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This is my post.

  It’s really cool. 1

References:

See http://dpedesign.com for details. ↩

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What is your biggest challenge as a CFO?

  Prioritizing the various financial requests throughout the Department.  USF Athletics has many bright people with great ideas and strategic initiatives.  At the end of the day, not everything can get approved.

  What makes you optimistic about your program’s future?

  First and foremost, the USF Athletics’ team and human capital.  The overall program continues to have a sense of momentum.  Other factors favor well including new facilities, location, support from campus leadership, and large enrollment to name a few.

  Best advice for a new CFO?

  Technical skills still matter, but the importance of strong soft skills takes on a much more prominent role.  Also vitally important is to build trust in all directions.

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Though job postings often return a mountain of candidates, those candidates are not assured to be qualified for the position they’re applying. The effects of this reality can often lead to important positions going unfilled, more work for others in the department, a tapering off of new candidates as the job post ages, frustration for internal candidates, and settling for less desirable hires.

Passive candidates. Almost mythical in the eyes of human resource professionals—they’re also the object of employer fantasy. Far from passive these potential team members are 120% more likely to want to have a meaningful impact in their work. Passive candidates are also 33% more desirous of stimulating and demanding labor than actively searching candidates, 17% less liable to need further skill development, and 21% less likely to necessitate excessive recognition. [1]

Many academic human resources personnel realize that the process of hiring passive candidates is more about building long term relationships than the transactional communications with active job seekers. But in tangible, concrete terms, how do academic human resource professionals go about finding (and hiring) these candidates that make up 79% of the workforce, but remain difficult to source?

HigherEdPeople.com provides human resource professionals a tremendous array of information about administrators in academia—47,000 easily searchable profiles. Searches by position type can be refined to reflect compensation, degree held, institution, and alma mater.

Higher Ed People provides contact information and social profiles for all candidates but also the information that often can’t be gleaned from networking sites or those with limited or protected online presences. Here’s how to source passive candidates during a job search with HEP:

  If one has identified a potential candidate simply type their name into the Name box on the left side of the screen.

   If one knows the institution that employs them, use the All Schools drop-down menu to find the college.

If one hasn’t identified a candidate it’s easy to search by position. To zero in on a specific position choose a division (such as academic affairs or IT), and then search for the department within that division in the drop-down menu below.

Easily set minimum and maximum salary limits with the Compensation drop-down menu.

You can further hone your search by specifying degree type and alma mater.

The HEP database also provides assistance for equal employment opportunity compliance with the ability to search for candidates by diversity and gender information.

Just click update to call up a list of candidates that meet your specifications. A useful breakdown of important candidate information is provided by hovering the mouse over a name.

Once one has identified a candidate, click Full Profile for a comprehensive set of information that provides current title; contact information; degrees (including institution, level of attainment); social networking profiles (LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, etc); gender and diversity; compensation with a .pdf view of the contract; and region.

Additionally helpful is the automatically generated list of comparable candidates at other institutions and coworkers. With a detailed view of a candidate’s background it’s easier to connect and to build a relationship than unproductively presenting a job description to someone who perhaps hasn’t fully considered the possibility of a new position yet. With a clear picture of a prospective employee’s present situation, it’s not difficult to imagine what might make them consider a change.

Having access to a list of coworkers and social profiles also makes referrals easier. A study by Silkroad that examined 9.3 million applicants and 94,155 hires found that external (43%) and internal sources (46.7%) result in roughly the same number of interviews. 1 For actual hiring, however 63% of hires came from internal sources versus only 27% from external sources. Access to information is the key to finding and hiring top talent, and Higer Ed People offers the most information at the most reasonable price.

References:

http://www.silkroad.com/Company/News-and-Media/Press_Releases/2012/04/Source_Effectiveness_Press_Release.html ↩

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E. Scott Adler

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NCAA Football: Home-Field Advantage and Long-Distance Travel from Adam Rosenblum

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Win AD can help you find great talent—star coaches capable of turning around a program not living up to expectations—or retain a successful coach who will ensure a healthy program for years to come. With a database of more than 29,000 coaches in D-I and D-II, Win AD provides ADs and CFOs detailed information on performance—as well as salaries—including .pdf contracts and outside income reports. The Benchmark feature unlocks years of NCAA financial reports to create customizable visual comparisons between institutions for budgeting and strategic planning. Win AD gives you everything you need find, negotiate with, and retain star coaches.

Contact us for a tour of Win AD

The University of Florida has won or shared 20 SEC regular season titles since 1991, making Missouri’s 2013 title a bit of a departure from the norm. The SEC newcomer isn’t the only squad looking to shake things up though as three third year coaches are busy building contenders. The top three spots in the conference this year belonged to top 25 teams in Missouri, Florida, and Kentucky, but the next three all have third year coaches at the helm.

Lizzy Stemke’s Georgia squad finished a strong 22-10, with a 36 RPI as they improved each year under her leadership. The 2013 campaign featured the Bulldogs best record since 1994 and 1st NCAA tournament bid since 2004. Find Talented CoachesWin AD gives you access to tens of thousands of coach videos for all 39 NCAA sports and more than 8,000 coach Twitter streams that provide a gauge of social media savviness.Alabama also made it back to the tournament, their last appearance being in 2007. Ed Allen led the Crimson Tide to a 24-10 record and 41 RPI in his third season. Rick Nold led Auburn to a 19-11 mark, their 2nd winning record in a row, and 65 RPI finish. The season featured the program’s first win against a top ten opponent and a 5-5 record against teams that qualified for the NCAA tournament. While these three programs vie for SEC titles, let’s look at a few other programs guided by new coaches in the process of building contenders.

