Dan Bartholomae and I cover a lot in this conversation because there has been a lot going on with the Broncos. Bartholomae starts off explaining how WMU is going to play a hockey game at their football stadium next year and turning it into a weeklong community opportunity to get on the ice. We then talk about the new Kalamazoo Event Center that will be the new home of the WMU hockey and basketball programs. Bartholomae takes me behind-the-scenes of their men's basketball coaching search and that naturally leads into a discussion about scheduling games with the expansion of March Madness. The conversation ends with Bartholomae sharing his department's strategy for uniform patches and why it won't be a failure if they don't have a patch by the fall.

• 0:00 Introduction
• 3:20 Hockey at a Football Stadium
• 8:05 New Arena for Basketball and Hockey
• 14:30 Opportunities with the Old Arena Space
• 20:05 Men's Basketball Head Coach Search
• 28:35 Scheduling Fallout from Expansion of March Madness & CFP
• 33:55 Uniform Patch Strategy
• 36:50 Advice for Almost 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.PILYTIX is an A.I. technology company dedicated to solutions that generate revenue, save time, and reduce costs for universities and sports & entertainment organizations. More Money. Less Time. Lower Costs. 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.Game One is the apparel company that can outfit your teams in Adidas, Nike or Under Armour.