Orsini 1 Year Anniversary Piece

[PonyKai]

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent ... 86733.html

Orsini still building at SMU

08:41 PM CDT on Thursday, May 31, 2007

By KATE HAIROPOULOS / The Dallas Morning News

UNIVERSITY PARK – Steve Orsini cares.

He cares about SMU going to its first bowl since 1984. He wants to field basketball teams that make the NCAA Tournament and programs that turn out pristine graduation and compliance ratings.

He wants Conference USA championships and talks about reaching the top-25 level in each sport.

But the Mustangs' athletic director, whose first anniversary on the Hilltop is today, knows that to support those lofty goals, SMU needs a lot more of one, basic thing: revenue.

Much of Orsini's focus in his first year has centered on building a structure to improve the athletic department's bottom line while raising the level of expectations and changing the culture.

He breaks this task into four parts: people, facilities, resources and attendance. And he expects to see results – soon.
SMU athletic director Steve Orsini stands in front of the construction of the new Crum Center.
BEN SKLAR / DMN
SMU athletic director Steve Orsini stands in front of the construction of the new Crum Center.

"SMU has great potential, not only as a university but as an athletic program," C-USA commissioner Britton Banowsky said. "Steve is perfectly suited to make sure they achieve their full potential."

Among the challenges for Orsini and SMU are woeful attendance figures. SMU ranked last among the 12 C-USA schools in average football attendance and 11th in men's basketball last season. There's also SMU's athletic budget that has run in the red for years.

SMU president Dr. R. Gerald Turner has asked the department to start cutting into the deficit that Orsini would only define as "large."

"He wants us to grow while we're eliminating the deficit," said Orsini. "It's a double-edged sword, but we can do it."

Before he officially assumed athletic director duties, Orsini made a splash at SMU by hiring Matt Doherty, with his North Carolina ties, as men's basketball coach.

Since then, Orsini has made a number of hires and created a handful of positions to support his new business model for SMU athletics. Among them is the newly created role of associate athletic director of sales and the restructured role of associate athletic director for development.

Orsini said he asked his senior staff how SMU could sell more tickets. No one could raise their hand because the job had been diluted. So he hired Shawn McGee, formerly in charge of business development for FC Dallas, to become obsessed with increasing ticket sales.

Orsini said SMU ranks 10th in Conference USA in annual contributions. That's one reason he hired Craig Shaver, who performed a similar task at Baylor, to oversee improving the three prongs of athletic giving: annual, life and major gifts. Shaver will oversee another staffer who focuses solely on major giving ($25,000 or more).

SMU hopes to raise $60 million for new facilities and improvements to existing ones.

Some of that goal has been reached. The Crum Center, a basketball-only practice facility, is under construction adjacent to Moody Coliseum and is expected to be finished in time for practice this fall.

SMU also has plans for new tennis, golf and natatorium facilities. The renovation to 50-year-old Moody, expected to cost more than $20 million, is considered a long-term goal.

"Dr. Turner has said athletics' $60 million campaign is as important as the engineering building, the law school buildings," Orsini said. "That's what I like to see – the commitment SMU has to athletics."

Orsini's other two focuses – revenue and attendance – go hand-in-hand.

"We're not asking them [fans] to fill up our stadium like the Longhorns do – not yet," Orsini said. "Let's first take that small step and compete with ticket sales, with attendance, in Conference USA."

Orsini said SMU is planning to launch a new marketing campaign before the start of football season and has invested eight times more into marketing than the previous budget.

With Richard Sweet, another Orsini hire as associate athletic director for marketing, SMU is working with The Richards Group and Camelot Communications, Inc. on its marketing message.

SMU has identified its niche market.

"It's college athletics," Orsini said. "We are the only Division I-A school in Dallas. We want to appeal to all college athletic fans, not just the SMU alums.

"If you are an alum of another school and you love college athletics, when you're not supporting your team, come out to the Hilltop with your family."

Orsini and SMU hope the new marketing push can coincide with the Mustangs reaching a bowl game. After SMU finished 6-6 last season, Orsini met with football coach Phil Bennett and voiced his support for Bennett. The record was SMU's best since 1997, but the Mustangs didn't receive a bowl bid.

Orsini said that by investing in sales, fundraising and marketing, he expects significantly improved figures as soon as the upcoming athletic year.

He also expects SMU's budget for the next year to be the first to start cutting into the deficit.

"If you're keeping score on the AD, so to speak, start counting the score this year," Orsini said. "We challenged ourself. We better have a steep learning curve.

"As Dr. Turner said, this university has made a great investment in leveling the playing field for athletics – the academics, the admissions. Now you better be better than most with everything else being equal."

ORSINI NOTABLES

•Orsini started an athletic department blog, Mustang Musings, which he and other athletic staffers contribute to regularly.

•SMU has spent $900,000 on a new video board in Moody Coliseum. Orsini said he was unhappy with the graphics on the board last season, so SMU hired a new production crew to get fans more involved in games.

•Orsini took over at SMU with the men's basketball program in the midst of an NCAA investigation of which the findings have yet to be finalized and disclosed.

"We have heard nothing but positive things about the outcome of it, but it's not been official yet," Orsini said.