Hugh & Stephanie Hernesman, NW ST (4 Years) – (2013 Record: 21-12, RPI 98) The co-head coach combo nearly led Northwestern State to its 1st NCAA tournament appearance on the merit of the most Division I wins in program history, before losing a tough five-setter in the conference tournament championship game. The second 20+ win season in a row for the Hernesman’s also marks an improvement in RPI of 145 points from their first season in 2011.

Bryan Bunn, NC ST (4 Years) – (2013 Record: 20-12, RPI 57) Coach Bunn has now posted 3 straight 20+ win seasons and back to back winning conference records. North Carolina State had not had a 20 game winner since the 1996 season and their last above 0.500 conference mark came in 1988.

Bakeer Ganes, Temple (3 Years) – (2013 Record: 18-12, RPI 183) Temple may not be making huge waves yet, but Coach Ganes has a ten win and 63 point RPI improvement over year one. The back-to-back winning seasons are slowly erasing the memory of the 4-win 2010 campaign and could serve as a strong foundation for lasting program success.

Penny Lucas-White, Alabama ST (3 Years) – (2013 Record: 25-16, RPI 275) While the RPI might need some additional improvement, Coach Lucas-White’s ten=win increase from year one was enough to make the Hornets’ SWAC champions and see them to their first ever NCAA tournament berth. That sort of accomplishment can go a long way towards building lasting success.

Tim Loesch, Stetson (3 Years) – (2013 Record: 18-16, RPI 257) Stetson volleyball has had its share of rough seasons—the 2009 squad saw only one victory. Those days may soon become the exception, as Coach Loesch has improved 9 games over year one; the 2013 squad posted the program’s best record since 1988.

Michelle Collier, Jacksonville (2 Years) – (2013 Record: 30-4, RRPI 86) Coach Collier has completed a remarkable two year turnaround improving by 20 wins and 135 RPI points. The Atlantic Sun Tournament champions made their first NCAA tournament bid since 2004 and posted the best winning percentage in program history.

Shaun Kupferberg, Howard (2 Years) – (2013 Record: 21-11, RPI 245) After a rough one win start to his tenure at Howard, Coach Kupferberg led the Bison to their best finish since 1995 and best MEAC tournament finish since 2004. The turnaround saw a 74 point improvement in RPI.

The chart below shows win and RPI improvement from year one to year three for the third year coaches:

IMAGE HERE

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Winthrop Intelligence is excited to announce today the launch of new functionality in Win AD so that a single point of contact at your athletic program can administer and manage users of Win AD. This functionality is intended to position you and your athletic program to optimize your investment in Win AD.

You can add new users to see all databases in Win AD or just some parts, such as vendors for a contract negotiation or guarantees for your director of operations in football and basketball. You can also edit any existing user’s permissions based on their evolving data needs. Click here for a case study to read about best practices in maximizing your subscription value.

Removing users: Per our contract, when employees with access to Win AD leave the employment of your institution, please immediately remove their access to Win AD.

To get started and review your current users, click here. If you want to delegate the administration of your account management privileges to another colleague in your department, please email me with the desired account administrator’s name.

To see a brief tour video of the self-administration tool, click here.

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Conference Database and Reports enables conferences and schools to consider investment in context on a relative basis to analyze and advance conference and member schools’ goals. Conference Database and Reports provides Win AD clients with:

NCAA Financials data presented on a high, median and low basis

Superior information for all the constituents in a conference to benchmark with ease and engage forward-looking conversations about investments and outcomes

Time savings for conference staff and member schools – no more surveys and internally generated reports

Fact Sheet

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With the comprehensive information and functionality in Win AD Schedule, users enjoy significant time savings by scheduling games with superior information and greater efficiency. Enjoy these features behind secure log in.

Create and maintain your own schedule in a secure environment.

Search for open dates and build custom lists of potential opponents that match your non-conference game scheduling needs by filtering relevant team data:

Record & Performance – 5 year W/L & RPI trends, post season appearances;

Fit – sort by availability, sub-division, conference; RPI and travel distance;

Price – a client-only feature, Win AD clients will see buy and sell amounts as well as liquidated damages plus non cash consideration

Study detailed team & player data to find best-fit opponents (including current depth chart, PPG, RPG and Assist % returning, incoming recruits, available transfers – 3,500+ players total).

Fact Sheet

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Enhanced mobile interface allows users to access Win AD’s features on mobile devices through a specifically designed interface to deliver the mobile experience that has become the norm outside of work environments. The mobile version supports fast navigation, access to results similar to our desktop version and the ability to view pdf contracts in the palm of your hand!

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Coworker History is a visualized ‘family tree’ for every coach and administrator in the Win AD database, and provides a succinct view of work histories and professional networks.

Monitor coaching trees that spawn successful coaches

Discover emerging talent who were mentored by respected leaders

Observe coaches and admins whose upward mobility outpaces their peers

Identify employment synergies for strategic hires

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How do you prioritize investments in individual sports programs to ensure sustained success, beyond basic necessities?

Chris King – University of Texas-Pan American Director of Athletics

Within our department of intercollegiate athletics and as a new member of the Western Athletic Conference (WAC), we have placed a strong emphasis on equity, competitive excellence and competing for WAC Championships in each sport. While recognizing that basketball is our main revenue sport for the department, we hold all of our programs to this high standard without regard to the amount of revenue they may (or may not) generate. From a financial perspective, it is important that the necessary resources are provided to all of our programs to allow the student-athletes, and by default our coaches, to be successful both in the classroom and on the field of play.

