McElroy's vision

[Patch]

From the ASP......

 

McElroy: Danes looking to go nationalAthletic Director weighs in on the future of college athletics

By: Jon Campbell

Posted: 5/19/09

As one of the most successful years in University at Albany athletic history winds down, the ASP recently sat down with Vice President for Athletic Administration and Director of Athletics Lee McElroy to discuss the year that was, the future of UAlbany and college sports, and the university's need for an upgrade in athletic facilities.

 

• • •

 

ASP: Is this the most successful year of your tenure?

 

 

Lee McElroy: Maybe the second best. This year we had a total of seven conference championships when you include the [football team's Northeast Conference championship]. This is pretty close, though. It's interesting because the teams that have traditionally been in a championship situation didn't get to that level. I think the important thing we're doing right now is we're continuing to get better across the board in our program, and our conference members … are really working hard to gain parity. It really keeps our focus and our attention on making sure that we're doing all the right things to maintain that high level of excellence that we continue to do.

 

 

 

ASP: UAlbany hosted the America East men's basketball tournament. Looking back, was it a success?

 

 

LM: We know that it was the best attended men's basketball tournament in the history of the conference. We also know that we generated the most revenue in the history of the conference. Now, we haven't done the final work, so we don't know what the profit margin is going to be, but those two things alone really had us excited. But there were some ancillary things that I picked up, which is what I get paid to do.

 

One - when the (America East awards) banquet was here, and we had that room full of 400 people and we had business people there and leaders from the community, they got a chance to see what they've never seen before, and that is all the teams there recognized for their accomplishments throughout the year and what our program brings to the community outside of on the court, with the way the young people were dressed and the kind of agenda that we ran.

 

Also, running concurrently was the [Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference] tournament [at the Times Union Center downtown]. Some people had predicted that [the America East] wouldn't do as well attendance-wise because the MAAC was more successful, has a longer I thought those were two telling points about our program and where we are and where we've got to go in order to get better.

 

 

 

ASP: How important was it to have your team play on both days of the tournament?

 

 

LM: I think you raise a very good point and sometimes I forget to cover that, and that is had we lost the first day, would we have had that attendance? The answer is, probably not, although Binghamton and Vermont drew well and carried well and Stony Brook had a few people … The stars were aligned in our favor. Playing both days really helped.

 

 

 

ASP: Both the men's and women's track and field teams have experienced Division I success. How far away do you think the track program is away from being one of the nation's elite programs year in and year out?

 

 

LM: I would say two or three years. We did this almost 25 years ago when I was with [the University of] Houston when I was the associate AD down there. We went from being a very good … Southwest Conference team to being a national team, and we did it with three athletes - Carl Lewis, Carol Lewis and Leroy Burrell, who is now the head track coach down there. All three were Olympians and competed in multiple events. So if you get one or two elite athletes, and Joe Greene is a good example, that can compete in two or three events and they're there for three, four or five years, then I think you're close to being at that elite stage. You need a minimum of three athletes on both sides, men and women, to get there. I think with the way coach Vives and his staff are working, there's a good possibility we'll get there.

 

 

 

ASP: We touched on some of the high points, but the athletic program was placed on probation for sending text messages to recruits with a software program. How do you think your staff has handled the violations and have the coaches involved learned their lesson?

 

 

LM: We had to live with this, I had to live with this, [interim President George] Philip had to live with this for 16 months (before it was announced publicly). So when it was leaked to the media through a public report by the NCAA, we had already gone through it.

 

There are two things I think are critical about the major penalty.

 

One - every penalty that was imposed was self-imposed. I took away the scholarships. I took some people off the road. I gave the probation. The NCAA did not add one other sanction or penalty.

 

Secondly, we did not get one e-mail or letter from an alum or a parent saying, boy, you guys are dirty, you did a bad thing. What I did get was several others saying, what does that mean? How does text messaging become a major?

 

What people are used to when they see a major are, one, money, and two, a recurrent refusal to comply with rules, and three, people who have an issue with jumping from program to program and making poor decisions and violating conference and NCAA policies and rules. Bob Ford has been here for 40 years and never had a major. Jon Mueller has been here for 10 years and never had a major.

 

While it was embarrassing and nobody wants it on their watch, it was a great learning experience. What we've been able to do is tighten our compliance and education program.

 

All of the people involved were sanctioned strongly. Yes, the coaches learned their lesson and the other coaches that were not involved have learned that this is something that can't be tolerated. It has not hurt us with recruiting. Yes, it was a huge negative media story and a negative story for the university, but it had no lasting implications other than the probation.

 

[...]

 

We were not trying to get ahead of Stony Brook or get ahead of another opponent. We were trying to make sure we were doing things the right way when using technology.

 

 

 

ASP: What are the goals of the Albany athletic program for the next five years?

 

 

LM: One of them is to increase our national exposure. The way you increase national exposure is you go to the NCAAs. The girls from the volleyball team brought me this big sweatshirt back from Stanford (where they competed in the NCAA tournament). Every team that makes the NCAAs is on the bracket. For example, the field hockey team lost to Maryland, the eventual national champion, but they're listed on the bracket with Wake Forest and Maryland and all of these top programs.

 

Secondly, we want to improve our facilities. One of the reasons I keep our master plan there in front of me for all to see (McElroy has a map set up in the corner of his office depicting UAlbany's plans for improvement in its athletic facilities) is so I continue to reinforce that it's really the big gap that we have in our program right now. We need better facilities. We need better offices. Our lacrosse facility needs to be completed, it's about 75 percent completed.

 

The third thing is to make sure we are reaching the audiences that we need to. The alumni who competed here for a long period of time in Division III and Division II, we want them to engage and connect to what we're doing.