SMU SUCCESSES

•SMU ranks 55th nationally in the last U.S. Sports Academy Directors' Cup standings. SMU has been the top school in its conference for eight straight years in Director's Cup standings.

•A 97 percent refined graduation rate.

•10 of SMU's 15 athletic programs scored 100 percent in the NCAA Graduation Success Rates (GSR), and all 15 of SMU's programs rated by the NCAA were equal to or better than the national average.

SMU CHALLENGES
Start with attendance. Here's how the Mustangs measured up among conference counterparts in football and men's basketball in the 2006-07 school year (Source: Conference USA):

FOOTBALL
School Total Avg.
UTEP 254,662 42,444
East Carolina 223,006 37,168
Memphis 227,077 32,440
Central Florida 220,980 31,569
Southern Miss 173,963 28,994
Marshall 129,548 25,910
UAB 138,835 23,139
Houston 175,277 21,910
Tulsa 128,186 21,364
Rice 99,110 19,822
Tulane 94,710 18,942
SMU 92,565 15,428

MEN'S BASKETBALL
School Total Avg.
Memphis 276,014 14,527
UTEP 156,729 8,707
Tulsa 97,656 5,425
UAB 61,779 4,752
ECU 63,457 4,533
Houston 59,902 4,279
Marshall 49,617 3,544
Southern Miss 62,654 3,481
UCF 43,296 2,706
Tulane 27,887 1,859
SMU 29,406 1,838
Rice 22,160 1,477

[Stallion]

that's quite an accomplishment to finish last in attendance in CUSA. Fight for relevance!

[PonySnob]

that's quite an accomplishment to finish last in attendance in CUSA. Fight for relevance!

Remember, being in a regional conference is supposed to help our attendance!

[George S. Patton]

that's quite an accomplishment to finish last in attendance in CUSA. Fight for relevance!

If you read the story, smart guy, you would have understood that the ticket office was a complete when he took over a year ago. Glad to know that your support of athletics is "unwavering''. And I'm sure you only go to games when you run across somebody who isn't using theirs.

Incredibly stupid post.

[ponyboy]

that's quite an accomplishment to finish last in attendance in CUSA. Fight for relevance!

Help me unpack this sentence. Are you blaming Orsini for the attendance issues last year? Do you not support the substantial and sweeping changes he's instituted, including an eight-time increase in the amount we're going to spend on marketing, hiring proven marketers -- the list goes on and on?

Or are you just making a cute, caustic, flippant remark to show everyone how "right you've been all along" and how damned smart you are?

One could easily reach the conclusion that you'd rather be right than have SMU succeed. So much so that you'll drag down efforts to improve so that your conclusions are justified.

[jtstang]

No mention of the basketball investigation? The sweeping under the rug is virtually complete.

[Bergermeister]

No mention of the basketball investigation? The sweeping under the rug is virtually complete.

Thank goodness. Talk about "old news".

[PonySoprano]

that's quite an accomplishment to finish last in attendance in CUSA. Fight for relevance!

Maybe if you weren't such a miserable ba$tard to be around, some people would be willing to go to the games with you and you could help increase our attendance numbers.

[jtstang]

No mention of the basketball investigation? The sweeping under the rug is virtually complete.

Thank goodness. Talk about "old news".

Not old news. The story's not even finished yet.

[smupony94]

I demand that Jtstang be put in charge of a Warren Commission type investigation into the basketball scandal

[mrydel]

No mention of the basketball investigation? The sweeping under the rug is virtually complete.

He does say in the article that the investigation is not yet finalized or official but that he has heard nothing but positive things about the outcome. It is under the "Orsini notables" section. I know that is not what you want to hear, but at least it was mentioned.

[jtstang]

I demand that Jtstang be put in charge of a Warren Commission type investigation into the basketball scandal

Tubbs' career was killed by a magic burger.

[George S. Patton]

Interesting how the "Keeper of the star" has not issued a reply. Borders on cowardice.

[jtstang]

No mention of the basketball investigation? The sweeping under the rug is virtually complete.

He does say in the article that the investigation is not yet finalized or official but that he has heard nothing but positive things about the outcome. It is under the "Orsini notables" section. I know that is not what you want to hear, but at least it was mentioned.

Don't confound me with facts, mrydel.

[Stallion]

Oh look at all the jackasses lining up to take a shot. General [deleted] I note just got a new handle and has been a fan since May 2007. Congratulations!!!!!!!!!!!I haven't missed a game since May 1965. Look I told you little cheerleaders that playing the School of The Blind wasn't going to work at SMU and would cause a "large deficit"-Orsini's words not mine. The Fight for Relevance is the theme for that argument against those who want to water this program even further to pretend to be a bowl caliber team. Not a shot at Orsini but at the mis-guided SMU representatives who think that SMU fans will give a [deleted] about that kind of schedule. I don't care who Arkansas and Tech play at home to get million dollar paydays 7-8 times a year. That strategy will fail at SMU and will continue to cause "large deficits". NTSU has some economic sense-but then again we lost to them. Funny Rice played one of the most difficult non-conference schedules in the country and still went to a bowl plus beat poor ole SMU. They actually earned a bowl trip not a make believe-pretend fantasy bowl.