As part of our strategic initiative on finances, our department has partnered with the WAC office to annually benchmark overall budgeted expenses, revenues and salaries along with the other WAC institutions to address critical needs. Some of the key success items captured as part of this project are sport recruiting and operating budgets as these have been identified as critical to each program’s mission.

Janet Cone – UNC Asheville Sr. Administrator for University Enterprises & Director of Athletics

Recently, we unveiled our 2013 – 2018 UNC Asheville Athletics Strategic Plan – “More Wins, More Friends, More Resources.” Our Athletics Strategic Planning Group that included internal and external constituents conducted a thorough review and evaluation of our department and developed a strategic plan that guides our day-to-day decision making and work. We have goals, objectives, strategies, and metrics that assist us with our decision making for resource development and financial investments. The strategic plan helps us prioritize investments within our Department and focus on what is not only important now but for the future.

Tim Hall – University of Maryland, Baltimore County Director of Athletics, Physical Education and Recreation AAA ADA Third Vice President

Our primary sports are: men’s/women’s basketball, men’s/women’s soccer and men’s/women’s lacrosse. Our goal is to be in the top third of the Conference in all budget areas and metrics. We prioritize by student-athlete experience and welfare first and foremost.

Scott Lazenby – Texas A&M Corpus Christi Director of Athletics

The key for me is to work closely with each individual head coach to make sure we are both in agreement as to what investments are absolutely necessary for us to compete at the top of our conference. Each sport and head coach will have different needs and necessities to reach this level so it is imperative that we are all on the same page when it comes to prioritizing our investments in each individual sport. We might have one head coach that wants to increase one part of their budget but decrease another while another coach wants the opposite. Of course there is a constant reminder for our coaches to realize that money doesn’t grow on trees at our level and that we are limited in what we can and cannot do from a financial standpoint.

Given the media attention paid to programs with football, what is a success story from your program that deserves more appreciation?

Chris King – University of Texas-Pan American Director of Athletics

In December 2012, UTPA reached a milestone in its history, as we successfully completed a bid to secure membership for the athletic department into the Western Athletic Conference (WAC). For the first time in 15 years, our student-athletes will be able to compete for automatic bids into NCAA championship events for all of our programs. As part of our gender equity plan and part of WAC membership, the department will also be launching both men’s and women’s soccer programs. Soccer is a sport that is very popular in South Texas and the expectations mentioned above will also be in place for these programs. It has been a distinct honor for me to lead the department of intercollegiate athletics during these program changing events.

Janet Cone – UNC Asheville Sr. Administrator for University Enterprises & Director of Athletics

Our success story centers around the concept that even with limited financial resources (having what we need and not always what we want), our Bulldog Student-Athletes, Coaches, and Staff have won Big South Conference Championships (women’s cross country, baseball, men’s basketball, women’s basketball, women’s soccer, volleyball, women’s tennis, and men’s tennis), competed in the NCAA’s (baseball, men’s basketball, women’s basketball, and women’s soccer), been recognized nationally for Academic Success, and contributed as Leaders on our Campus and in our Community. In fact we recently got recognized by the CostofCollegeSports.com for our financial and performance efficiency as one of the three most efficient comprehensive athletic programs in the Big South Conference. Funding is one component of winning Championships but not necessarily the most important. Having student-athletes, coaches, and staff who work hard, demonstrate integrity, are servant-leaders, foster a culture of respect, and are seriously creative are our core values and make the Bulldogs “Champions in Athletics and Leaders for Life.”

Tim Hall – University of Maryland, Baltimore County Director of Athletics, Physical Education and Recreation AAA ADA Third Vice President

Our men’s soccer program has a long-standing history of success.In 2013, UMBC won its first America East regular season crown since 2003 after completing an undefeated (5-0-2) conference season, then captured its third tournament title and NCAA automatic bid in the last four years. The Retrievers received a first round bye and played UConn in the Second Round of the 2013 NCAA Men’s Soccer College Cup at Retriever Soccer Park. It was the first time in school history that UMBC competed in and hosted an NCAA Division I Tournament contest. The two teams played to a 2-2 double overtime draw; but UConn advanced in a penalty kick shootout.

During the season, UMBC placed in the top ten in all media polls. At its highest point, UMBC reached the No. 5 slot in Top Drawer Soccer, College Soccer News and the Continental Tire NSCAA Poll and climbed to a position of No. 10 in Soccer America. The program finished at No. 8 in the final NCAA RPI rankings.

UMBC finished the 2013 campaign with the top winning percentage in the nation (16-1-5, 84.1%).

Scott Lazenby – Texas A&M Corpus Christi Director of Athletics

Without a doubt it is our men’s tennis program. Up until two years ago we did not have a tennis facility. Our men’s & women’s teams had to either borrow courts around town or practice on condemned courts a few miles from campus. In addition, our men’s team was held to only 3 scholarships per year for three years (NCAA max limit is 4.5) during this time. Even with all of these negative factors placed on them they still have managed to win the Southland Conference Men’s Tennis Championship six years in a row while maintaining a national ranking within the NCAA Division I top 75.

What are your thoughts on the format of the Men’s and Women’s NCAA basketball tournaments—do you feel that it’s the right size or worth expanding?

