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Athletics: UL’s Maggard – ‘Positive strides’ in Year 1, more neededTim Buckley, The Advertiser, June 16, 2018
With his first full school year as UL’s athletic director now in the books, Bryan Maggard recently took time to review with The Daily Advertiser what has been accomplished and what has not. Maggard also broke some news along the way, revealing — as already reported — several matters of ongoing interest, including: â–º Discussion of a contract extension for basketball coach Bob Marlin, whose Ragin’ Cajuns won a Sun Belt Conference regular-season championship; â–º The start of a 6-to-8 week feasibility study for major renovation at Cajun Field, home stadium of the UL football team; and â–º The issue of what needs to be talked about next, a new clubhouse and coaches’ offices, for M.L. “Tigue” Moore at Russo Park, home stadium of the UL baseball team. More: What project is next for UL’s baseball park? Related: UL looking to extend Cajuns coach Marlin’s contract It’s been a busy year of change for Maggard, who since his arrival from the University of Missouri has fired one football coach (Mark Hudspeth) and hired another (Billy Napier) following a 5-7 season in 2017 while also — amid controversy over the alleged treatment of players — firing one softball coach (Michael Lotief) and hiring another (Gerry Glasco). What follows are some of the highlights and lowlights for Maggard in Year 1, presented in edited question-and-answer form: BIGGEST ACCOMPLISHMENTS
Q. What do you consider to be the biggest accomplishments in the first full school year? I personally feel like we’ve made some very positive strides in Year 1. Certainly we are nowhere near where we want or need to be. But as I reflect back on the last 14 months, I certainly feel good about what we have accomplished, starting with organizational structure. We are much closer to where I see us being organizationally, as opposed to when I first arrived. I knew there would be an assessment time needed. And I also knew it would take, probably, a calendar year, or close to it, to really be able to assess,˜Who do we have sitting in certain seats on the bus? Is everybody in the right seats? Are we capitalizing on people’s strengths and weaknesses? Are we supplying certain areas with the right amount of staff and personnel need to be successful? We’ve made some good hires. We’ve grown our staff, both on the administrative and coaching sides in his first year. So, all in all, from an organizational standpoint, we have made great strides. Still have a little bit more to do. But we are getting there, and I feel very comfortable about us accomplishing what we need to from a staffing standpoint to make sure we’re operating on all cylinders and are positioning our sport programs to be successful. More: No new UL football stadium, but Cajun Field about to get an upgrade ADDED PERSONNEL
Q. What are the some of the numbers on what has been done staff-wise, and what else is new in terms of added personnel? We’ve hired” between new and replacements” close to probably 10 staff members (in athletic administration alone). Of those, at least half are new staff members” new positions we’ve been able to create. (Among the new hires are right-hand man Nico Yantko as deputy AD for external operations, a new position; Patrick Crawford as assistant AD for Communications/Digital Strategy, another new position; and director of marketing, promotions & fan engagement Connor Whelan, who was hired after Rob Stewart left. Yantko and Crawford both followed Maggard from Missouri.) Wer’e still in the process of fulfilling some of those; I guess that would take those numbers even higher. So we could be looking at upward of 12 to 15 positions that would be new or replacement parts. So, in Year 1, I feel really good about that. (UL currently is advertising open jobs for assistant athletic director for broadcast operations, director of broadcast operations and director of engineering for broadcast operations” all new positions. The school also lists on its athletic staff directory two recent hires in a new department called Ragin’ Cajuns Sports Properties, general manager Brian Bille and manager of business development Patrick Judice, part of its recently secured partnership with a private entity, Learfield Communications.) More: UL announces multimedia rights partnership From a multimedia rights standpoint, we were able to accomplish getting a long-term deal with Learfield. That’s something I’m extremely excited about. I’m very pleased with that our partnership in that deal. Not only will it generate additional revenue for us, but it will certainly play a role in enhancing our brand locally, regionally and nationally. We just knew from a process standpoint that would take time. That’s not something you come right in and are able to knock out in three or even six months. It took us a year to do it, pretty much, but my goal was to get it done within the first year. Related: UL has five-year deal with sports radio broadcast partner COACHING CHANGES
