Tip-Off North Texas: Issue 8

The E-Newsletter of the North Texas Final Four Local Organizing Committee | Issue 8 | May 22, 2013

INVISIBLE MAN

For Kevin Farrar, one measure of success is if you don’t even notice that he was there

BY STEVE PATE

TICKET DEADLINE APPROACHING! The deadline to submit a ticket application for 2014 NCAA® Men’s Final Four Basketball Championship is May 31.

Click here to learn how to submit your application for a chance to catch all the hoops action at Cowboys Stadium next April.

HOLDING COURT: Farrar (center) and volunteers.

I

t all looks rather simple, watching the games play out from one’s television screen — teams of double-pumping dandies chasing after that one ball, coaches barking from the sidelines, refs blowing whistles, fans in the stands all agog.

really gotta do is put the ball in the air and let the games begin.

Kevin Farrar, the assistant varsity basketball coach at Grand Prairie High, will be “practice coordinator” and “head of operations” for many behind-the-scenes details at next March’s Final Four at Cowboys Stadium. In effect, “Kevin will be the one that is in he’s the Floor Manager, contact with the NCAA® staffing overseeing the court area, as much as anybody. It’s all about the locker rooms, the scorer’s table, the trainers’ making everything as seamless rooms and almost every for each team as it can be.” area directly related to the competition itself. Farrar will But there’s so much going on at an make sure the participating teams NCAA® Final Four®. So many helpers, and referees are taken care of, working elaborately behind the from the time they enter Cowboys scenes to make it appear that all you Stadium until they leave.

www.ncaa.com/finalfour

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HOST OF THE 2014 NCAA® MEN’S FINAL FOUR

INVISIBLE MAN, CONT. Big 12 Senior Associate Commissioner Tim Allen, the Tournament Manager for the Final Four, says, “Having somebody like Kevin who knows the NCAA terminology and the NCAA methodology is vital in the operations. During that week leading up to the Final Four, Kevin will be the one that will be in contact with the NCAA staff as much as anybody.

It’s all about making everything as seamless for each team as it can be.”

A Waco native and kinesiology major at Texas A&M, Farrar began as a locker room attendant in 2001 for a Big 12 championship. Since 2006, he has worked every Big 12 championship in both men’s basketball and baseball. He’s worked a half-dozen early round games in NCAA tournaments, and he got a taste of his first NCAA Regionals in March at Cowboys Stadium — a rehearsal, of sorts, for next March’s Big Dance®. This will be his first Final Four, and in his own backyard.

“I live where I could see Cowboys Stadium being built,” Farrar says.

“It’s been awesome meeting the Cowboys staff and preparing for this Final Four.”

chairs on the bench, make sure the floor is ready to be put together — that there’s no dead spots. Rims at each end have to be set at the same energy absorption, to NCAA specifications ahead of time.”

College teams typically will play a game or two per week on their home floors. The Final Four involves four teams practicing, “I’ve heard it said that if nobody notices a having shoot arounds, then referee, they’ve done a good job. I think playing three games (two semis of my job that way!” and a final) in just a few days. Nets can get loose Towels, Powerade, basketballs. and have to be replaced at the right You name it; teams need it. Farrar time. Farrar’s goal is to remove provides. every bit of angst from every team’s “My main thing is to keep an even preparations. playing field for every team,” Farrar “I’ve heard it said that if nobody says. “If any team requests extra notices a referee, they’ve done a good things, I’ll only do it if I can provide job,” Farrar says. “I think of my job the same for every team. We put that way. I want to make sure teams the bench towels out before every show up and have everything ready to half, make sure each team has 17

www.ncaa.com/finalfour

go. No news is good news to me.”

He took copious notes and held daily meetings to prepare his staff for the recent Regionals, and he’s confident his gang is ready to roll.

Those who love basketball the way Kevin Farrar does want this particular Final Four to impress a nation because this one’s at home. And that does matter.

“I’m excited,” Farrar says. “This is going to be fun.”

Allen says, “Kevin has a tremendous work ethic and takes great pride in what he does. The people that he manages, like our locker room attendants and training room staff, I think everybody is a little more excited to be playing a ‘home game’ with this Final Four.

“But that won’t change anything Kevin is going to do. He’s going to do his job, and he’s going to do it well.”

NCAA, Final Four and big Dance are trademarks of the National Collegiate Athletic Association.