Higher Ed Athletics

Just how difficult is it to run a FCS athletic department right now? In what ways will the football national championship help Montana State with both fans and corporations? Those that watch Higher Ed Athletics know I think highly of Leon Costello, and this interview will show you why. We talk about fan support and the trickle-down-effect of North Dakota State reclassifying as FBS. Is there pressure for Montana State to follow? We discuss football and basketball scheduling strategies with talk of the CFP and March Madness both likely to expand at some point. Costello's response about football scheduling priorities may surprise you. He shares his thought processes behind hiring and evaluating head coaches and ends the conversation with advice for aspiring ADs that is also helpful for current ADs sitting in the chair.

• 0:00 Introduction
• 1:40 How difficult is it running a FCS athletic department right now?
• 6:55 What does winning FCS national championship mean for fan support return on investment?
• 12:20 How are companies in Bozeman area responding to success of Montana State?
• 16:30 North Dakota State trickle-down-effect. Pressure to go FBS?
• 23:45 Future scheduling with CFP and March Madness expansion
• 27:45 Head Coach hiring approaches and evaluations
• 37:48 Final advice for aspiring (or current) athletic directors
• 41:45 The cool factor of having Rodeo as a varsity sport

Higher Ed Athletics is Rethinking How Athletic Directors are Studied, Prepared, and Hired.

AD Vantage empowers athletic directors with comprehensive staff data, performance analytics, and AI-powered candidate insights to make smarter hiring, compensation, and retention decisions in an era where every dollar counts. Learn more: https://www.athleticdirectorvantage.com

Onrise provides complete mental health Coverage for your Athletes. One call. Same-day setup. Your athletes get immediate access to peer support from retired pros, licensed clinicians, and 24/7 crisis care. Less than one in-house FTE. No hiring hassles. No initiative fatigue. Learn more: https://onrise.care

Haven Fields Sr. is constantly looking to get better. That's what I took out of this conversation. From the great ADs he's worked for like Troy Dannen, Beth Goetz and Josh Whitman, to his personal board of directors, Fields has clearly paid attention as he continues his path to the AD chair. Haven talks about what he's learned from those ADs and how he consumes and stores insights to keep learning about the industry. He is led by his faith and talks about why it's important for him and his family to find the right fit anywhere he's been in his career as he wants to be part of the community. I asked Haven what it's like being a competitive person on the pursuit of the first AD job and how to still be happy for your industry colleagues when they get opportunities, too.

• 0:00 Introduction
• 2:00 Proud Nebraska Initiatives
• 4:27 AD Vantage - Where Victory Is Vetted
• 5:45 Learning from Great Athletic Directors
• 11:00 How Haven Learns & Consumes Information
• 14:55 Onrise - Mental Health for College Athletes
• 16:30 Decision Process for Job Opportunities
• 21:06 Tactical Strategy - How Do You Keep Notes/Materials for Future AD Chair
• 24:32 Working with Very Different Budgets Throughout Career
• 28:30 Competitive Nature of Pursuing First Athletic Director Job
• 31:50 Haven's Podcast and Book Recommendations

AD Vantage empowers athletic directors with comprehensive staff data, performance analytics, and AI-powered candidate insights to make smarter hiring, compensation, and retention decisions in an era where every dollar counts. Learn more: ⁠https://www.athleticdirectorvantage.com⁠

Onrise provides complete mental health Coverage for your Athletes. One call. Same-day setup. Your athletes get immediate access to peer support from retired pros, licensed clinicians, and 24/7 crisis care. Less than one in-house FTE. No hiring hassles. No initiative fatigue. Learn more: ⁠https://onrise.care⁠

To continue demonstrating how I think about AD openings as I work to break into executive search, here are my shortlists for Toledo, Kentucky, Oregon State and Wisconsin. I try to base these names off reality (contracts), trends and situational needs of the institutions. I do not use sources for these names and no one has influenced me to mention their names. These are not predictions but instead the names I would reach out for to measure interest if Higher Ed Athletics was leading the search.