Chris King – University of Texas-Pan American Director of Athletics

Being an AD at an I-AAA institution, I fully understand that a majority of I-AAA basketball programs with records that feature 20-plus wins are left out of the NCAA tournament unless the program wins its conference tournament. However, I am a traditionalist and believe that expanding the field dilutes the tournament quality. Expanding the tournament will benefit the big-money conferences as they would probably secure more spots while further marginalizing the I-AAA basketball programs. The NCAA tournament is a great success because of the popularity of the Butlers, Davidsons, VCUs, and the Florida Gulf Coasts. As a member of the WAC and I-AAA, we are excited that the UTPA Broncos have the opportunity every March to be the next Cinderella darlings of the college basketball world.

Janet Cone – UNC Asheville Sr. Administrator for University Enterprises & Director of Athletics

I agree with many of my colleagues across the country in athletics that Men’s Basketball and March Madness should not be changed at this time. However, concerning women’s basketball, I have reviewed Val Ackerman’s “White Paper” and do agree with many of her recommendations about changing certain aspects of the Women’s NCAA Tournament. In addition, the attendees at the recent Women’s Basketball Summit at the NCAA National Office had several worthwhile suggestions such as having two super regionals, the same city hosting the tournament for several years, and a Friday-Sunday format for the Championships all have merit.

Tim Hall – University of Maryland, Baltimore County Director of Athletics, Physical Education and Recreation AAA ADA Third Vice President

I think the current format for both is fine. I believe the Final Four—for the women—needs to change their dates in order to be truly stand-alone and not compete with the Men’s Final Four. Also, I feel it is important to not lose sight of the quality of programs at the I-AAA or “mid-major” level. In many respects, that is what makes the tournament special.

Scott Lazenby – Texas A&M Corpus Christi Director of Athletics

I would like to see an expansion of the tournament for the sole reason that it would provide more exposure to programs like ours and a better opportunity to receive an AQ or at-large bid. If the tournament were to double in size then I think you have to give each conference two automatic qualifiers.

What traits and intangibles do you look for in a coach, and how do you go about trying to retain a successful coach, knowing that coaches sometimes move on to larger programs after attaining success?

Chris King – University of Texas-Pan American Director of Athletics

The main traits and intangibles I look for in a coaching candidate are the ability to be a CEO of the program and a “fit” for the institution. The candidates I bring on campus must possess and demonstrate a highly ethical framework and must be someone who is well respected in the business. I want a coach that understands the importance of the term “student” in student-athlete and what being part of a larger educational community means. To be a coach at UTPA, one has to be able to represent the institution and serve our student-athletes in the right manner, and have the ability to prepare the student-athlete for excellence in life from recruitment to graduation and beyond.

Retaining successful coaches comes at a price, particularly due to the rapidly rising coaching salaries which are a challenge for the lower-resource institutions. Creating a culture of success within your department leaves a strong impression for head coach retention, but, at the end of the day, if you have a great coach who provides national recognition, an institution is going to have to be willing to pay more to keep him or her or understand that the head coach will inevitably move on to the next “bigger” opportunity. At lower resource institutions, ADs understand that money and prestige are the main reasons for head coaches accepting new opportunities.

Janet Cone – UNC Asheville Sr. Administrator for University Enterprises & Director of Athletics

When hiring a new employee, I always remind our search committee that we need to make sure that the person we hire must demonstrate our common Athletic Department core values. We are looking for individuals who are hard working, servant-leaders, seriously creative, who demonstrate integrity, and who show a respect for others. Those values are non-negotiable. Retaining our coaches and staff starts during the interview process. We clearly articulate on paper and verbally what they can expect from UNC Asheville and what we expect from them.

Tim Hall – University of Maryland, Baltimore County Director of Athletics, Physical Education and Recreation AAA ADA Third Vice President

Traits that are important to me are: Honesty; trust; integrity; being perceived as a leader within the campus community and beyond; high sports-specific IQ; seeing themselves as an educator first; ability to recruit and retain; accepting of the differences of others; strong budgeting background, ability and willingness to assist in fund development process; strong commitment to rules compliance in all forms; perspective, balance- (ex.) When a coach walks down the hall—by their demeanor—you shouldn’t be able to tell if they won the last three or lost their last three.

At our level, a good deal of the “retaining conversation” centers around the quality of the overall experience (balance of personal & professional). From a compensation perspective, adding years to a contract and enhancing incentive clauses is where we can compete. Certainly we attempt to increase base salary where we can. Also making program—enhancing commitments like: increasing salaries for assistants and/or improving areas like strength and conditioning all aid in the retaining process.

Scott Lazenby – Texas A&M Corpus Christi Director of Athletics

While obtaining a coach with a proven winning record is extremely important, for a program of our size a top priority for me is to obtain a coach that is willing to get out in the community on a regular basis and fundraise. All of our coaches have fundraising goals that they must meet each year to help sustain their budget but at the same time being out in the community also increases our visibility and increases our opportunity to attract new fans/donors.

Retaining a successful coach at our level can be extremely difficult. Within our department we have been able to retain a very successful and highly sought after tennis coach in Steve Moore. While it has helped that he is from the Corpus Christi area and his entire family lives here, you can’t just fall back on that and expect him to stay just for those reasons. We have worked very hard this past year in presenting him a new contract lined with incentives while also providing his program with a new tennis facility that has enticed him to stay for at least four more years. While I think it’s completely understandable that a coach would want to move on to larger programs after sustaining success the key is making sure you hire the right person to replace a successful coach to keep the momentum going.

