Some news about another of our finalists
Portland State AD candidate Jim Sarra says a football program is a must
Jim Sarra-Texas-San Antonio
[b]Jim Sarra, on campus Tuesday to interview to be Portland State's athletic director, said the school wouldn't drop football on his watch.
Sarra has been at the University of Texas-San Antonio since 2005, and deputy athletic director at the Conference USA school since 2009.
He was at PSU during the Jim Sterk regime from 1999-2001 as assistant athletic director for compliance.
"If you look at the storied history here, you just can't drop football," Sarra said. "And nobody has talked to me about dropping it.
"There is that history here. You just have to go back and build on it."
The PSU football program, which plays at the FCS level, is under university mandate to be self-sufficient. It is drawing poorly and has posted one winning season since 2006.
The glory days, when future NFL quarterbacks June Jones and Neil Lomax were operating the Mouse Davis Run-N-Shoot, and Pokey Allen was taking the Vikings to the NCAA Division II final, are decades ago.
Nigel Burton was fired last month after five seasons as coach. Former offensive coordinator Bruce Barnum has been named interim coach through the 2015 season.
"Pokey and Mouse were promoters," Sarra said. "You don't need a promoter anymore. You need a coach. You need a guy who can come in and put a really good product on the field.
"Pokey and Mouse could coach, too. But this place gets hooked on the idea that it needs a promoter. "This place doesn't need a promoter. It needs a coach. Let me worry about the promoting.
Sarra was bullish on the project to build the Viking Pavilion, a 5,500-seat, on-campus arena.
"Imagine what that will do for the budget in men's basketball," Sarra said. "And it will help the other sports, volleyball and women's basketball. It does a lot of things for you.
"We'll figure out a way to get it done. I told the president (Wim Wiewel), if I'm your guy, I'm on board. I'm going to pound the pavement and we're going to figure out a way to raise the rest of that money."
Sarra met with members of the PSU community Tuesday afternoon in a half-hour open forum, in which he dealt with questions covering a spectrum from homophobia to how the university can best engage with the metro area.
Torre Chisholm, PSU's athletic director for seven years, left on Oct. 31 to seek other opportunities.
"I think this is a diamond in the rough," Sarra said. "I think there is an opportunity to be successful here."
A second finalist, Miami of Ohio deputy athletic director Mark Rountree, will be on campus Wednesday. There will be an open forum for Rountree at 4 p.m. in Smith Center, Room 294.
I don't know anything about Portland State- My first thought is that it has to be an easier job than UALR. But, they do have to deal with Oregon, Oregon State, U of Portland, and the Trailblazers. But, if he likes football, I'm sure they would be his choice. Also they want to build the arena we already have. An AD might like that challenge or he might want to already have it in place.
|
/
Some news about another of our finalists