• 0:00 Introduction
• 3:45 Toledo
• 9:35 Kentucky
• 20:30 Oregon State
• 27:38 Wisconsin

Devin Crosby joined HEA to talk in-depth about New Haven's 5-day decision to reclassify from D2 to D1. Under his watch New Haven raised $9 million to help support the transition. The first half of the episode is about institutional vision and alignment. Then the conversation shapes into advice on how ADs can think creatively to solve problems, like manufacturing a football rivalry with a local non-conference school. Crosby has spent much of his career in D1 but he was also a D2 AD at Lynn University for 8 years. We talked about how aspiring D1 ADs could benefit from applying to D2 AD jobs.

• 0:00 Introduction
• 1:30 The 5-Day D1 Decision
• 7:25 AD Vantage - Where Victory is Vetted
• 8:50 Raising $9 Million the Same Year
• 13:00 The Blueprint After the Decision
• 21:20 Manufacturing a Football Rivalry
• 23:30 The South Florida Showdown
• 25:10 Onrise - Mental Health Care for Athletes
• 26:43 Leadership Style & Empathy
• 31:35 Should D1 Administrators Consider D2 AD Jobs?
• 37:10 Advice for Aspirational ADs

AD Vantage empowers athletic directors with comprehensive staff data, performance analytics, and AI-powered candidate insights to make smarter hiring, compensation, and retention decisions in an era where every dollar counts. Learn more: https://www.athleticdirectorvantage.comOnrise provides complete mental health Coverage for your Athletes. One call. Same-day setup. Your athletes get immediate access to peer support from retired pros, licensed clinicians, and 24/7 crisis care. Less than one in-house FTE. No hiring hassles. No initiative fatigue. Learn more: https://onrise.care

Eric George joined the Rice Owls in late 2023 after 4 years at Clemson where he started as the Senior Associate AD/CFO before being promoted to Deputy AD. He is a business-minded strategist with a CPA that has worked for some incredible athletic directors. This conversation is mostly focused on how George thinks in his job, how he learns from others, and how he and his wife processes opportunities that led him to Rice and the ones that he will have in the future. I finish by asking Eric about the trend in FBS AD hires going younger lately and how that might change his approach. Eric is very focused on his deputy role at Rice and learning from Tommy McClelland, but I know he will be a great AD for some school at some point.

• 0:000 Introduction
• 2:25 Proud Rice Initiatives So Far # 1
• 5:45 HEA: AD Chair Strategy Sessions
• 7:18 Proud Rice Initiatives So Far # 2
• 8:50 AD Vantage - Where Victory is Vetted
• 10:10 Learning from Great Athletic Directors
• 13:55 Studying Athletic Director Content & Interviews
• 16:35 How Eric Keeps Thoughts Organized for Future AD Role
• 23:55 Career Design & Processing Opportunities
• 33:40 Onrise - Mental Health Care for Athletes
• 34:41 Balancing AD Ambitions with Deputy AD Demands
• 37:20 The Evolving Role of the FBS Athletic Director
• 42:40 FBS Presidents Taking Chances on Younger First-Time ADs

HEA is presented by PILYTIX, an AI tech company for higher education institutions and sports organizations. Increased Donations. Fast, Effective Targeting. Improved Performance. Learn more: ⁠https://pilytix.ai/

AD Vantage empowers athletic directors with comprehensive staff data, performance analytics, and AI-powered candidate insights to make smarter hiring, compensation, and retention decisions in an era where every dollar counts. Learn more: https://www.athleticdirectorvantage.com

Onrise provides complete mental health Coverage for your Athletes. One call. Same-day setup. Your athletes get immediate access to peer support from retired pros, licensed clinicians, and 24/7 crisis care. Less than one in-house FTE. No hiring hassles. No initiative fatigue. Learn more: https://onrise.care