What advice would you give to a talented young administrator that you wish someone had given you early in your career?

Chris King – University of Texas-Pan American Director of Athletics

That advice would be that “(1) learning is a life-long journey, and (2) learn to listen”. Young administrators need to continue to seek knowledge and wisdom from experienced administrators and constantly challenge themselves to learn more and then apply it. Young administrators can learn more by keeping an open mind, gathering and processing information and ideas from seasoned, successful individuals than from believing that they have all the answers. I made my mistakes and had a number of mentors who pulled me aside and guided me along my career path. I learned early on to embrace the lessons learned from mistakes and to resolve and treat them as learning opportunities. I think I have learned more from failure throughout my career than I have from success.

Janet Cone – UNC Asheville Sr. Administrator for University Enterprises & Director of Athletics

To value the importance of partnerships which means – that who one works “with” is more important than who one works “for.” Supervisors, co-workers, and individual employees should be focused on working together to produce organizational and individual success.

Tim Hall – University of Maryland, Baltimore County Director of Athletics, Physical Education and Recreation AAA ADA Third Vice President

Enjoy the journey—as important as the destination. Also, take, read about and learn as much psychology as possible. I wish I had more in terms of formal education—understanding people and what motivates them is so crucial.

Scott Lazenby – Texas A&M Corpus Christi Director of Athletics

Communicate, communicate, communicate. I think we rely too much on e-mail, social media, etc. and don’t do enough face to face interactions with each other. I try to constantly remind our staff that they need to spend more time with our coaches personally and not just rely on e-mails to communicate. By spending more time with a coach or another staff member in a face-to-face setting you can accomplish more and obtain a better understanding of each individual in our department. In addition, misinterpretations and misunderstandings are greatly reduced.

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What career path led you to your current role as Deputy AD?

Jonathan Palumbo – Virginia Commonwealth University Deputy Director of Athletics

After playing baseball at La Salle University, I was fortunate to be offered a position there as a graduate assistant in the business office in the athletic department. Upon finishing my MBA, I took my first full-time job as Athletic Business Manager at the College of William and Mary. After two and a half years and some great experience under an excellent mentor (Frank Hardymon, CFO, Georgia Tech Athletics), I made the jump to Associate Athletic Director for Business Operations at American University. I was responsible for the athletics budget, but also gained some experience as a sport supervisor. It was also where I first worked with Ed McLaughlin, the current Director of Athletics at VCU and now my boss. From there I took on a similar role as Associate Athletic Director, Business at the University of Maryland. I was once again responsible for managing the athletics budget, but also gained experience managing the charter travel for the football program and as sport supervisor of the men’s lacrosse program. Finally, in October of 2012 I was hired as Deputy Athletic Director at VCU.

Allen Greene – State University of New York Buffalo Deputy Director of Athletics

I spent 5 years in Compliance, 5 years in Development (Stewardship, Priority Seating and Major Gifts) and 1 year as a Sr. Associate AD prior to my current role. Fortunately, I was able to have different experiences at vastly different universities. Additionally, I had great colleagues along the way who served as “sounding boards” and mentors.

Devin Crosby – Kent State Deputy Athletic Director

I devoted the majority of my career working in the three areas of marketing, promotions and development

Manager of Events and Promotions at Holy Cross

Director of Marketing at Holy Cross

Assistant Athletics Director for Marketing at Houston

Associate Athletics Director for External Affairs at Saint Louis

Assistant Athletics Director for Promotions at Virginia

Associate Athletics Director for Development at Northeastern

Deputy Athletics Director at Towson

Deputy Athletics Director at Kent State

At each job, I continually asked for additional responsibilities outside of my traditional job description.

Examples: I coordinated team travel (Planes, hotels…) for the 2004 football season at the University of Houston and I taught graduate-level courses at Northeastern.

David Walsh – University of Richmond Deputy Athletic Director

I started in intercollegiate athletics in the area of NCAA rules compliance and worked at a number of Division I institutions. Since being at the University of Richmond, I have worked at some point in almost every administrative area and, in 2005, our Athletic Director asked me to fill the role of Deputy Athletic Director and manage the day-to-day operations of the department.

What does a typical day look like, what are your most essential duties, and what is the most critical decision you’ve been responsible for?

Jonathan Palumbo – Virginia Commonwealth University Deputy Director of Athletics

One of the things that I love about the job is that no two days are quite the same. I supervise the business office/budget/human resources, facilities and event operations, sports medicine, and strength and conditioning units, as well as the track and field/cross country programs. I also serve as the day to day contact for the men’s and women’s basketball programs and work closely with their staffs. I have standing meetings with my direct reports once every two weeks, so I typically have at least one meeting a day with one of them or one of our head coaches. On game days and on road trips, I spend a lot of time on donor stewardship. My most essential duties are strategic planning and budget management/forecasting which helps shape the direction of the department. The most critical decisions that I’ve been responsible for were implementing a new compliance and recruiting software (ARMS) and selecting a consulting firm to partner with on our 5-year strategic planning process (CarrSports).

Allen Greene – State University of New York Buffalo Deputy Director of Athletics

There’s nothing typical about my day except that it’s filled with uncertainty. Regardless of how well I plan my day out, there are always “fires” that need immediate attention. That said, my day normally consists of meetings (to discuss athletic policies, facilities, capital projects, human resources, sport issues and financials), phone calls, emails, texts, practices and maybe a work out if I’m lucky.

