University of Massachusets Athletics
Ask The A.D. - McCutcheon Answers Your Questions, Part IV
December 28, 2004 | General
Dec. 28, 2004
There were many questions and comments following UMass' tremendous victory over UConn. Many were positive and supportive, but there we a few questions about the crowd control and the team's reaction following the win. Here's McCutcheon's response.
McCutcheon: I have received several questions and comments regarding our recent men's basketball game with Connecticut. Most were very positive but some raised issues that I will try to respond to.
At the end of the game after sinking the game winning basket, Rashaun Freeman ran off the court toward the team bench despite the fact that about four seconds remained in the game. Some have viewed this as an inappropriate and self center act. In Rashaun's own words after the game he apologized to his teammates and thanked them for picking up the defensive slack. He went on to say that he was so excited that he had lost track of how much time remained and that he "just lost it". Having watched the game and replays, listened to Rashaun and knowing how electric and emotional the moment was, in my opinion this was an act of youthful exuberance and not selfishness.
There are far too many examples of individual celebrations in professional and college sports today but I do not feel this was that type of premeditated act. It was simply an emotional reaction from a player who had played his heart out for 39 minutes and 56 seconds. Are there lessons to be learned from this? Absolutely and I believe they have been.
Other questions centered on crowd control, particularly at the conclusion of the game when our fans rushed the court. This particular game was somewhat unique in that it was 23 years in the making so emotions were high in a very thrilling victory. There is always a balance that we work with regarding events. Creating and promoting a fun and exciting environment while maintaining proper control can be challenging. While no significant incidents occurred at the UConn game, as we work to make these types of games more commonplace we will also continue to review and evaluate our event management practices to insure that we maintain the proper environment.
Question: I am a student at UMass. I was wondering why the promoting for football around campus was minimal at best (with the exception of the Colgate game). Why was this?
People (especially students) will not come to the game unless they obviously know about the game. Also, will there be any night home football games next year after seeing that the Colgate game was such a huge success?
Larry From South Boston
McCutcheon: Larry, reaching out to the UMass student body is one of the most important components of our athletic department marketing mission. We realize that in order to create the type of environment our fans, both students and non-students alike, are looking for comes from an enthusiastic student crowd.
That said, reaching our students is never easy and we are getting away from many traditional types of advertising/marketing. For example, you will now see Sam the Minuteman and Mr. Slice driving around campus on game day letting students know about an upcoming event. We have put sandwich boards around campus, used sidewalk chalk and continue to have our cheerleaders and staff pass out tickets at the DC's. The Housing office has also helped by placing large schedule signs around the South West residential area.
We also feel that having more night games at McGuirk Stadium will help increase our student attendance numbers. The Colgate game on Sept. 11, 2004 was one of the most exciting events that has taken place on campus is quite some time. Adding permanent lights to the stadium will allow us to have more night games and ultimately provide more of an opportunity for our students to attend football games.
Question: I am very interested in becoming an Athletic Director an I was just wondering what types of schooling you need in order to do that. I am a student here at UMass and I'm majoring in Sports Management but I want to know what else I will need to do once I get out of here. What did you do to get where you are today?
Dave from Windsor Locks, Conn.
McCutcheon: Dear Dave, you have already made a great decision by attending the UMass Sports Management program for a career in athletic administration. It is one of the most respected programs in the country and this will help getting your foot in the door. If your intent is to be an Athletic Director at the collegiate level I think you will need to be flexible with the path you take to reach your goal. Remember you have selected a field that only has about 800 job opportunities if you are focused on an NCAA institution and if the limited to Division I only about 330. I do not raise this to discourage you only to put things in perspective. You can probably talk to 100 ADs and get as many different career paths that they took to their positions.
My advice would be to find the area that you are most interested and are most prepared for, be it in sports information, fund raising, business administration or other and try to get started in that concentration and grow from there. Your first job will no doubt not be exactly what you envisioned or where you thought you would be. That's where the flexibility comes in. My career path has seen stops in Ohio, Saudi Arabia, Maine, California and now Massachusetts and I have moved probably less than most ADs. However you go, stick with it and enjoy the ride. It's a great profession that can be extremely satisfying personally and professionally. Good luck.
