I am hopeful that the new AD will continue the active support for the non-rev sports that we enjoyed for the 16-year tenure of Debbie Yow. All I have to go on at this point is his resume, but that is a hopeful sign, especially based on his recent previous assignments at Army and Oregon State.
Army has a large multi-sport program including 24 sports: 15 for men, 9 for women. Of course, being a service academy, some of the sports are a bit esoteric, i.e., rifle, sprint football, men's gymnastics, etc., but there is no question he maintained a long service academy tradition of support for a broad program of athletics. The fact that he had ten different sports making it to the NCAA tournament during his tenure is encouraging to say the least. One always has to keep in mind that Army is not recruiting athletes per se. They are getting the people who want to drive M-1A1 tanks and Apache helicopters -- sports is a "nice to know" matter for a service academy candidate. The fact that they do this well in any sport is a tribute to the athletes and coaches.
His tenure at Oregon State may be more relevant, given the greater similarity to the situation at Maryland. Here again, we see a 17-sport program and his responsibilities included supervising seven of those sports. It is always good to know the AD had experience working closely with a number of coaches in different sports.
Last and far from least, his background as a fundraiser is crucial, especially in this economy. The old pattern has always been that when the revenue sports catch a cold, the non-rev sports get pneumonia. Hopefully, Kevin Anderson can head off that cycle. As an old Terp, I wish him the best of luck in what is going to be a very challenging job.
Army has a large multi-sport program including 24 sports: 15 for men, 9 for women. Of course, being a service academy, some of the sports are a bit esoteric, i.e., rifle, sprint football, men's gymnastics, etc., but there is no question he maintained a long service academy tradition of support for a broad program of athletics. The fact that he had ten different sports making it to the NCAA tournament during his tenure is encouraging to say the least. One always has to keep in mind that Army is not recruiting athletes per se. They are getting the people who want to drive M-1A1 tanks and Apache helicopters -- sports is a "nice to know" matter for a service academy candidate. The fact that they do this well in any sport is a tribute to the athletes and coaches.
His tenure at Oregon State may be more relevant, given the greater similarity to the situation at Maryland. Here again, we see a 17-sport program and his responsibilities included supervising seven of those sports. It is always good to know the AD had experience working closely with a number of coaches in different sports.
Last and far from least, his background as a fundraiser is crucial, especially in this economy. The old pattern has always been that when the revenue sports catch a cold, the non-rev sports get pneumonia. Hopefully, Kevin Anderson can head off that cycle. As an old Terp, I wish him the best of luck in what is going to be a very challenging job.