throughout your career and getting to the AD chair? 13:41 – Do you have any physical reminders, or go to quotes that are in your office or elsewhere to help reconnect you to your mission? Or to your WHY? 18:23 – Rule eight is “Find Your Pack.” How has your pack or your inner circle changed over the years, if at all, as you’ve moved into higher levels of administration? 23:29 – Who are some inspirational individuals who you’ve looked up to in college athletics? 26:40 – When it comes to changing the game, whether it’s throughout college athletics or your role at Portland State, what do you want your impact to be? 28:04 – Final thoughts.
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Leadership During Transition: University of St Thomas' Esten & Caruso
03/08/2021
Leadership During Transition: University of St Thomas' Esten & Caruso
University of St. Thomas Vice President and Director of Athletics Phil Esten and Head Football Coach Glenn Caruso sit down with AthleticDirectorU to discuss the Tommies’ historic transition from Division III to Division I. Esten and Caruso discuss the gravity of the move, its impact on the institution, dealing with the challenges and changes, how they have handled the move and much more.
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Sports Creatives Podcast: Washington's Brian Bowsher
02/18/2021
Sports Creatives Podcast: Washington's Brian Bowsher
Brian Bowsher, Associate Athletic Director, Chief Marketing Officer for Washington, joins Jay F. Hicks on the Sports Creatives Podcast. The pair discuss the relationship between the core values of the institutions and the creative and marketing teams, Bowsher’s vision for leading both units and the synergies created through dual leadership, his creative leadership philosophy and “leading with context”, the Fun Dodger Creative rebrand of the internal creative unit and more. 2:54 – What does Washington’s core value of “Experimentation and Innovation” look like within the creative and marketing teams? 7:57 – How does the core value of “People Development” influence how you lead the marketing and creative teams? 13:11 – How does your leadership of creative and marketing allow your team to better tell the UW story? 20:17 – How does your title as Chief Marketing Officer impact your leadership philosophy? 26:07 – What was the creative transition between former Head Football Coach Chris Peterson and new Head Coach Jimmy Lake like? 29:59 – Who is the best either leader or creative leader you’ve been around? And why?
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RisingADs Podcast: UNC Asheville’s Cone & UNC Wilmington’s Tucker on Dare to Lead
02/11/2021
RisingADs Podcast: UNC Asheville’s Cone & UNC Wilmington’s Tucker on Dare to Lead
On this Book Review from the RisingADs podcast, UNC Asheville Athletic Director Janet Cone and UNC Wilmington Senior Associate Athletic Director/Senior Woman Administrator Tiffany Tucker discuss Dare to Lead: Brave Work. Tough Conversations. Whole Hearts. by Brené Brown. Cone and Tucker discuss being brave leaders, especially during the current times, being willing to rumble or have uncomfortable conversations to achieve progress, the value of the lessons of Dare to Lead for college athletics and much more. 3:27 – How would you define a brave leader and how have you worked to create a courageous culture? 11:15 – Brown emphasizes rumblings, or conversations where individuals show up vulnerable to serve the mission and each other and not their ego, and identifies it as the heart of daring leadership. For leaders who refuse to rumble with vulnerability, what is the impact on their culture and how can they even be successful? 17:19 – How have those rumblings or uncomfortable conversations helped you improve as a person and leader of your staff and student-athletes? 20:04 – How have you incorporated emotional intelligence into your leadership style? 22:50 – What are your methods in showing intent around being inclusive and supporting your student-athletes and staff around the areas of diversity, equity and inclusion? 31:59 – Brown writes that integrity is choosing courage over comfort. How has integrity influenced your passion as a leader? 34:29 – How has this book increased your value as a leader in college athletics?
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Sports Creatives Podcast: Texas' Drew Martin
12/23/2020
Sports Creatives Podcast: Texas' Drew Martin
Drew Martin, Executive Senior Associate Athletics Director for External Affairs for Texas, joins Jay F. Hicks on the Sports Creatives Podcast. The pair discuss setting up UT's creative solutions team, how the Longhorns are harnessing analytics to make decisions and drive their business, the importance of mentorship, creating an environment to inspire creatives and much more. 3:41 - When you first got to Texas, what changes did you make to the creative process? 8:34 - What were some of the challenges did you experience early at Texas? 10:40 - What are some of the goals for social and digital? And where does that rank amongst the overall athletic wide goals? 16:43 - Being armed with the analytics, how does that affect conversations with head and assistant coaches, staffs, people and stakeholders within the organization about content? 23:41 - Is Chris Del Conte's Twitter organic or is there a strategy behind it? 28:56 - How has your leadership style been influenced by Chris Del Conte? 37:21 - You are involved in the Creative Plug, which is about connecting, and mentoring, empowering black creatives in sports and media. Why was it important for you to get involved? 45:10 - How are you creating a space that inspires creatives?
