As the 2007-2008 school year begins, so does a new chapter in VCU athletics. VCU Director of Athletics Norwood Teague sat down to answer some questions about the past, the present and the future.
CT: When you look back at 2006-2007, was there anything more that you wished to have accomplished?
NT: I wish we had won more conference champion-
ships. We are currently undergoing a strategic plan that will set some goals for conference championships going forward on a yearly basis.
CT: What were some of the high points of last season?
NT: We are proud of baseball and what they did. (Head coach) Paul (Keyes) continues to do an unbelievable job in that program. He’s won more CAA titles since we joined the league than any other team … I don’t know if we’ll ever understand the impact of what we did in basketball last year. To have that align like it did, it has raised our brand awareness and the awareness of the school. As far as that relates to the coming year and going forward, it does nothing but give us a shot in the arm. It will help recruiting in a lot of different sports … I don’t want to set the expectations too high, but I think we’re going to have a very successful year. Men’s soccer has done a good job recruiting. The women’s soccer program under the co-head coaches Tim and Tiffany … are low on numbers this year, but going forward that program looks very bright. Across the board I’m thrilled with whom we have and what we are doing. I tell people we are really operating at Mach three.
CT: Has last year’s basketball success opened the door to play bigger division I programs?
NT: I think it closed a lot of doors, to be honest with you. It’s a good problem. It’s a problem that’s a show of respect, but we’ve really struggled on the scheduling side of things because nobody wants to play us … We’ve also been demanding that we don’t want to “get bought” to go to Duke or (North) Carolina for a one-time shot. Plus people haven’t been knocking down our door to do that. We can go to a place like that and beat people and that can be a nightmare for them. We do have two high-end events that we are going to be involved in. We are going to play in the BB&T Classic against Maryland at the Verizon Center (Washington, D.C.), and we are going to a tournament in Puerto Rico.
CT: Any talk at all about a home and home series against Virginia or Virginia Tech?
NT: We’d love it to be a home and home, but they aren’t going to want it to be home and home. They would want it to be a minimum of two for one (VCU plays two road games, one at home). We’d like to do that, but it just hasn’t worked out.
CT: What’s the time frame on building a tennis complex at The Diamond, and has any progress been made?
NT: Not really. The time frame is really out of our hands. That’s the part that we have to sit back and wait for. The city and the (Richmond) Braves need to fi gure out where that will end up as far as the plans and the future. I think there is some progress behind closed doors, but they need to get a concrete situation before anything will fall into place.
CT: What are the goals for the athletic program as a whole for this coming year?
NT: I think one thing is to always have a high graduation rate. We’re here for education fi rst. Second is to win conference championships and to fi eld winning teams. Third is to be compliant. That means winning within the rules. For me personally, within those three is to build a budget. You need resources, and you need to fundraise and market. You have to put yourself in a position to do those three things. We do it every year, but we need to do it even more. Another one for me is to continue to hire great people. I’ve already seen the fruits of that over the last six months and it’s been incredible. Great people will re-invent what you do.