SMU AD Rick Hart on ACC planning, fundraising: Part 1

SMU athletic director Rick Hart spoke with On The Pony Express about the aftermath of the move to the Atlantic Coast Conference, what’s next in planning, fundraising and beyond. Here’s Part 1 of our Q&A with Hart on what’s next for the athletic department.

Q: Now that the ACC move has been approved, been pushed through, the celebration has happened, what’s the aftermath been like for the athletic department just in the planning process now of joining that league and what needs to be done and hires and all of that?

RH: “Hopefully, the celebration will be ongoing, but yes, we did at least formalize it at Armstrong Fieldhouse, which was a lot of fun. I was speaking to a graduate class yesterday, got asked a similar question and you know, oftentimes if you get a new job, there can be a two or three week period of time where you’re working the job you have and then as soon as the day ends for that job you you start looking ahead and working on your next job. So, you’re working two jobs for a period of time.

“That’s kind of what we’re doing now. Instead of for a few weeks, we’re going to need to do that for 10 or so months, but it’s exciting. It’s the exact labor that we wanted to be doing, you know, we welcome it. We embrace it. It’s energizing, but there’s a lot that we have to accomplish to transition successfully to the ACC and to be able to compete starting on July 1, 2024.”

Q: What kind of changes does that bring? What are the certain departments that you are going to have to expand at SMU and things like that, if that makes sense?

RH: “Yeah, it does. The way we’re approaching it, we have a pretty good sense for some of it, but we want it to be a really thorough, inclusive process. We’re going to each coach or sport and each unit and making sure that we hear directly from them in terms of what they see as being the primary challenges and opportunities and then helping us to prioritize those.

“So, we’ll gather all that information, consolidate it, that process is already underway. Again, some of it we kind of knew going in, but things start to develop. Then we’ll work backwards from the resources that are available and the priorities that we put in place to activate those enhancements or those changes.

“And really with the focus first and foremost being on the student-athlete experience, student-athlete benefits, available coaching positions or allowable coaching positions, support services, and then we’ll kind of go out from there. That’s a big part of what we’re doing, is gathering that information then the data that we need from now the ACC schools to make sure that again we’re appropriately positioned to provide the type of experience and to compete in that new environment.”

Q: A lot of the expansion is that centered around support staff, is it around coaches? I know it’s in the early infant stages, but is the SMU athletic department having to expand in that aspect, too?

RH: “We will need to. I’m not being evasive, but part of this exercise is managing expectations too, right? When you announce that you’ve raised over $100 million in seven days, it’s an awesome thing. I mean, I can’t even describe to you how moving and inspiring it is for all of us that there are people who want to give that generously so quickly because they believe and understand the moment they were experiencing and the opportunity that’s in front of us.

“At the same time, that shouldn’t signal to anybody that the work is done, that we have what we need, that we don’t need everyone to participate, or that all of a sudden that means we’re going to be resourced where we want to be over time in the ACC. So from a communications and an expectation standpoint, that’s what we have to guard against. 

“To get back to your question, yes, scope and scale is going to change. There are going to need to be some departmental and staffing areas that need to be enhanced as well. Obviously, we’ve got to look at everything from which positions that we have or need to competitively, how do we compensate to recruit and retain our top talent? 

“That goes across the whole department with it all coming back to, how is it going to impact the student-athlete experience? How is it going to help us generate revenue? How is it going to impact the fan experience? That’s the reason I’m avoiding specifics right now is because, as I said, we’ll work backwards from the resources that are available. So all this will be prioritized. Some of it may need to be phased, some of it may occur over a number of years. So, that’s the unknown right now because that effort to generate those resources is ongoing.”

Q: When you look at that hundred million dollars, was that something that was kind of lined up ahead of the move to a power conference for SMU and specifically the ACC? Is that also just the byproduct of getting the news and people and more people coming out of the woodwork to donate

RH :”A little bit of both. There were certainly a core group of individuals who understood the level of commitment that this would require and who made it clear that they were going to support that effort at a particular level. But many of them responded to the moment and, again, the magnitude of the moment. I can’t tell you how many people, some of these individuals are people who have supported athletics over the years and they’d be the, quote, obvious names. Others of them, not so much.

“Because there was an understanding that this is a civic moment. This is a moment that is going to impact the city of Dallas. It’s a moment that’s gonna impact the entire university community. It’s gonna elevate SMU, not just SMU athletics. It’s really, I know the word can be overused, but in every sense of the word, it’s a transformative moment for us.

“So, there were others that stepped forward, again, who maybe they did it because they understand the impact on the institution. That this isn’t just an athletics moment and that will broaden that effort. And again, I expect that theme will continue. There will be people who we expect will participate and I think there will be people who either haven’t participated ever or in some time who will want to be a part of this ACC transition.”

Q: With a move like this does the long-term master plan for athletic facilities and some of those big, big, big picture projects and things like that, does that change overnight, in a sense, because of the move to the ACC? Moody’s still new, but are there things that now become amplified because of a move to the ACC? Kind of the same thing on other facilities across SMU Athletics and raising money for that.

RH: “Good question. I’ll answer it this way. You’re never done with your facilities plan and it’s always evolving. And so, you know, again, I expect that investment in facilities will be an ongoing effort and need. That said, we feel very good that because of the investments we’ve made over the last decade across all of our facilities, which have been well-documented that for this period of time, if the priority needs to be and is operational then we can do that and not take a step back as it relates to the quality of our facilities and how they allow us to position for championships. 

“So, I think that that’s how we’re approaching it is that right now the operational needs and completing the facility projects that we’ve already committed to, that’s the priority, but you know over the course of time as we solidify our operating resources, I would expect that we’ll cycle back and the capital piece of it will reemerge.”