The idea of "AD Film Study" is to watch a handful of athletic director press conferences and break them down in a way that I think can help future ADs in preparing for their introductory press conference, whether that be in their words or understanding the settings of the press conferences. At the end I offer a list of final thoughts and tips based on what I observed.I watched Bryan Blair (Syracuse), Roger Denny (Oklahoma), Kevin White (Charlotte) and Ryan Berryman (New Mexico) press conferences. Each situation was different when you think about it. Blair was the G6 sitting AD that is now joining the P4. Most Syracuse fans expected it to be someone with ties to the university and Blair had to introduce himself to the fan base. Denny was a surprise hire at Oklahoma coming from Illinois when everyone thought Oklahoma would go industry outsider or at least hire a sitting AD. Kevin White was the P4 deputy from Clemson, likely seen as an aspirational peer school to Charlotte from an athletic department perspective, and had more of a traditional pathway to the AD chair. Ryan Berryman was the interim that everyone seemed to know would be the permanent AD despite his young age.And if you want to support the HEA Road Trip I’m planning, please consider donating 5, 10 or 20 bucks via my HEA Stripe accountIf you prefer reading, I wrote a very long article of my notes for each of these press conferences on the HEA website0:00 Introduction3:38 Bryan Blair - Syracuse10:45 Explaining the HEA Road Trip11:45 Roger Denny - Oklahoma25:00 Custom HEA Briefings + Career Mapping Conversations27:30 Kevin White - Charlotte41:20 Ryan Berryman - New Mexico52:25 Final Thoughts & TipsHEA is presented by PILYTIX, an AI tech company for higher education institutions and sports organizations. Increased Donations. Fast, Effective Targeting. Improved Performance. AD Vantage empowers athletic directors with comprehensive staff data, performance analytics, and AI-powered candidate insights to make smarter hiring, compensation, and retention decisions in an era where every dollar counts.Onrise provides complete mental health Coverage for your Athletes. One call. Same-day setup. Your athletes get immediate access to peer support from retired pros, licensed clinicians, and 24/7 crisis care. Less than one in-house FTE. No hiring hassles. No initiative fatigue.

Ziggy Siegfried has been the AD of the Evansville Purple Aces since April 2022 after serving as the AD at CSU Bakersfield for 8 years. Siegfried hosted me for a visit in Evansville and gave me a tour of campus before sitting down for a wide-ranging conversation. Fighting for Evansville Fan Market Share. Donor Fatigue, Revenue Generation & Naming Rights. Uniform Patch Strategy. Deputy ADs as Basketball General Managers. Hiring Coaches. Most Difficult Decisions. Getting High School and College ADs in a Room Together.

visit www.HigherEdAthletics.com to check out my D1 AD Hiring Trends + Tracker and my new D1 AD Directory

HEA is presented by PILYTIX, an AI tech company for higher education institutions and sports organizations. Increased Donations. Fast, Effective Targeting. Improved Performance. Learn more: ⁠https://pilytix.ai/AD Vantage empowers athletic directors with comprehensive staff data, performance analytics, and AI-powered candidate insights to make smarter hiring, compensation, and retention decisions in an era where every dollar counts. Learn more: https://www.athleticdirectorvantage.comOnrise provides complete mental health Coverage for your Athletes. One call. Same-day setup. Your athletes get immediate access to peer support from retired pros, licensed clinicians, and 24/7 crisis care. Less than one in-house FTE. No hiring hassles. No initiative fatigue. Learn more: https://onrise.care

0:00 Introduction3:23 City of Evansville Market Share with USI in Town7:10 ONRISE Partnership8:14 Communication Approach with Donors & Fans10:28 Donor Fatigue, Revenue Generation, Naming Rights17:10 Uniform Patch Strategy & Considerations24:03 Deputy ADs are Basketball GMs, too29:13 AD VANTAGE: WHERE VICTORY IS VETTED30:30 Coaching Hires36:30 Most Difficult Decisions as an AD39:39 Best Moments as the Purple Aces AD42:17 High School and College ADs in a Room Together

Lee De Leon joined the Blue Raiders in 2021 as Deputy AD after a long career at some incredible places, including Louisiana, New Mexico, Arizona and Houston on his way to becoming a young first-time AD at Abilene Christian from 2014-2018. We've seen a recent trend of several young ADs being hired as first-time ADs at New Mexico State, Austin Peay State, New Mexico and UL Monroe. So I start the conversation asking specifically about what it felt like being such a young AD trying to learn things at ACU. This conversation predominantly talks about institutional fit, including why his one year at Purdue was a life lesson in fit. We also talk about the evolving role of the Deputy AD and why his time as an AD feels similar to what he does now at MTSU. De Leon shares how he's changed as an administrator in the past five years and what he's learned from longtime MTSU AD Chris Massaro, including why they get paid to hit the curve balls. Faith is incredibly important to Lee, and he talks about the beginnings of "ADs for Christ" and how he sees it as ministry in the industry he's worked 20+ years in so far. I have no doubt Lee will be an AD again soon.

