Post by elp525 on Jun 20, 2010 7:44:28 GMT -5
June 19, 2010
By Mitch Vingle
Sports Editor
NEWLY NAMED West Virginia University athletic director Oliver Luck has been a star football player. He's been running a professional soccer team.
Now, he's into a new sport.
Juggling.
After accepting the AD job and spending time in Morgantown, he was back in Houston on Friday. It was made clear when he took the WVU job that he'd make the transition from his position with the Houston Dynamo soccer team via a "rolling start.''
He's doing just that.
"I'm looking at calendars, talking to my wife,'' Luck said. "[On Friday], I spent two hours in a meeting with [Houston] city officials working on the soccer stadium. That's the one thing I need to get done.''
At Luck's urging, Houston is building an $80 million soccer-specific stadium for the Dynamo. The soon-to-be AD, however, has already jumped into the thicket in Morgantown as well.
"What I wanted to do is touch base with every coach,'' Luck said. "I did that with the exception of the rifle coach, who was away. Whether we talked for an hour-and-a-half or 15 to 20 minutes, I wanted them to know I'm here. I wanted them to tell me about their program, the pluses and minuses.
"I wanted to know how we could help, get wish lists. I may not be able to fulfill those, but I wanted to get a handle. I was able to do that and meet with some of the senior administrators like [assistant AD] Garrett Ford. I want to understand the structure.''
That may take a while, even for a man of Luck's intellect. If you check WVU's athletic directory, you'll see 161 listings.
"The good news,'' Luck said, "is it's not like I'm taking over a failing company. Things, by and large, are in pretty good shape. We have pretty good coaches.
"Now, the conference thing, Lord knows what will happen.''
He is, however, also trying to get a grasp of that dynamic.
"I've had three or four conversations with the commissioner [John Marinatto],'' Luck said. "I know [league advisor] Paul Tagliabue well because I worked for him for years [via NFL Europe], and I talked to [WVU president] Jim [Clements] about the Wednesday conference call among Big East presidents. He gave me a summary.
"Besides that, I've talked to three or four ADs to get their handles.''
His conclusion?
"It seems the immediate danger [of the Big Ten inviting a Big East team] may have receded,'' Luck said, "but the consensus is [the Big Ten] is still interested in other teams. Just not immediately.''
The AD to be said he's also met with Bray Cary, president of West Virginia Media, to get an understanding of television issues, specifically the much-ballyhooed Big Ten Network.
"There seems to be a line of thinking that subscription-based packages are the Holy Grail,'' Luck said. "In Houston, I bought the premier sports [TV] package to watch Pac-10 games [and son, Andrew, a quarterback at Stanford]. That includes the Big Ten Network, which I have zero interest in watching. But through Comcast, I'm paying 15 cents or 20 cents to the Big Ten.
"It's a different model than what the Big East has. My question, though, is, where does that lead the Big Ten? If you fast-forward 10 years, is that the best model? The media landscape changes.''
It's an interesting question. Luck had a couple others, including one about the Big Ten's latest addition.
"I always thought Nebraska and West Virginia were similar,'' Luck said. "Yes, Nebraska has a tradition, but why Nebraska?''
Getting back to the media issue, however, Luck was asked his take on the Mountaineer Sports Network. If you follow this column, you know there's been disgruntlement in some circles regarding the setup. Heck, criticism even came forth in the Rich Rodriguez-WVU lawsuit depositions. Some argue the school should sell its rights to a multi-media corporation like Host or ISP. The claims have been WVU could make more money by ditching MSN.
"At some point I'll sit down with [deputy AD] Mike [Parsons] and get my arms around that,'' Luck said. "I know something about it because Mike and [current AD] Eddie [Pastilong] gave reports when I was on the Board of Governors. [The reports] struck me as impressive. You're branding your university.
"But one thing I have to do - and want to do - is sit down with Mike and see if that's the best model going forward with the new media. What made sense four to five years ago might not make sense now.''
You may have noticed, by the way, that Luck points to "Mike'' a lot. The word is, Parsons is safe under the new AD. The question, however, was posed.
"I'd rather not say anything about coaches or staffers,'' Luck said. "I'm not in that position yet and I don't want to say anything now. I am, though, operating under the assumption that the department is running pretty smoothly.''
Changes, however, are in the offing.
"Anytime you have a leader who has been in charge for [21] years, there's going to be a different style,'' Luck said. "For instance, and this is a minor thing, but [deceased] Russ Sharp was a senior associate AD in charge of finance. But he also oversaw strength coaches.
"I'm not saying that's bad. I don't think he had any problems other than [now Michigan strength coach Mike] Barwis, but a CFO shouldn't have to worry about strength coaches. So I want to see what we're doing, if that's the best way to continue or if we need tweaks.''