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RisingADs Podcast: Fresno State's Tumey & Old Dominion's Richmond
12/02/2020
RisingADs Podcast: Fresno State's Tumey & Old Dominion's Richmond
On this Book Review from the RisingADs podcast, Fresno State Athletic Director Terry Tumey and Old Dominion Senior Associate Athletic Director for Compliance and Student-Athlete Welfare Randale Richmond discuss The Power of Moments: Why Certain Experiences Have Extraordinary Impact. Tumey and Richmond discuss peak moments and duration neglect in creating athletic experiences, creating sustainable buy-in amidst a leadership change, the importance of transition moments and much more. 4:07 – The book references how individuals focus on peak moments and the ending moments of an experience when reminiscing about past experiences. How have you accounted for this phenomenon in designing athletic events and planning for constituency engagement? 8:00 – What are some transition moments you’ve chosen to implement or create at Fresno State? And why do you think those specific transition moments should be emphasized? 11:32 – How did you come up with the SOLVE acronym (SOLVE stands for Solution-Oriented Leaders Value Everyone)? 12:47 – How did you evaluate creating buy-in when changing the culture? 15:27 – How did you get your staff to understand the concept of duration neglect and start searching for these moments to create in athletic experiences? 19:47 – How do you create sustainable buy-in throughout the department? 24:03 – What is the impact that giving away gear can have for donors? 26:32 – Can you remember a moment or idea that a staff member brought up and subsequently owned? 29:11 – What is one overarching concept that you take when you revisit this book that you pass along to someone else?
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Dynamic Leadership Podcast - Arkansas' Eric Musselman
11/25/2020
Dynamic Leadership Podcast - Arkansas' Eric Musselman
Arkansas Head Men’s Basketball Coach Eric Musselman joins Coach Bob Walsh on the Dynamic Leadership Podcast to discuss his leadership approaches as a professional and college coach, keys to making an immediate impact on a program’s success, maintaining success, creating a partnership with his players and much more. 1:24 – How does your leadership approach differ when coaching professionals versus college? 3:22 – How did you adjust your approach when you went to college and took over at Nevada? 5:47 – Is there something about your leadership style that allows you to hit the ground running and make an immediate impact? 11:59 – How do you maintain that success over a long period of time? 16:35 – How much of your team’s leaders taking ownership is their personalities or natural leadership qualities versus you creating the opportunity to lead? 19:29 – Do you have a definition of leadership for your teams? 21:26 – Who are the coaches who have had an influence on your approach? 25:25 – Who is the best leader you’ve coached and why?
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Successful Sport Administration: North Carolina Central's Wicker McCree & Texas A&M's Brown
11/16/2020
Successful Sport Administration: North Carolina Central's Wicker McCree & Texas A&M's Brown
North Carolina Central Athletic Director Ingrid Wicker McCree and Texas A&M Deputy Athletics Director for Student-Athlete Experience/SWA Kristen Brown discuss their philosophies on sport administration, access and advocacy, critical skills for the role, notifying coaches of complaints and more. The conversation is moderated by Auburn Senior Associate Athletic Director/SWA Monique Holland. 1:05 - What is the philosophy for your sport administration 3:02 - What is your philosophy on access and advocacy for coaches and student-athletes? 7:15 - When you receive a student-athlete's complaint about a coach, at what point do you notify the coach of the issue? 9:29 - What are the critical skills a staff member needs to serve as a sport administrator? 11:31 - How do you balance coaches going through proper protocols with sport administrators and getting face time with their AD? (Wicker McCree) 13:06 - What is your most rewarding experience as a sport administrator? (Brown) 14:51 - Final thoughts
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Self-Awareness As A Leader: Florida’s Jeremy Foley
10/19/2020
Self-Awareness As A Leader: Florida’s Jeremy Foley
Florida Athletic Director Emeritus Jeremy Foley discusses his growth, from early in his leadership tenure, to care about investing in people. Foley recalls a conversation with a booster that caused him to reflect on his leadership style and realize he needed to change and how that inflection point in his career allowed him to grow as a leader. 1:13 - Early in your leadership tenure, you realized you needed to invest in people. Can you talk to about investing in people? 2:38 - How did you realize that your leadership style needed to change? 5:50 - In making that change, did you have a revelation about the errors of your previous approach? 6:24 - When did this alteration in your leadership approach occur? 7:03 - What were some of the steps you took after this introspection into your leadership style? 8:29 - How did that impact the overall culture of the athletic department? 9:04 - In your 25 years as the AD at Florida, did you lead by investing in people?
