Sunday Column: So You Wanna Be Penn State’s Athletic Director? Here’s The Job

Sandy Barbour announced this week that she will retire this summer, leaving Penn State with a vacancy at the head of its athletic department at the same time its new president, Neela Bendapudi, is transitioning into the big chair.

Athletic directors – not unlike quarterbacks and head coaches – usually receive disproportionate amounts of blame and credit for failure or success, but it’s still a crucial hire for Bendapudi and the university’s board of trustees, one that could shape the future for one of the country’s largest athletic departments and its prominent and not-so-prominent teams.

Instead of getting into the list of potential candidates, today we’ll look at some of the tasks that will await Barbour’s successor, in rough order of importance.

 Keep The Coffers Full

Penn State, like everyone else, is trying to climb out of a serious financial pothole caused by the pandemic and hoping the sides don’t cave in. The university reported a $24 million deficit for the 2020-21 fiscal year (not too bad compared to many of its peers). The department offset some of those losses with debt servicing and the revenue from TV contracts will continue to serve all sports well, but the best way for the Nittany Lions to keep their 31 varsity sports running smoothly and pay for some of the big-ticket items below is to do some serious fundraising. That means keeping the established big donors happy and finding ways to make some younger alumni with deep pockets invest in the future of Penn State athletics. It’s probably a bit cynical and overstating to say that fundraising is the most vital part of the job description, but an established track record in this area should be a prerequisite.

Forge Ahead In The Facilities Arms Race

This goes hand-in-hand with the first task. Although Barbour and the administration deserve some credit in helping to make up some of the gap between Penn State and its national peers when it comes to investing in football infrastructure, much of that gap remains. The new AD needs to continue to allocate resources for upgrades to Lasch and Holuba and, at some point, the old erector set that is Beaver Stadium. Top-of-the-line facilities are moot if James Franklin can’t deliver on Saturdays, but they’ll help him get the players he needs to do so, and a healthy football program means that all the other teams will eat.

Make Men’s Hoops A Priority

This one is a bit of a chicken-egg deal. Has the men’s basketball program been mired in mediocrity because it’s never been invested in, or has it not been worth investing in because it’s never been good and, by virtue of the TV contracts, turns a profit each year anyway? In any case, the new athletic director has an opportunity here. Micah Shrewsberry showed promise in his first season, and giving him the resources to better land nationally relevant recruits could help the Nittany Lions ascend the Big Ten standings more rapidly than long-suffering fans might expect, and make basketball a real bread-winner that will help football help everyone else.

 Keep Cael Happy

The wrestling program, which put a bow on yet another national title on Saturday, is seemingly set it and forget it, but taking Cael Sanderson’s dominance for granted would be foolhardy for the next AD. Ensuring the wrestling program has all the resources its peers do, if not more, will help keep the Nittany Lions atop the heap and send a message to other non-revenue sports that success will be rewarded with more than just trophies.

 Compliance And Vigilance

This one won’t help coaches hoist hardware at the end of the season or get donors itchy to write checks, but making sure Penn State athletics avoids any type of scandal – academic, hazing, any sort of bad behavior that isn’t a one-off case of a 21-year-old being stupid – is important for a school that is barely a decade removed from the Sandusky mess. The national media would not hesitate to drag those skeletons out of the closet should new troubles arise, and Penn State’s competitors would not hesitate to use them against the Nittany Lions in recruiting.

Maintain The GPA

Academic success is not correlated with championship performance, but Penn State has enjoyed a long history of its athletes performing in the classroom, and it’s something fans and supporters take pride in. This one shouldn’t require too much extra effort on the part of the new AD – the machine is already pretty well-oiled, from the coaches making studies a priority to the support resources – but it’s something that should be monitored and prioritized nonetheless.

 Nurture NIL

A linebacker pocketing some extra coin from a sandwich ad or a point guard picking up some money at an autograph session won’t solve the big-picture financial issues mentioned above, but making sure that Penn State’s athletes have the framework for and understanding of name image likeness opportunities that are competitive on a national scale will be crucial for the recruitment and retention of athletes in multiple sports, particularly the revenue-earning sports.

 Have Coaches’ Backs … But Hold Them Accountable

Arguably the trickiest job an athletic director has is letting their coaches know that they are valued and supported and that the department shares their goals … and then knowing when to make a change if those goals aren’t met. Barbour’s predecessors gave their coaches long leashes, bringing them back year after year when most other places would have made a change. There are some tangible benefits to patience, but the risk is that a program or even a department can grow stale. Barbour made a few changes, the most notable the controversial removal of Pat Chambers, and her decision to extend Franklin has been met with mixed reactions. It probably wouldn’t behoove Penn State’s next AD to start dropping axes left and right within the first few years of his or her arrival, but collegiate athletics is ultimately a business, and those decisions must be driven by results.