Kleinlein Excited About Direction of GS Athletics
7/5/2017 2:00:00 PM | General
The fifth in a five-part Q&A session with Georgia Southern AD Tom Kleinlein
PART 1
PART 2
PART 3
PART 4
Q: Looking to the future, are you comfortable with 17 sports or are you looking to add a sport down the road?
TK: I'm pretty comfortable with where we are. For me, you have to look at why you'd be adding a sport. If you're adding something, be good at it. Don't just add a sport to have it. I felt very comfortable with the additions of rifle and women's golf. We were positioned to add programs that added value to our department as well as Georgia Southern University and those two did just that. But those two not only added value, they've been pretty successful early on. The rifle team won the Air Rifle Championship at the Southern Conference meet this year and the women's golf team won their first individual tournament in just their second year as a program this past spring. Now we have to spread the word that we have these programs and that they're successful programs, but that will come in time.
Q: The new Rivalry Series has gone to State the first two years. What needs to change to swing the scoring in that?
TK: We as an institution have to compete better. End of story. The great thing about the rivalry series, and I know a lot of our fans ask "why did we do it" and "how come we did it with Georgia State" but our rivalry series gives us a presence in Atlanta. When we go up there and play, we're playing against an intra-conference rival in a major media market. And the media needs to cover those games. How do we get the Atlanta Journal-Constitution to cover us? If we go up there and play those guys and we beat them, they have to write a story. So getting a presence in Atlanta was a great part of the rivalry series, but it also gave something for our sports to rally behind. We've got to improve on the field. That's the reality of it. It's pretty cut and dry, you either win or you lose and we need to start winning more, in all sports.
Q: What are your goals for the department each year? Are there certain marks in the Director's Cup nationally, the Bubas Cup in the Sun Belt or the Rivalry Series with Georgia State that you to obtain?
TK: I think all three are very important. I want to be in the top half of the Bubas Cup, which is the Sun Belt's award for all-program excellence. It's a little skewed because there are some schools that offer sports that we don't and don't count sports that we do, like rifle and swimming, don't count. But if you go across the board and every sport finishes in the top six in the Sun Belt, we'd be in the top half of the Bubas Cup. On a national level, if you're in the top 100 of the Director's Cup, you're functioning at a pretty high level as an athletic department at this level and for what our resources are. But again, our resources are going to dictate how successful we are. This is a great place. Statesboro is a special city. Eagle Nation loves Georgia Southern Athletics and this institution. It's a great place to live and we have a great President in Dr. Jaimie Hebert. I think our institution is on the rise, so it's about being able to resource our programs so that when we find those coaches who are successful, and then we can consistently battle for top 100 spots in the Director's Cup and top finishes in the Bubas Cup.
Q: Last question here, but what is your vision for Georgia Southern athletics looking toward the future?
TK: Moving forward, I think we are an institution now that's going to have over 26,000 students which is pretty incredible when you look at the numbers in the 1980s to where we are now. There are some Power 5 schools that don't have that aren't that big. How does the athletic department match the growth of our university? That's what we have to continue doing. I am a big believer in comprehensive athletics. I don't believe in being good in just on thing or one sport; I want to be good in all 17 of our sports. That challenges our ability to raise money and drive revenue. If you want to be good across the board, you have to raise money and drive revenue. In five years, where do I want to be? I want to be an athletic department that's in the top half of our conference across the board and competing nationally for championships in sports that we have a little bit of history and tradition in. In my world, you have to stay relevant all year round and you have to stay relevant in the sports that get you the most media attention, which are football, men's basketball and baseball. If we're competing nationally in those three and we're competing in all of the other sports for conference titles and NCAA berths, we've done a good job.