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Higher Ed Athletics Podcast: Georgia State's Charlie Cobb
10/08/2020
Higher Ed Athletics Podcast: Georgia State's Charlie Cobb
Georgia State Athletic Director Charlie Cobb joins the Higher Ed Athletics podcast to discuss the complete transformation of Turner Field into Georgia State’s football stadium and plans for an athletics neighborhood in downtown Atlanta, the new naming rights deal and what that means for the university and athletic department amidst the pandemic, President Mark Becker’s recently announced retirement and how Becker helped shape intercollegiate athletics at GSU, carrying over a blueprint of success from one institution to the next and how Cobb balances representing the entire Sun Belt conference as a member of the NCAA DI Council. 1:16 – As a part of the acquisition, purchase and repurposing of Turner Field, how did the idea unfold and what were the steps in getting this project approved? 6:03 – Walk us through the naming rights process for Georgia State Stadium and how will this help GSU coming out of the pandemic? 11:38 – With President Mark Becker announcing his retirement, what has it been like working with him and how has he impacted athletics during your tenure? 13:48 – What does it take to have a strong relationship between a college president and his or her athletic director? 16:37 – What was the key to the successes at Appalachian State when you were there and how can someone bring that similar blueprint from one institution to an entirely new university? 22:23 – As the Sun Belt’s representative on the DI Council, is it challenging representing not only GSU at those meetings but also representing every school in the Sun Belt and how does one balance that responsibility?
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RisingADs Podcast: Columbia's Pilling & Rice's Gardner on Trillion Dollar Coach
10/06/2020
RisingADs Podcast: Columbia's Pilling & Rice's Gardner on Trillion Dollar Coach
On this Book Review from the RisingADs podcast, Columbia Athletic Director Peter Pilling and Rice Senior Associate Athletic Director & Chief Operating Officer Tanner Gardner discuss Trillion Dollar Coach: The Leadership Playbook of Silicon Valley’s Bill Campbell. Pilling and Gardner discuss coaching in a business sense, building trust, the importance of soft skills and caring about those you serve. 1:00 – So Peter, you knew Bill Campbell, who was the former Head Football Coach at Columbia, tell us a bit about Bill Campbell. 6:14 – We often think of coaches of our respective sports programs, but this book discusses coaches in a business sense. What do you see it to mean as being a coach for your administration and coaches? 8:40 – How do you approach building trust among your team, both when taking over in a leadership role and in an ongoing basis? 12:54 – What are some examples of how you respond in a way that emanates an environment of psychological safety? 16:56 – How do you approach giving effective feedback to coaches and staff? 21:01 – Peter, in the book in discussing hard management tactics and the “It’s the People” manifesto applied to student-athletes. How did that come about in your interactions with Bill? 26:47 – How do you think about running meetings and what is the importance of the final chapter of the book, which discusses the Power of Love? 32:59 – What is your favorite Bill Campbell story?
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Introspective Leadership With Villanova’s Mark Jackson
09/07/2020
Introspective Leadership With Villanova’s Mark Jackson
Self-Discovery and introspection is the discussion topic of this video featuring Mark Jackson, Director of Athletics at Villanova University. Jackson, talks about the questions people should ask themselves as they work on their self-awareness and personal and professional growth. He talks about the quiet time that is necessary for the self-discovery process to be successful and he gives his insight on Student-Athletes and introspection. 1:29 - What questions should people ask themselves when they are working through a self-discovery? 3:51 - As you grow in your self-awareness, how do you know when to evaluate the questions you ask yourself? 4:59 - Do the people close to you ever recommend that quiet time may be necessary? 7:12 - How much of internal thought on self-discovery is forward thinking and how much is about who the person is at the current moment? 9:35 - Have you seen Student-Athletes adapt the mentality of self-discovery? 11:37 - What do you ask yourself now that you’ve been in a leadership role for a few years?
