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McNamee sees similarities between WSU and George Mason
Wednesday, May 07, 2008
Kevin McNamee, deputy associate athletic director at George Mason University, is one of four finalists for the Wright State athletic director job from which Dr. Michael Cusack is retiring after 26 years.
Interviews with the finalists — including WSU associate AD Bob Grant, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi athletic director Brian Teter and Texas Tech senior associate director of athletics Stephen Downing — will take place this month under the direction of Dr. Dan Abrahamowicz, WSU vice president of student affairs.
Extras
Some of McNamee's thoughts on the job:
Q Where can WSU go with its athletics program?
A There are no magic bullets. It's still about putting a product out there. My background is an Olympic sports background. I'm program-matic. I'm not a team-oriented person. I'm about total programming. Everybody in that program sees left and right, and sees what the whole picture is about. Schools like Wright State and George Mason are capable of doing wonderful things.
Q What is WSU's biggest asset?
A The biggest asset is its youth, its young age. When we came to George Mason, everyone viewed George Mason with kind of like one eye closed. We're not totally sure we belong. We're not really sure who we are. I'm not saying that's Wright State's case. What Wright State is faced with is understanding itself, its youth doesn't work against it. It can be a tremendous asset.
You can be bound by 150 years of history, and you can chase ghosts in the past. What Wright State and George Mason have is an ability to learn from mistakes of other institutions that have been around for 150 years, and to put to practice all of those things to avoid those mistakes and be nimble and more flexible and be more current and dare to maybe be more different.
Q How do you get the word out?
A When you talk about branding a program, it's complex. The right way to do that is be who you are. Don't try to be something you're not. Know what you can do, know what you can't do. Know what your market can do for you and what you can do for your market. Understand where you are in that whole big picture. If good things come from that, it's because we're doing good things, and people want to follow good things.
I don't know if you can script a plan to get to a Final Four. You can sit and script a plan to put yourself in position to cash in on the opportunity to go to a Final Four if you're hiring good people who know why they're there, who know what the institution is about, have good strong relationships, give them the comfort and support to do it without having to worry about all the other things.
I'm not a big believer in saying 'This is where we can end up.' I'm a big believer in saying this is what we need to be about.
Q What's attractive about the WSU situation?
A Some of the things they do out there they do significantly better than we do here. Some of the facility issues. I think there are some fabulous things Dr. Cusack has done with facilities. I think some of the things he's done as an athletic director are remarkable ... taking WSU from Division II to Division I, getting it in a very good conference and having some of the facilities Wright State has, that's what made it intriguing to me.
There are many, many similarities to George Mason and what we're trying to do. I see a whole lot of parallels. I don't see a whole lot of negatives to this. I think there's an awful lot of positives, or I wouldn't have an interest in it.
