Sportsupdate
Q&A
CAMPUS NEWS
With Athletic Director Dana Skinner On the River Hawks’ First Year in Division I
Can you give us some idea of what’s been involved in making this move possible?
This spring, the university passed another landmark in its path to growth. Having already managed a near 50 percent increase in endowment, a 45 percent rise in enrollment and a campus-wide infrastructure explosion—all in the seven years since the arrival of Marty Meehan as chancellor—UMass Lowell has now moved its athletic program into the nation’s top tier: Its athletic teams, all 16 of them (there will be 18 a year from now when lacrosse is added for men and women) have just completed their first full year as members of the NCAA’s Division I.
CHAMPS! The ice hockey team celebrated its second consecutive Hockey East championship before heading to the Northeast finals of the NCAA tournament, where it came within one game of repeating its 2013 Frozen Four appearance. A couple of months later, goalie Connor Hellebuyck (front, left of trophy) signed a three-year contract with the National Hockey League’s Winnipeg Jets worth $925,000 annually.
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UMASS LOWELL MAGAZINE SUMMER 2014
The move, which elevates the university from the Northeast-10 Conference of Division II to Division I’s America East Conference, took effect last fall. The transition has made for a busy first year, says longtime Athletic Director Dana Skinner, who has been at the forefront of the move. —we asked him to reflect on the challenges of the past 12 months, as well as those that lie ahead.
Probably more than you’d think. Because we’re so early in the transition, there’s still a lot of learning to do. We’re continuing to do a good amount of research. We also had to submit a five-year strategic plan when we applied to elevate to Division I. The plan included a detailed budget projection; they want to know our plans, our goals and how we’re going to support Division I. Finally, we are talking with other schools that have made the same transition, to try to get an idea of what to expect in the years ahead. That information has been very helpful. But it’s quite a process. What about new hiring? Plenty of that, too. We’ve been involved in 30 different job searches since last July, most of them for new positions, but also head-coach positions in volleyball, women’s soccer and women’s basketball. Certainly there’s been a lot of growing involved. All that must cost a lot of money. How are you handling it budget-wise? The costs are certainly much higher in Division I, but there are also many new revenue sources that come with the increase in visibility. Ticket revenues for sports beyond hockey, sponsorship opportunities, NCAA revenues and game guarantees are key to meeting our budget goals. Plus, the university has committed additional revenue. Outside of costs, what are the challenges? Initially it’s recruiting. Asking student-athletes to come to an institution that can’t offer post-season competition during the four-year transition is not an easy sell for the coaches. [NCAA rules stipulate that for the first four years of Division I membership a team may not compete in NCAA tournaments]. For top athletes that’s a tough one to swallow. So how do you draw them? How do you compensate for that? To start with, we emphasize that they’ll be part of a transformational moment in the school’s history—that they will forever be the student-athletes that took the university to Division I. It’s a proud role they are playing to advance the institution.
To support our Division I efforts, visit uml.edu/athleticgiving.
And if that’s not enough? Sometimes it isn’t. And we don’t stop with that. For one thing, unlike a lot of schools just coming into Division I, we scheduled a full Division I slate of games in all sports. Our schedules included Notre Dame, Michigan, Boston College, Northwestern, Nebraska and Oklahoma—so our athletes benefitted from some great trips and received national exposure. Also, we signed a radio agreement with ESPN New Hampshire [to cover men’s basketball and hockey], which gives us an affiliation with the top media name in sports. And we partnered with Under Armour, one of the three top brands in sports apparel. So we’ve done all we could to make the university attractive to high-quality student-athletes. Let’s talk about the big picture. From the perspective of the university at large, what’s the advantage of being in Division I? Actually, the decision to make the move wasn’t as much about athletics as it was about institutional affiliation. When we looked around at our peer institutions, the schools we most resembled—like UNH, URI, Georgia State—they’re all Division I. So it just made sense from that perspective; it seemed like a natural evolution. But how do you put a value on the visibility we’re getting—for instance, playing a game in Michigan in front a full house, then getting a highlight on ESPN? I don’t think you can put a dollar value on that. Athletics isn’t the most important thing a university does, but done well, it is the most visible. Overall, how would you sum up year one in DI? I’d call it a success. We took full advantage of the many opportunities. Our mission word for the year is “resolute.” As for teams, we’re very proud of their accomplishments in year one. Men’s basketball finished the year with a .500 conference record; the baseball team was third in its conference, also at .500; track and field captured eight conference individual championships. Most important, our student-athletes’ overall GPA was over a 3.0. It was the right move at the right time. The whole campus has embraced it—Admissions, Advancement, Financial Aid, the Registrar. Everybody’s on board, everybody feels the same: that we’re competing at a different level. I think it’s made the university, for our students, a better place to be. And for our alums, a better place to be from. n
SUMMER 2014 UMASS LOWELL MAGAZINE
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