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Rising ADs Podcast: USF's Kelly & Washington State's Blair on Iger's Ride of a Lifetime
08/26/2020
Rising ADs Podcast: USF's Kelly & Washington State's Blair on Iger's Ride of a Lifetime
Welcome to our first Book Review from the Rising ADs podcast! South Florida Athletic Director Michael Kelly and Washington State Deputy Athletic Director & Chief Operating Officer Bryan Blair discuss The Ride of a Lifetime from Disney Executive Chairman and former Chief Operating Officer Robert Iger. Kelly and Blair discuss the "Innovate Or Die" concept Iger drills on in the book, communicating and implementing change in your department, being innovative with the risk of failure, the decision-making process and much more. 2:07 - What led you to pick up this book? Innovate or Die and Chapter 126:52 - How do you think innovation and creativity helps to enhance your career today and what are some examples of innovations in your career? 12:26 - Are innovation or risk taking a part of your core values or the organization's core values? How do you articulate those? 13:39 - How do you communicate oncoming change? What does that timeline look like? Who do you involve with that decision-making to make sure you’ve got the right people on both sides? 19:09 - How do you encourage your team and department to be innovative, despite the inherent risk of failure? 24:45 - How are you and your team at Washington State continuing to look toward the ahead in strategic planning, while you’re dealing with the daily challenges? Bold Decision-Making29:43 - What framework what process do you use when you’ve got a really hard decision you got to make?
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Hiring And Evaluating Talent: Florida State’s Fuchs and Northwestern’s Blais
08/24/2020
Hiring And Evaluating Talent: Florida State’s Fuchs and Northwestern’s Blais
Florida State Senior Associate AD/SWA Vanessa Fuchs and Northwestern Deputy AD/SWA Janna Blais discuss fit and culture’s impact on the hiring process, finding a candidate who is bought into the department’s culture, evaluating a hire, employee retention and much more. The duo also touch on how leadership changes or constants at Florida State and Northwestern, respectively, influence hiring and candidates. The conversation is moderated by Baylor Assistant AD for Character Formation Cori Pinkett. 1:20 - Why is culture important in hiring? 3:41 - When you have a candidate on campus, who do you make sure they meet to ensure the individual has a good sense of the culture? 5:59 - What is the impact on the culture of the changes going on at Florida State and does that impact how you view candidates to bring into the department? (Fuchs) 7:40 - How does Athletic Director Jim Phillips' leadership influence your perspective on hiring? (Blais) 10:18 - When going through the hiring process, how do you ensure you have the right person for the job? 16:20 - Is there a go-to question you use to gauge if the candidate will be a viable fit? 19:44 - How long does it take to know if a candidate was a good hire? 22:47 - What is one thing that needs to be done in the hiring process to help individuals have a successful hiring process? 26:07 - What are you doing to retain the great staff that you do hire?
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Sports Creatives Podcast: Missouri’s Ali Fisher
08/20/2020
Sports Creatives Podcast: Missouri’s Ali Fisher
Ali Fisher, Assistant AD for Creative Services for Missouri, joins Jay F. Hicks on the Sports Creatives Podcast. The pair discuss Fisher’s career development, which includes being the first graphic designer employed by the Tigers and developing Mizzou’s first brand guidelines document, leadership style, creating elements that fit Missouri’s history and culture, the Mizzou creative culture and much more. 2:57 – When you are collaborating with a team or department, how do you go about communicating with the stakeholders? 3:58 – How are you measuring success and communicating objectives, with projects that have been successful for you and Mizzou? 10:04 – As a part of the strategic communications staff, how do you discuss managing and communicating deadlines and projects? 15:26 – What does your creative staff look like and how would you describe your leadership style? 18:09 – What do the brand guidelines look like for Mizzou? 19:53 – What is the creative culture at Mizzou? 24:28 – How do you maintain that blue collar culture and mentality? 26:32 – How do you go about managing the creative workload for you and your team? 29:12 – How do you promote career development for your staff and stay current with trends? 33:04 – What is it like being a female leader in the creative athletic space?