In this role, critical decisions are made on a daily basis. For me, the most critical decisions are typically the ones that have a significant impact on our operating budget, student-athlete experience or have a broad “ripple effect” throughout the department.

Devin Crosby – Kent State Deputy Athletic Director

My typical day includes two to three meetings… time with my boss to discuss current topics of the athletics department… I also attempt to spend 10 minutes in person with each head coach and administrator that directly reports to me.

The reorganization of the personnel of our ticket office was a critical decision since my arrival to Kent State in February of 2012.

David Walsh – University of Richmond Deputy Athletic Director

I currently oversee our Marketing, Public Relations, Events, Facilities, and work as a sport administrator of men’s lacrosse, football, and men’s basketball. It is hard to describe a typical day since every day is so different. Recently, I have been working on the renovation of our basketball arena and that has taken up a lot of my time. It really depends on the time of the year and what major projects we have going on. In terms of critical decisions, most of the time they are made in collaboration with the Athletic Director or other athletic department management staff. Usually the most critical decisions involve the hiring of new coaching or administrative staff members.

How has the job changed in the last five years, how do you expect it to change in the next five?

Jonathan Palumbo – Virginia Commonwealth University Deputy Director of Athletics

I’ve only been in the role 15 months and I think it depends on the specific role of any particular Deputy AD. For those that are internally focused on the day to day operations of the department, my observation is that the business of college athletics has really taken off over the last 5 years. Spending has increased dramatically. While revenues have grown as well, it is has become critical to have systems in place to efficiently manage resources in order to be competitive and provide the best experience possible for student-athletes. From an external standpoint television revenue has skyrocketed, corporate partnership opportunities have grown, and social media has become a powerful force. Being aware of the latest trends and opportunities in revenue generation is very important in this job. In the next five years, the job will in large part be dictated by the changing NCAA landscape. New legislation aimed at deregulation will likely create new challenges for administrators in the areas of expense management, revenue generation, and student-athlete welfare.

Allen Greene – State University of New York Buffalo Deputy Director of Athletics

How the job has changed in the last 5 years is a difficult question for me to answer seeing as how I’ve been in the Deputy role for less than a year.

Looking forward, while the Deputy role slightly varies from campus to campus, it seems that the day-to-day internal operations component will continue to be essential, if not more important in 5 years, as the AD’s role continues to morph into focusing on external relations/fundraising/revenue generation.

Devin Crosby – Kent State Deputy Athletic Director

The ticket consumption behavior of our constituents has vastly changed in the industry of sports. Our fans have increased access to watch our games from home making it more difficult to increase game attendance.

David Walsh – University of Richmond Deputy Athletic Director

All of the administrative jobs in athletics continually evolve as the issues change. Athletics has always operated in the public eye but now with social media our every step is viewed and publicly evaluated. I expect that trend to continue and our profession to be even more scrutinized as we move forward.

What advice would your present self give to you ten years ago?

Jonathan Palumbo – Virginia Commonwealth University Deputy Director of Athletics

Become a football or basketball coach and work your way up the ladder! Have you seen those salaries lately? In all seriousness, I would tell myself to network as much as possible. Often in college athletics, as in any business, it’s as much about who you know as what you know. I would tell myself to establish relationships with several mentors with experience in the business that I could turn to for advice in any situation. Finally, I would tell myself never to forget what it’s like to be a student-athlete and to factor that into my decisions on a daily basis.

Allen Greene – State University of New York Buffalo Deputy Director of Athletics

10 years ago, I was just starting out in this business. I was in an entry-level compliance position at my alma mater and really didn’t have a very good understanding of the type of effort it took to be successful, nor was I sure where I wanted my career to go.

To borrow advice that was given to me, I would stress to my younger self the importance of taking ownership in the current role. By that I mean “live and breathe” the job and be the very best in that position that the organization has ever seen. I would also tell younger self ensure that I made my boss’ job easier by anticipating their needs before they do.

Devin Crosby – Kent State Deputy Athletic Director

A: Produce results that matter to your boss (no other work you do matters). B: Be curious and desire to learn something from EVERY personal interaction.

David Walsh – University of Richmond Deputy Athletic Director

Be honest, straightforward, work hard and build relationships.

What is the most difficult aspect of the role and what information would make your job easier?

Jonathan Palumbo – Virginia Commonwealth University Deputy Director of Athletics

The most difficult aspect is the requirement of wearing many different hats to be effective. At various times you have to be able to think like a coach, a student-athlete, a fan/donor, an accountant, a detective, a salesperson, a parent, a judge or even a professor. Gaining that perspective and being able to apply it appropriately to any particular situation is very tough and takes time to master. It’s something that I work to get better at every day. The main thing that makes the job easier is experience. I would also say that access to the best and most relevant information available during any decision making process makes the job easier. That’s why WINAD is so valuable!

Allen Greene – State University of New York Buffalo Deputy Director of Athletics

There were many new experiences that occurred when I assumed this role. One that immediately comes to mind is the number of people that “need” me on a daily basis – everyone’s problem is my problem. This level of continuous problem solving interaction requires the use of several methods of communication (sometimes simultaneously) and involves using every possible management technique in the “tool box.”

This unique responsibility leads to another aspect of this role that was difficult for me to adjust to – extreme multi-tasking. Rarely do I spend more than 5 minutes on any one task without another “fire” that needs addressing, which makes it challenging to complete the items on my own “to do” list. It’s extremely difficult to be all things to all people but that objective is what gets me going every day. I enjoy making others’ jobs easier for the betterment of the department and in our pursuit for championships.