As his rolling start rolls along.
By Mitch Vingle
Sports Editor
NEWLY NAMED West Virginia University athletic director Oliver Luck has been a star football player. He's been running a professional soccer team.
Now, he's into a new sport.
Juggling.
After accepting the AD job and spending time in Morgantown, he was back in Houston on Friday. It was made clear when he took the WVU job that he'd make the transition from his position with the Houston Dynamo soccer team via a "rolling start.''
He's doing just that.
"I'm looking at calendars, talking to my wife,'' Luck said. "[On Friday], I spent two hours in a meeting with [Houston] city officials working on the soccer stadium. That's the one thing I need to get done.''
At Luck's urging, Houston is building an $80 million soccer-specific stadium for the Dynamo. The soon-to-be AD, however, has already jumped into the thicket in Morgantown as well.
"What I wanted to do is touch base with every coach,'' Luck said. "I did that with the exception of the rifle coach, who was away. Whether we talked for an hour-and-a-half or 15 to 20 minutes, I wanted them to know I'm here. I wanted them to tell me about their program, the pluses and minuses.
"I wanted to know how we could help, get wish lists. I may not be able to fulfill those, but I wanted to get a handle. I was able to do that and meet with some of the senior administrators like [assistant AD] Garrett Ford. I want to understand the structure.''
That may take a while, even for a man of Luck's intellect. If you check WVU's athletic directory, you'll see 161 listings.
"The good news,'' Luck said, "is it's not like I'm taking over a failing company. Things, by and large, are in pretty good shape. We have pretty good coaches.
"Now, the conference thing, Lord knows what will happen.''
He is, however, also trying to get a grasp of that dynamic.
"I've had three or four conversations with the commissioner [John Marinatto],'' Luck said. "I know [league advisor] Paul Tagliabue well because I worked for him for years [via NFL Europe], and I talked to [WVU president] Jim [Clements] about the Wednesday conference call among Big East presidents. He gave me a summary.
"Besides that, I've talked to three or four ADs to get their handles.''
His conclusion?
"It seems the immediate danger [of the Big Ten inviting a Big East team] may have receded,'' Luck said, "but the consensus is [the Big Ten] is still interested in other teams. Just not immediately.''
The AD to be said he's also met with Bray Cary, president of West Virginia Media, to get an understanding of television issues, specifically the much-ballyhooed Big Ten Network.
"There seems to be a line of thinking that subscription-based packages are the Holy Grail,'' Luck said. "In Houston, I bought the premier sports [TV] package to watch Pac-10 games [and son, Andrew, a quarterback at Stanford]. That includes the Big Ten Network, which I have zero interest in watching. But through Comcast, I'm paying 15 cents or 20 cents to the Big Ten.
"It's a different model than what the Big East has. My question, though, is, where does that lead the Big Ten? If you fast-forward 10 years, is that the best model? The media landscape changes.''
It's an interesting question. Luck had a couple others, including one about the Big Ten's latest addition.
"I always thought Nebraska and West Virginia were similar,'' Luck said. "Yes, Nebraska has a tradition, but why Nebraska?''
Getting back to the media issue, however, Luck was asked his take on the Mountaineer Sports Network. If you follow this column, you know there's been disgruntlement in some circles regarding the setup. Heck, criticism even came forth in the Rich Rodriguez-WVU lawsuit depositions. Some argue the school should sell its rights to a multi-media corporation like Host or ISP. The claims have been WVU could make more money by ditching MSN.
"At some point I'll sit down with [deputy AD] Mike [Parsons] and get my arms around that,'' Luck said. "I know something about it because Mike and [current AD] Eddie [Pastilong] gave reports when I was on the Board of Governors. [The reports] struck me as impressive. You're branding your university.
"But one thing I have to do - and want to do - is sit down with Mike and see if that's the best model going forward with the new media. What made sense four to five years ago might not make sense now.''
You may have noticed, by the way, that Luck points to "Mike'' a lot. The word is, Parsons is safe under the new AD. The question, however, was posed.
"I'd rather not say anything about coaches or staffers,'' Luck said. "I'm not in that position yet and I don't want to say anything now. I am, though, operating under the assumption that the department is running pretty smoothly.''
Changes, however, are in the offing.
"Anytime you have a leader who has been in charge for [21] years, there's going to be a different style,'' Luck said. "For instance, and this is a minor thing, but [deceased] Russ Sharp was a senior associate AD in charge of finance. But he also oversaw strength coaches.
"I'm not saying that's bad. I don't think he had any problems other than [now Michigan strength coach Mike] Barwis, but a CFO shouldn't have to worry about strength coaches. So I want to see what we're doing, if that's the best way to continue or if we need tweaks.''
As his rolling start rolls along.
