Mission Statement for a New A.D.

The news that Dianne Murphy is stepping down as Athletic Director brings with it a fantastic opportunity.

This is yet another chance to finally get it right and hire someone who can achieve the goals every serious Columbia fan and most devoted alums have wanted for many decades.

But to hire the right person, we need to be clear about those goals and make sure the administration realizes what its most loyal alumni and donors really want. 

Otherwise, the administration will only pursue its own agenda and expediency.. again.

Columbia's new Athletic Director must be someone who can pursue the following goals in this order:


1) Winning and Personal Standards of Excellence


I put these two very important goals together as #1 because nothing else Columbia's new A.D. attempts to achieve will be successful without achieving them first.

Whether it's the key sports of football and men's basketball, or the overall number of Ivy championships won, Columbia is still dead last among its peers in athletic excellence.

Contrary to the misinformation and spin coming out of Low Library, the numbers just do not lie about Murphy's failure to improve these results.

The new A.D. must do whatever is within the rules to achieve championships in football and men's basketball within five years or sooner. I would use the controversial methods used by Tommy Amaker for Harvard basketball as a possible template. That means doing everything necessary to boost the number of high-impact transfers to football, and implementing strategies to gain flexibility under the Academic Index, (A.I.), as much as legally allowed. There are other details of course, but isn't it way past time for Columbia to adopt a "win now" POLICY for football and men's basketball?

Of course it is.

However, the second part of this #1 goal cannot be ignored. Because losing hasn't spared Columbia from too many of the embarrassments and ethical issues that plague the "jock factory" athletic programs at other schools across the country.

Too many members of the CU student body and faculty have either a bad opinion, or worse, NO opinion or awareness of our student athletes.

The no awareness stems from the lack of winning in the key sports and that's already been addressed in this mission statement.

As for the bad opinions, last year's football Twitter scandal and assault charges against Chad Washington, this year's bar brawl, and cheating scandals are examples of how Murphy and her administration also failed to maintain the integrity of our student athletes on and off campus.

Every varsity athlete needs a lot more personal guidance and help to understand the unique role they play in the Columbia community. Until we start winning in the key sports, that role will be diminished, but even now there is so much more they need from the athletic department.

Quick seminars on social media aren't enough. A very extensive orientation program every summer needs to be put in place and staffed by not only salaried employees of the Athletic Department, but also concerned athlete and non-athlete alums who can best discuss how what these students do now will impact the school and the rest of their lives. Opening this kind of mentoring up to the non-athlete alums is essential as this initiative needs to be greatly expanded.


2) Campus and Alumni Engagement 

Until the winning in the key sports starts, all the hard work to better market Columbia athletics on campus, to the alums, and to the enormous New York City area market will never really succeed.

One of Murphy's best moves was hiring a marketing director in Barry Neuberger. He has worked tirelessly and creatively in this position. But he has never had a truly winning product to sell. Ice cubes salesmen in Antarctica would probably have an easier time.

Neuberger's dilemma is the perfect example of "cart before the horse" failures of the Murphy regime.

Nothing beats winning and integrity. Nothing.

But once they are established, the efforts to market CU sports to the New York City area and the Columbia neighborhood need to be a focus.

On campus, the athletes need to be more visible in a good way. That starts with helping freshmen move in on the first day to hosting and participating in health events like 5K runs, etc. on campus all year long.

3) Making Sure the Money Talks

Columbia's most successful alums tend to be former athletes. The best and most generous donors tend to be former athletes or avid Columbia sports fans. The last two Chairmen of the Board of Trustees were varsity athletes at CU. Several other current and former trustees are prominent people in the business of sports.

And yet it seems like these special people are often sheepish when it comes to voicing their support and concerns for athletics. Not all of them, but many.

It's way past time to say it clearly: athletics plays an important and positive role in the Columbia experience that should be enhanced, not downgraded.

As for the many alums and donors who aren't ashamed of their high hopes and support for athletics, it's time we get our due. The public documentation, in real time, of just how much athletics outpaces just about every other department and school at CU was made very clear during the last two online "Giving Days" in 2012 and 2013. Only Columbia College outdrew athletics, and it was close for a while.

This means no expenses should be spared for finding the best Athletic Director, coaches, and staff, none. The money is there. Columbia's academic reputation is teflon, There's nothing to be lost by stepping up the spending, not just relative to what Columbia has spent on athletics in the past, but relative to Harvard, Yale and Princeton.

The money is there, and what isn't there now will be made up for in donations in quick time... even quicker if we can get the winning started first.


These are the three pillars of CU athletics that I'd like to see established and upheld by the new A.D. and his or her staff.

Nothing less is acceptable.