Devin Crosby – Kent State Deputy Athletic Director

Spending more time with student-athletes is difficult. We tend to focus on the logistics of running the business of the athletics department, though it’s important to remember that the student athlete and their success is the core of our work.

David Walsh – University of Richmond Deputy Athletic Director

Like most businesses, we are a people business. Building relationships and collaborating with others who may have slightly different goals and objectives can sometimes be challenging. So, gaining insight into the best ways to collaborate and find common ground with others is always extremely helpful in trying to accomplish your goals.

[win-ad]

By: Daniel C. Clay and Aniseh S. Bro

Key Insights

Winning in NCAA Men’s Basketball is strongly influenced by a team’s success or failure in its previous game.

A team that loses its previous game by a relatively small margin is more likely than average to win its next game; this “vengeful loser” effect is even stronger for the team that loses by a wide margin in its previous game.

The opposite outcome is observed among teams with a previous win, especially a big win, bearing out the fears of the “over-confident winner.”

Contributing to the higher winning percentage among teams that lost their previous games are nearly all performance variables, including: shooting percentages, rebounding, assists, and steals.

Overall team performance, reflected in offensive and defensive efficiency ratings (points per possession), shows significant improvement, particularly in the wake of a “blow out” loss; there is a parallel decline after a previous win.

Many players, coaches, and fans will talk about the dangers of playing the “vengeful loser,” especially one that just suffered a big or embarrassing loss. There is also the danger of the “overconfident winner,” the cocky swagger they believe teams will adopt following a blow-out win. On the other hand are those who see a big win as a motivational positive, a characteristic of teams that are “on a roll” or gaining momentum; they contend that past success begets future success.

To test these opposing positions we draw upon a data base of 5,048 NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball game pairs collected over three seasons: 2001-2002, 2010-2011, and 2011-2012, and for all of the 111 teams in nine of the major college basketball conferences in the U.S.: Atlantic Coast (ACC), Atlantic 10, Big 12, Big East, Big 10, Conference USA, Mountain West, Pac 12, and Southeastern (SEC). We focus exclusively on data from the conference regular season. 1

Comparison of Winning Percentages by Previous Game Results 2

Our analysis starts by examining the question of whether previous game outcomes increase or decrease motivation to win their subsequent games—in other words does a previous win tend to lead to a subsequent win (positive momentum) or to a loss (overconfidence). Table 1 reports the results of a one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) comparing the mean winning percentages for teams in the four previous game results categories. We find that teams that lose the previous game are significantly more likely to win the subsequent matchup, particularly when the previous loss is by 10 or more points (winning 53.9% of their games).

Similarly, the reverse effect is borne out by a like margin, with those having “won big” in the previous game coming up short in the subsequent game (winning only 44.6% of games). Comparing these means side by side, a team coming off a major loss is 22.6% more likely to win its next game than is the team coming off a wide-margin win. From Figure 1 it can be seen that the relationship is fairly linear, though presumably there would be a leveling off at each tail if extended out to point differentials even greater than 10. In other words, a 30-point loss may not provide much more motivation to win the next game than does a 20-point loss.

It is important to note that the means presented in Table 1 reflect the average proportional success rates that teams achieve after wins and losses. And because only regular season conference games are included in the study population, we know that the number of home games is essentially equal to the number of away games and that the timing of home and away games as well as the strength of opposing teams played are randomly distributed across the three seasons. Thus both home court advantage and strength of team, by far the two most important determinants in basketball game outcomes, are randomized out by design.

Table 1. Impact of Previous Game Results on Game Winning Percentages and Performance (ANOVA)

Previous Game Results

Game Results Lost by 10+ pts Lost by 1-9 pts Won by 1-9 pts Won by 10+ pts Total F Sig. R Mean Winning % 53.9 52.2 48.1 44.6 44.8 5.013 0.00** -0.11**

Performance Variables

Mean Field Goal % 44.4 43.6 43.3 43.5 43.7 3.529 0.01* -0.08** Mean Free Throw % 70.3 69.2 69.4 68.9 69.4 1.612 0.19 -0.05 Mean Total Rebounds 31.3 31.4 31.4 31.2 31.3 0.265 0.85 -0.01 Mean Assists 13.5 13.4 13.3 13.1 13.3 0.881 0.45 -0.05 Mean Steals 6.5 6.4 6.4 6.2 6.4 1.087 0.35 -0.04 Mean Blocks 3.6 3.6 3.6 3.6 3.6 0.248 0.86 -0.01 Mean Turnovers 13.0 13.1 12.9 12.9 13.0 0.215 0.89 -0.02 Mean Personal Fouls 18.3 18.1 18.1 18.2 18.2 0.535 0.66 -0.02 Mean Off. Rating 104.4 102.2 101.9 102.1 102.6 3.854 0.00* -0.07* Mean Def. Rating 102.3 102.5 102.2 104.5 102.9 4.083 0.00** 0.07* (N) (294) (303) (301) (291) (1189)     (1189)

** Significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed). * Significant at the 0.05 level (2-tailed).

On-court Performance Variables by Previous Game Results

Knowing that game outcomes are influenced by previous results is an important first step. The second question addressed in this analysis goes further; it asks whether there are particular channels through which the observed motivational differences play out. That is, are there particular on-the-court performance differences that stand out as the more proximate determinants of subsequent game success or failure?