HEA is presented by ⁠PILYTIX⁠, an AI tech company for higher education institutions and sports organizations. Increased Donations. Fast, Effective Targeting. Improved Performance.

⁠AD Vantage⁠ empowers athletic directors with comprehensive staff data, performance analytics, and AI-powered candidate insights to make smarter hiring, compensation, and retention decisions in an era where every dollar counts.

⁠Onrise⁠ provides complete mental health Coverage for your Athletes. One call. Same-day setup. Your athletes get immediate access to peer support from retired pros, licensed clinicians, and 24/7 crisis care. Less than one in-house FTE. No hiring hassles. No initiative fatigue.

0:00 Introduction1:40 What it was like being an AD so young3:47 Onrise - Mental Health Care for Athletes4:46 Working at a Christian University6:40 How different AD jobs are at the places Lee's worked11:40 Evolving as an administrator the past 5 years14:25 AD Vantage - Where Victory is Vetted15:45 Career Mapping in the De Leon family27:30 What Lee is working on now to become a better future AD again30:25 Lee's personal mission statement31:40 ADs for Christ and Kingdom Coaching

This conversation is absolutely loaded with strategic advice for current and aspiring ADs. Chance Miller brought new ideas to Coastal Carolina, including wild halftime shows and free concessions at football games. Chance explains where the ideas come from and how they've worked so far at Coastal. Despite being hired in 2024, Chance is already working with a new president (and served on the presidential search committee) and explains how that transition has worked up to this point. Miller goes in-depth on what he was evaluating last fall before making the decision to hire a new football head coach, and shares what he was looking for in the search. He also discusses the strategy Coastal Carolina is taking with uniform patch sponsorships across the athletic department. The conversation ends with BYOD (Bring Your Own Deputy) as I ask Miller to explain why it was important for him to bring Deputy AD Andy Humes with him from University of South Carolina.

If you will be interested in AD or Deputy AD jobs between now and the next 2-3 years, fill out the new HEA Candidate In-Take Form so you can be added to Travis's executive search database:

HEA is presented by PILYTIX, an AI tech company for higher education institutions and sports organizations. Increased Donations. Fast, Effective Targeting. Improved Performance. AD Vantage empowers athletic directors with comprehensive staff data, performance analytics, and AI-powered candidate insights to make smarter hiring, compensation, and retention decisions in an era where every dollar counts. Onrise provides complete mental health Coverage for your Athletes. One call. Same-day setup. Your athletes get immediate access to peer support from retired pros, licensed clinicians, and 24/7 crisis care. Less than one in-house FTE. No hiring hassles. No initiative fatigue.

• 0:00 Introduction
• 0:15 Free Concessions at Football Games
• 7:05 Onrise: Mental Health Care for Athletes
• 8:10 President Transition
• 14:15 Football Coaching Change Decision (AD Vantage)
• 21:30 Uniform Patch Deal
• 25:00 BYOD - Bring Your Own Deputy

In this episode, Travis studies the AD search at Syracuse from the perspective of who he thinks a board and new chancellor would (or should) select. One outsider. One Commissioner. Two Sitting FBS Athletic Directors. If you will be interested in AD or Deputy AD jobs between now and the next 2-3 years, fill out the new Candidate In-Take Form on the HEA website so you can be added to the HEA database as it turns into an executive search business.

HEA is presented by ⁠PILYTIX⁠, an AI tech company for higher education institutions and sports organizations. Increased Donations. Fast, Effective Targeting. Improved Performance.

⁠AD Vantage⁠ empowers athletic directors with comprehensive staff data, performance analytics, and AI-powered candidate insights to make smarter hiring, compensation, and retention decisions in an era where every dollar counts.

⁠Onrise⁠ provides complete mental health Coverage for your Athletes. One call. Same-day setup. Your athletes get immediate access to peer support from retired pros, licensed clinicians, and 24/7 crisis care. Less than one in-house FTE. No hiring hassles. No initiative fatigue.