 

I think the next five to ten years are very important for those three things: taking the next step nationally, improving our facilities, and bringing our alumni back into the fold so that they can help us invest in what we do, because obviously we're not going to get a lot from the state. We understand that. So we need to generate more revenue, and you do that by winning, getting more partners, and getting your alumni invested in the program.

 

 

 

ASP: How much of a hindrance is it to the growth of the program if you can't get a new stadium built?

 

 

LM: What it's going to do is delay some of the progress, and I'll tell you why. We have better facilities now than we ever have. We don't even have an official NCAA track and we've got one of the best teams in the conference if not the country. So when we do get an official track and we do get new offices and on and on, it's going to take us there quicker. If we don't, it doesn't allow for us to move forward as a program with the same progress. This is why you're seeing the up-and-downs, except for track and field.

 

Our biggest ticket on the facilities side will be the multi-purpose complex. We're not talking about a big number for bathrooms and additional seating for lacrosse. We're not talking about a big number for baseball. We're not talking about a big number for track.

 

We have a new (SUNY) Chancellor (Nancy Zimpher) that we are all very excited about, who understands athletics and we think she will be of assistance to us. We will get there, but the sooner we can get the facilities, the sooner we can continue up the ladder.

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© Copyright 2009 Albany Student Press

[danefan]

Here's the link for those who would like to comment on the ASP page:

http://media.www.albanystudentpress.org/me...l-3748371.shtml

 

Good interview Jon (i know you are around here somewhere).

 

One question I wish was asked: What is the plan for football conference affiliation seeing as the NEC contract is up after 2010?

[JCSoup2]

Glad to see you guys stumble upon this. I sat down with Dr. McElroy for 30 minutes or so before the last week of finals, and while it's a bit outdated now, I feel like he had some really interesting things to say about the past year and the future of the program and the NCAA as a whole.

 

The version on our Web site was cut down from the full transcription, which was supposed to go up on the site before my computer crashed and I lost the file. I believe I still have the audio, and I would be happy to transcribe it and post it either here or on our site when I get a free moment sometime this week.

 

Danefan -- We did touch on the legitimacy of an upgrade in conference affiliation, and he had a pretty unique view of the whole situation. I'll be sure to elaborate when I go back listen to the audio again; I don't want to misrepresent his viewpoints, it's been over a month since we sat down.

 

-Jon Campbell

[danefan]

Glad to see you guys stumble upon this. I sat down with Dr. McElroy for 30 minutes or so before the last week of finals, and while it's a bit outdated now, I feel like he had some really interesting things to say about the past year and the future of the program and the NCAA as a whole.

 

The version on our Web site was cut down from the full transcription, which was supposed to go up on the site before my computer crashed and I lost the file. I believe I still have the audio, and I would be happy to transcribe it and post it either here or on our site when I get a free moment sometime this week.

 

Danefan -- We did touch on the legitimacy of an upgrade in conference affiliation, and he had a pretty unique view of the whole situation. I'll be sure to elaborate when I go back listen to the audio again; I don't want to misrepresent his viewpoints, it's been over a month since we sat down.

 

-Jon Campbell

 

 

Thanks Jon I'd love to hear what he said about the football affiliation. And you should post your articles over here when they go up. The ASP sports coverage has been great this year. I know that I've enjoyed reading the articles. You back again next year?

[JCSoup2]

Full McElroy Interview

 

Just added the full interview. It's considerably longer, and includes the question regarding conference affiliation (Though, I should mention that it wasn't a question specific to the NEC contract. Sorry if I was misleading, I should have been clearer.)

 

ASP: As the program continues to grow, is there a point where UAlbany would be interested in moving to a higher mid-major conference?

 

LM: I think conference affiliation is based on two things. You're starting to see some very interesting things because of the economy. Right now, Hofstra and Northeastern are taking soccer and volleyball to North Carolina to play. That is costly and it's bad on student-athletes and it's not good for academics. I think in the next three years, you are going to see some reshuffling of the conferences.

 

When we got into the America East, Hofstra and Delaware and Northeastern and Drexel jumped into the [Colonial Athletic Association]because they thought they were getting a better deal. I bet if you asked their presidents and athletic directors today, I don't think they think it's a better deal because of the economy and because they aren't having any success. Delaware used to win the America East every year in basketball. They have not had a winning season since they joined (the CAA). Hofstra was winning the America East when Jay Wright was coaching there, and they haven't had any success in the CAA.

 

I think you're going to see a realignment based on economics and regionalism. As the pot continues to grow at the higher level for the BCS schools because of television and because of the internet, you're going to start to see a shrinkage of those schools, what I call the top 60 or BCS schools, and more conferences working closely together in a regional concept because of the economy.

 

From what I'm hearing, we're going to be in a stagnant economic state for some time. So I think a lot of conferences will be open, and with that, you will start to see the people who have a good track record of success be attracted to those. When we came in, people thought Stony Brook would be better because their budget is 40 percent more than ours. They thought Binghamton would be OK because they have better facilities. Well, when you look at the numbers, we have more than triple the championships based on the two of them combined. I think we're right there. I think the conference is going to play out in a different manner and a different realignment, and I think there will be regional pockets, where you're going to have less travel, kids are going to miss less class, and you're going to be more competitive.

[JCSoup2]

And to answer danefan's question: I am back next year, but as managing editor. We're currently without a sports editor, but the last two sports editors are still on staff (myself and Ted Bean, editor-in-chief), so we're going to split the duties to open up the year.

 

Also, I think I should probably take the time to make sure that everyone realizes that while we share a pretty similar username, soup and I are two very different people. Just thought I should make that clear.

[Dane Pound]

Great stuff JC. Thanks for posting it.