Figure 1. Mean winning Percentage by Previous Game Results

Only mean field goal percentage is significantly affected by previous game results from the group of eight standard player performance variables, where a previous loss is associated with a higher shooting percentage in the subsequent game.

But a closer look at the results in Table 1 tells a more complete story. After field goal percentage, the remaining seven player performance variables all show a slight, though not statistically significant, improvement after a previous loss. This association can be observed both in the comparison of means and the correlation coefficients (R) reported.

We conclude from the low yet highly consistent pattern of correlations that the motivational effects of a previous loss are channeled through the full array of on-court player performance variables, not through just one or two.

This conclusion is reinforced by the Table 1 ANOVA results for mean offensive and defensive efficiency ratings. Both of these variables are composite indicators comprised of several of the performance variables as noted above, and they constitute an effective overall gauge of quality of play at the team-level.

Figure 2. Mean Offensive and Defensive Ratings by Previous Game Results

As visually demonstrated in Figure 2, and consistent with the pattern of findings across the player level performance variables, offensive efficiency ratings are highest after a big loss, dropping to a steady lower level for all other previous game outcomes.

Defensive efficiency shows a near mirror image pattern in which the rating is especially poor (high scores by the opponent) after a blow-out win, then improving (declining) for all other outcomes.

Thus, we conclude that individually no performance variable stands out as a unique channel through which greater motivation from a previous loss or overconfidence from a previous win is expressed. Rather, these influences seem to affect in subtle ways virtually all aspects of performance on the court and, in turn, final game outcomes.

Conclusions:

Motivational factors are known to be among the leading determinants of game outcomes. Our analysis reveals that how teams fare in their previous game is one of those factors. We find that a previous loss tends to motivate a team to win its subsequent game, and that a previous win will increase the likelihood of a loss in the next game.

We also conclude that the motivational impact of a previous game is played out not through just one or two dimensions of on-court performance, but almost imperceptibly through all aspects of the game, such as shooting percentages, assists, rebounds and overall offensive and defensive efficiency ratings. While some observers speak of “momentum,” suggesting that teams get “on a roll” and build confidence with successive wins, our analysis shows compelling evidence to the contrary—a win more often than not results in a subsequent loss.

Perhaps these findings should come as no great surprise; they are consistent with other basketball analytics that have concluded, for example, that being behind by a small margin at halftime more often results in winning than in losing in the NBA. Similarly, we know that in the first round of the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament the 9th seed upsets the higher 8th seed over 53% of the time. The motivational forces mustered from a loss or a deficit or simply the perception of being the underdog are strong enough to influence how well teams play and, in turn, their final outcomes.

We give special thanks to Daniel C. Clay and Aniseh S. Bro for their contribution to this article.

Daniel Clay – Dan is a professor in the Department of Community Sustainability at Michigan State University. He is accomplished in the analysis of large-scale data sets in socioeconomic research. He leads an interdisciplinary team in sports analytics focused on coach-controlled, ecological, and on-court determinants of success in men’s college basketball.

Aniseh Bro – Aniseh is a statistician and PhD candidate in the Department of Community Sustainability at Michigan State University. She serves as a research assistant on projects in sports analytics and international development at MSU.

References:

By targeting intra-conference games we avoid the biases and distortions typically observed during the non-conference season (November-December) where teams can be egregiously mismatched and invariably favor the major conference schools with home court/region advantage. Post-season games in March-April are likewise excluded from this analysis because the single-elimination structure of all of the conference tournaments and the NCAA Tournament means that only the winners advance to the next round, making these game-pairs (defined as a previous and subsequent game) unsuitable for the purpose of studying previous game effects. Other games dropped from the analysis are those very rare cases where the previous game for one of the teams was played more than one week earlier. With such a large gap between game pairs it is reasoned that the motivational effects of the previous game will have significantly waned. ↩

A special challenge for the present analysis is to account for relative team strength and other potential factors that may bias or condition how previous game results affect winning percentages. Strong teams win more games than weaker teams and have higher winning percentages, regardless of whether they win or lose their previous games. Consequently, teams that win their previous games tend to win their subsequent games simply because they are better teams. To eliminate this team strength effect, we aggregate data in such a way as to compare each team’s performance only to its own, proportionally across four categories of previous game results:

1 2 3 4 Major Loss Minor Loss Minor Win Major Win (10+ points) (1-9 points) (1-9 points) (10+ points)

A hypothetical example here may be instructive. Hoops University played 17 regular conference games; 16 of them, all but the first, followed a previous regular conference game. Of these 16 game pairs, there were 4 in each of the 4 categories, (Loss 10+, Loss 1-9, Win 1-9, Win 10+). Hoops U won 100% of those in the first category, 75% in the second category, 50% in the third, and 25% in the fourth. We observe that, on average, Hoops U is more likely to win after a previous loss, especially after a big loss, than after a previous win.

In computing these four winning percentages for all 111 teams, for each of the three study years, we generate an aggregated data set containing 1,189 cases at the “year-team-previous result” level. In addition to winning percentages for each of the four previous results categories, a set of 10 on-the-court performance variables is created for the same four categories. These variables constitute the eight principal performance variables recorded by the NCAA: field goal percentage, free throw percentage, total rebounds, assists, steals, blocks, turnovers and personal fouls, plus two computed variables, offensive and defensive efficiency ratings, i.e., points per possession (PPP) and opponent’s PPP. Possessions are computed as: FGA – OREB + TOV + (0.4*FTA)3 ↩