Q. How do you feel about the coaching changes made? We knew … change requires some patience. But certainly with the new softball hire (Glasco, who in his first season) and the new football hire (Napier), I feel very good about the future of those two programs and am very excited to watch how softball will continue to prosper and how football will do this upcoming season. I was very, very proud of the job Coach Glasco did given the circumstances and obstacles he came in under. Just the fact he got us to postseason play again was a huge feather in his cap, in my opinion, and just solidified to me the ability he has, and I knew he had, as a coach. More: Glasco’s season of learning ends with biggest lesson of all That hire (of Napier) and his staff have been very well received in our community and in the state. Certainly I think there are high expectations, not just because of Coach Napier, but because of the abilities I think people recognize the University of Louisiana football program has. I’ve been very pleased just watching Coach (Napier) and his staff these last six months … and just how they’re implementing their structure and their plan, their processes, into play. More: UL’s Napier ‘not the rah-rah, yelling coach’ THE LOTIEF EXPERIENCE
Q. How much did the whole Lotief experience … make you realize that ‘Well, it isn’t always going to be sunshine every day?’ (Laughing) Well, the good news is I knew it wasn’t going to be sunshine every day anyway, right? You know, anytime you have to make personnel changes, it’s challenging for everybody involved, right? I’m always sensitive to that. It’s just part of the business. I think if you’re the CEO of any organization, you’re always gonna have issues associated with your personnel. And if you aren’t mindful of that, or don’t anticipate that, then you’re probably not in the right position. But it’s a situation we had to deal with, we had to address, and we had to move forward, and we did, and I’m very excited about the future of our softball program moving forward.â€Â More: Lotief firing likely headed for lawsuit after documents allege ‘brainwashed’ culture ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTUREQ. What are the things that, when you first walked in, you thought could be taken care of right away, only to have reality hit you in the face and suggest otherwise? A. “That’s a good question. Of course I don’t know if I even necessarily approached it like that, to be honest with you. “I came in with an attitude of I needed to do a lot of listening and a lot of learning. I knew, first and foremost, I had to get an organizational structure in place that I was comfortable with, that could allow us to operate in an efficient manner. “Part of that listening and learning is I had to learn ‘What are the current policies and processes we have in place as a department, what are the policies and processes we have from an institutional standpoint that are in place, and how do those impact our operation. “A lot of those types of things — procurement processes, travel policies, all that kind of stuff, reimbursements, things that are really boring to the outside world, but are really key in terms of allowing your operation to be efficient? “That took some time in both understanding and then trying to make some changes to make it more efficient. “Certainly the HR (human resources) side of things — not that I came in with forethought about the process, but come in knowing that job from an industry standpoint, but you don’t know the institutional practices that are in place that you have to work within and/or try to improve. “Those were the types of things that here in Year 1 were the most consuming. That’s not to say they were negative or bad; it’s just you’re trying to find ways to work within those to be even more efficient.” Related: UL’s Maggard is a native Kansan in Cajun country TRANSPARENCY SHORTCOMINGSQ. One thing you guys talked a lot about when you came in here was "transparency." How do you think you guys have handled the whole transparency issue? A. “Well, we may have our opinion on that and others may have opinions as well. "I think we’ve done an OK job. I do want to be transparent. There are some things you cannot be transparent about, and often the general public or your fan base — they don’t understand that. “But I still think we can do a much better job, and it starts with me, of explaining the why behind the what of all the decisions we make. “With the hiring of Patrick Crawford as our assistant A.D. of athletics communications, we are positioning that area to be more efficient and more helpful in that regard. “But I will tell you it’s always going to be our objective to be transparent. It’s gonna be our objective to be good communicators. But I would be the first to tell you we have not achieved everything I know we can in that area.” Related: New UL athletic director Maggard
LOOKING AHEADQ. What are your thoughts looking ahead to Year 2? A. “As I look back on Year 1, we’ve made some really good strides — but so much more opportunities to be accomplished here. "That’s the one thing that excites me every day when I get up and come to work. So have we made positive strides? Yes. But we have more to do.” More: UL’s Maggard wants ‘wow effect,’ function for Cajun Field
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