This is a reflection on an experience I had which brought me back to the early days of my career. But, to mimic cable news, I interrupt this blog for late breaking news: I saw the cigar box. It was not just A cigar box but THE cigar box. And, it was used for its original purpose (no, no, not holding cigars…silly). It was a cash box.
A while back I had the opportunity to go to a book signing just in time for the holidays. The book is called “The Golden Age of Buffalo Sports: 1945-1950” by Daniel P. Starr (www.buffalobooks.com/golden-age). This is extraordinary on so many levels. Dan Starr is a beloved history professor at Canisius College, my alma mater and employer. Dan is also a former Athletic Director at Canisius (1974-2000) and the first AD I worked with as Athletic Business Manager. Most of what I know about college sport administration I learned from Dan who is respectfully called “Doc” by those who know him.
This book signing was held, appropriately, at the oldest bar in Buffalo, Ulrich’s (www.forgottenbuffalo.com/classictavernsbuffalo/ulrichstavern). The memorabilia and pictures on the wall tell of an institution that honors its past. Who better than Doc to bring his insight and boxes of books here? What brought me back and made me laugh was that in place of a money box to collect the book fee was THE cigar box. So now let me tell you how a cigar box can help us determine who we really are.
When helping small schools and conferences fight the arms race in intercollegiate athletics one of the things I talk about is determining who we really are. It sounds so obvious but is a “simply difficult” thing to determine. Rev. Vincent O’Malley, C.M. formerly of Niagara University once told me something I will never forget. When discussing why they did the type of renovation of their hallowed Taps Gallagher Center and why they chose renovation over starting fresh, he said simply “we had to think about who we are really. And while our history is important, we cannot let our memories cloud truly assessing where we are today and where we picture us being in five, ten and even twenty years from now.” I was struck by the insight and open honesty.
Who are we really? Many of our smaller schools have big time history in college basketball. Canisius College tapped on the door of the “final four” 50 years ago but when conferences were being formed in the 70’s we were left out because of serious NCAA violations. Dan Starr was hired to lead Canisius from the embarrassment to better days. And, he did. I think he intuitively assessed “who we really are” on a regular basis. He made us better in so many ways. Doc occasionally reflects on the simpler days when he and our Chaplin would attend a game out of town and call the score in to the newspapers (there were two dailies back then in Buffalo) rather than a team of Athletic Communications directors managing information and people.
Who are we really? What difference does it make anyway? If you don’t know who you are really then you have no idea who your competition is. How can you access where you fit in if you don’t know who you are really? This is so intuitive yet it is often missed. Business managers can help support this discussion in several ways. We can provide consistent accurate financial information to all stakeholders. One thing I do now at Canisius is to charge all of the expenses to the operating budget. This way we can determine, before transfers, how much it costs to run each program.
Athletic Business Managers can also consistently remind their peers to ask that “simply difficult” question during meetings and consultations. Knowing who we really are gives us an advantage over schools whose image of themselves they glean from the outside. Whether it is from their competitors or even from their conference, if a school does not have a grounded sense of self they will flounder among their competitors.
I would love to hear ways that you determine who you really are.
Until next time!
Jude Russo Caserta
AthleticBudgetCoach.com/blog
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