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Leading With Purpose: Penn State’s Barbour
08/10/2020
Leading With Purpose: Penn State’s Barbour
Powered by Ticketmaster Penn State Athletic Director Sandy Barbour sits down with AthleticDirectorU to discuss the purpose and “why” for leading and working in college athletics. Barbour also touches on helping people find their “why” and defining the organization’s “why”. 1:37 - What is the next step in the evolution of the "Know Your Why" leadership philosophy? 4:17 - Does a change in leadership impact a department's core values or purpose? Or should the purpose always remain the same? 8:08 - How do you help people to understand their purpose working in athletics or just being who they are? 12:19 - How do you define your organizational purpose in terms every member of the department can understand and execute? 15:33 - In your time in leadership, have you seen someone figure out their "why"?
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Higher Ed Athletics Podcast: Ohio’s Julie Cromer
07/28/2020
Higher Ed Athletics Podcast: Ohio’s Julie Cromer
Ohio University Athletic Director Julie Cromer joined the Higher Ed Athletics podcast for a wide-ranging conversation. Smith and Cromer start by going inside the head of an AD planning for sports in the fall and doing so within the framework of the overall institution’s plan. She reflects on her first year in the AD Chair in Athens, OH and how the initial 100 day plan quickly shifted into leading through a pandemic. Cromer expands on how the experiences early in her career at the NCAA National Office working on major academic reform has helped shape her focus on evidence-based decision making as a leader at Indiana, Arkansas and now Ohio. Cromer ends the conversation with advice for aspiring athletic directors as they navigate the landscape of college athletics after COVID-19. 0:48 – What is the communication style and frequency like between athletic directors and the conference office like for the MAC during this whole COVID response? 3:43 – With the Big Ten switching to a conference-only football schedule, some MAC schools will lose a considerably important game financially. Ohio didn’t have a Big Ten game scheduled this year anyways. Did that sort of give your budget balancing a sense of relief? 5:32 – What kind of approaches can athletic departments take right now to make budget cuts or reduce spending when things are so incredibly unpredictable? Are there multiple projections being run with varying scenarios? 8:57 – You’re approaching your one year anniversary since being announced the AD at Ohio. Looking back on such a strange academic year, what was your initial plan coming into the job and did you then have to quickly change your approach in March? 15:42 – What did you learn from experiences at Indiana and Arkansas that were transferable to the AD job at Ohio University? 21:03 – You spent the first decade of your college athletics career at the NCAA in Academic and Membership Affairs working on major academic reform. What was that experience like working inside AMA during such a critical trajectory change in academic policy for the NCAA? 26:22 – How, if at all, has your Masters in Policy Analysis helped you in your career? 28:13 – What type of advice would you give someone that’s an aspiring athletic director when it comes to a particular in-demand skill set or certain pathway in a post-COVID college athletics landscape? 34:18 – Who are some mentors that you credit with helping instill confidence and ability to get to this point in your career?
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Excelling In The Deputy AD Role: Georgia’s Brooks & Ball State’s Fields
07/27/2020
Excelling In The Deputy AD Role: Georgia’s Brooks & Ball State’s Fields
Georgia Senior Deputy Athletic Director Josh Brooks and Ball State Deputy Athletics Director Haven Fields sit down to discuss transitioning to the Deputy AD role overseeing external operations, from their backgrounds and beginnings in internal operations, communicating your department’s unique value proposition, continuing to find new innovations, prospects or diamonds in the rough at established institutions and more. 1:36 - How was the transition from your upbringing in internal operations to overseeing external operations as Deputy AD? 4:09 - How did you get to know the various key players in the marketplace to make sure they understand the department's unique value proposition? (Fields) 6:50 - What was the transition back to Georgia like after your time as the AD at Millsaps? (Brooks) 8:05 - How are you pushing to be innovative and make a change at established institutions? 10:40 - Since your scope of responsibilities has expanded, how are you avoiding micromanaging, particularly in areas or tasks you formerly handled? 12:56 - How involved are you with other campus constituents in terms of finding success on campus and finding athletic success?
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