Kyle Chandler: Last year was certainly a hectic one with being back in the Presidents’ Athletic Conference, and how the athletic department was transforming, not only just being in a new conference but also with the new logo. What do you plan for this year to entail now that you have that first year under your belt?
Athletic Director Bill Ross: The most important thing for us as a department and the teams, is actually playing out that full conference schedule to see just exactly what we’re up against. A lot of our teams did not play many PAC schools as far as non conference. So, it was really exciting to see — now we know who we’re up against in all of our sports and know how we need to prepare for playing within this conference.
KC: One of the big things last year was the travel, and how that was going to change moving from the North Coast Athletic Conference to the PAC, and how it was going to make it a lot easier for athletes and their families. After going through last year, do you think it was a success in terms of making traveling easier overall?
BR: Anecdotally, talking to the students about it, the answer is yes. The other thing is the end of the season student athlete experience survey that we put out. One of the questions that I ask is, “rank in order what you feel is the most important to having positive student athlete experiences”, and balance in academics, athletics and social life always is at the top. The next question is “how satisfied are you with those things that you ranked?” The satisfaction rate for that particular question went way up. When we were in the NCAC it was not ranked very high, because people felt like they did not have that balance. There’s definitely a difference with the students being able to go back on campus and getting into the library studying for a test versus riding on a bus.
KC: There were some things that kept you busy throughout the summer regarding getting everything ready for this year. Could you elaborate on some of those topics?
BR: We have had a couple of coaching changes. Dealing with that we are now back fully staffed. (There is) a head coach in every single sport and we still have a couple of assistant coaches that we need to hire but that is moving along. The other is, being a part of the leadership team with the college, we were very busy working on the new strategic plan with the college. Usually when you work on a strategic plan, you are setting the tone for the next 10 years — this strategic plan is a little more aggressive because it is more “what can we do immediately?”… It was really a great exercise but a lot, a lot of work. Ron Cole, ’87, our president, has done a fantastic job with leading that charge and getting us going on a very aggressive timeline.
KC: From the perspective of athletics, what were some of the things you pulled from that strategic plan?
BR: The most important one is what are some of our immediate needs within athletics, and addressing some of the areas that we may be lacking in. One of them was the locker room situation up at Robertson. We need to do a refresh up there and we got into the plan as to what we need to do, what’re the costs and getting to work on trying to make sure that we raise the money in order to attack those things. And, also looking if we’re in a position to add sports, and doing that. When you add sports, that’s helping out with the overall enrollment picture, and it’s also what we’re able to offer that we don’t currently offer. All of that is rolled into this plan, but I can’t get into the specifics.
KC: One of the things that gets overlooked when you talk about athletic programs is the strength and conditioning. Of course, you cannot go without bringing up Corey Mason, who’s now into his second year here at Allegheny, and I want to get your thoughts on the job he did last year working with the athletes and what he brings to the table.
BR: Energy. (Corey) definitely brings a lot of energy. He energizes those student athletes. They want to go to their 6 a.m. lift and there’s no question about it, he has brought a lot of energy. On the practical side, if you look, our injury rate has decreased, the rate of accelerating return to play has gotten better. He’s done an awful lot for our programs and there’s no getting around it. He now has an assistant… Jared Peterson. Corey did it all, and the guy put in way too many hours, and because we recognize how important having that position and having someone pay attention to that area of the student athlete experience, it was easy to say he needs help. What he was able to do was nothing short of a miracle, what he was able to pull off, but definitely I think the student athletes are going to see even more attention being paid to them because now there is an assistant that has the same amount of training as Corey.
KC: In the grand scheme of things for this year, if you had to pick one or two things you’re looking forward to, what would you say they are?
BR: From everything that I’ve heard from our coaching staff and their recruiting, being able to fill some holes, that’s what I’m most excited about. Each team brings back a strong nucleus, and adding in some of the first year players to the mix can help elevate their game. I think we’re going to see some teams doing a lot better than they did last year, and I’m looking forward to seeing all of that unfold. Unfortunately, I was out on medical leave during the basketball season. I did sneak into the playoff games. I’ve been here 28 years — I can’t ever remember our basketball arena being that electrified. That’s what I’m looking forward to the most. Seeing that every home athletic conference is getting all the students out to cheer on the Gators no matter what the sport is. We can see that by having a very electrified fan base, that only improves the play out on the field.
