University of Tennessee Athletics
Three Years Of Progress Under Hart
September 29, 2014 | General
By Brian Rice KNOXVILLE, Tenn.
UTSports.com
This month marks three years since Hart took the job of directing the newly combined athletics department at the University of Tennessee. Those three years have been filled with challenges, opportunities, progress and a shared vision that has the department set to move forward as the landscape of college athletics continues to change.
From tangible examples like the new facilities, the Pat Summitt Plaza, and the hire of Butch Jones and five other head coaches to the dozens of upgrades and plans that have improved the student-athlete experience at UT, the program is moving forward. And it is doing so with one goal and one mission.
Three Years of Progress
As with taking over any organization, there were surprises and unexpected challenges once Hart took over weeks after the official announcement of his hire on Sept. 5, 2011. The process of having to tackle those right out of the gate was difficult, but it helped set the tone for the progress needed in the department in a period of transition.
"We managed to wade into those challenges and collectively, through the efforts of a lot of people, to over come them," Hart said. "The accomplishments are tied to the challenges."
His first challenge was not an unknown when Hart took over. Tennessee announced when it began its AD search that the longstanding practice of separate athletic departments for men's and women's sports would come to a end. The new director would oversee a combined program.
Though many areas within the departments had consolidated over the five years prior, the merging of the overall structure of the program was a long process. But it was a process that produced a department that was leaner, yet stronger, and finally had a common goal. Setting that goal was one of the processes that made the transition work.
"I think it's very gratifying to see us moving forward collectively in the same direction," said Hart. "We don't have silos, we don't have people pulling in opposite directions, we have a defined direction that everybody participated in. When we did our mission, vision and values statement we took a couple of months and everyone had input into that, student-athletes, staff, coaches everyone. What my goal was in re-drafting that was that we could, in a few years, feel good that we were living that. It wasn't just something that we stuck in a media guide, when people read that mission, vision and values statement that they would say `This is who these people really are.' When we have that, then we will have something very special, and we're beginning to get to that point."
The first three years were also defined by changes in personnel, from head coaches to administrators. The changes were another chance for the department to grow.
"I think any hire is critical," Hart said. "I've said that my entire career. We have a lot of really talented people who were already here and are still here and making significant contributions to us getting to our destination."
The hires that drew the most attention came in six head coaching positions. The reasons behind the changes varied from circumstances. Hart had been on the job just over four months when he made his first coaching hire, bringing in Brian Pensky to lead the women's soccer program in January 2012. Later that spring, he tapped Holly Warlick to take over the Lady Volunteer basketball program as Pat Summitt transitioned to head coach emeritus after her diagnosis of early onset dementia.
"When you have opportunities, regardless of what presented the opportunity, to hire someone, you have to hire a difference maker," Hart said. "The more times you can do that successfully, the more your organization will grow exponentially. We've had the opportunity to hire administrators and coaches and I couldn't be happier with the way they have joined the difference makers that were already in this athletics department."
The hire of Butch Jones as head football coach in December 2012 was the highest profile and most significant among the coaching transitions. In a world where an athletics director's tenure is often defined by the success of the school's highest-profile sport, getting the "right" coach is everything. Jones bought in and fit in right away. His mantra of "One Tennessee" became the chief rallying cry for the department moving forward.
"I'm a student-athlete focused administrator, and always have been," Hart said. "I learned probably more about life through my participation in athletics than I learned in the classroom. I value very much my degrees but it teaches you real world lessons. So I've always prioritized that. Our student-athletes understand that is not lip service, they understand that we have become One Tennessee."
One moment defined the "One Tennessee" theme, a moment that came the day after the highest finish by a team sport thus far in Hart's tenure. The Tennessee softball team returned home from the Women's College World Series in 2013 with a runner-up finish. Hart had been in the stands for the championship series in Oklahoma City and was there at Lee Stadium when the team returned from the trip. He wasn't alone. Hundreds of people met the bus upon its return from the airport, a crowd made up of people from every walk of the athletics department, including every head coach on campus.
"We had representation from our entire department, athletes, coaches and administrators out to greet them," Hart said. "That was a powerful day in our transition to one program."
The Challenge of Now
Look around college football and you will notice a trend in the stands. Student sections are not filled like they once were. It is a national problem that goes deeper than just fewer fans in the most visible section of most stadiums. The future alumni are not developing the long-term relationship with their schools' athletic programs that past generations have.
Reversing that trend at Tennessee is an ongoing mission. Much like the consolidation of the department two years ago, the current challenge has been greeted with communication and finding a common goal to build a solution around.
"I've always been a huge proponent of developing relationships and opening the lines of communication with student leadership on campus," Hart said. "We've had them over here to visit with us, we've gone to them, I enjoy going to the luncheons with student leaders that Chancellor Cheek has put into motion. Butch has done a great job, as have as other coaches, of meeting with student leadership as well.
"I think the students need to know that you really do have an open door policy and that when you say you'll stop what you're doing to meet with students that you actually do it. That it's not some kind of lip service that doesn't have any merit, we have made that invitation real."
The investment of time and communication has paid off. It was impressive, if not necessarily surprising, that students used all 12,000 tickets set aside for them for the home opener against Utah State. What was surprising to many was that the students did it once again for a noon kickoff against Arkansas State a week later. Students have also claimed their full allotment for the SEC home opener against Florida.
"We are the envy of our peers relative to student attendance at sporting events," Hart said. "In a era where student attendance is on a significant decline, we have gone against the grain and been on a significant incline. I applaud our student leadership, they have taken that on as a challenge."
The challenge was issued in a meeting with representatives from student government and leaders from other campus groups following the 2012 football season. Hart and the administration opened a dialogue on the hard numbers of declining student attendance nationally. But the tone of the meeting was not to tell students what they were doing wrong, it was to ask the question of where the athletics department was missing the mark on making attending games an enticing proposition.
Student issues including group seating and the ability to use student dining cards at football and other athletic events were immediately brought to Chancellor Jimmy Cheek, who was eager to help the students and the athletics department connect.
"We did those things and they were very appreciative that we got their input and didn't sit on it, we moved on it," Hart said. "That develops that level of trust that is so important in any personal or professional relationship."
The current Vols that they fill stadiums to watch are setting records off the field as well. The academic situation when Hart's tenure began was difficult, to put it mildly. To avoid a potentially dire situation, Hart brought in Dr. Joe Scogin as Senior Associate Athletics Director & Assistant Provost in charge of the program's academics. Scogin and his staff at the Thornton Athletics Student Life Center led an academic turnaround that has made academics a source of pride for the department.
"Everybody participated in that effort and they had to," Hart said in crediting Scogin, Cheek and other campus administrators. "That had to be our number one priority after compliance and we averted what could have been a very tough situation.
"We never want to be in that setting again. That occurred over a six-year period, it didn't just happen overnight. Not only did we avert that, we have had an incredible year and a half academically. Our student-athletes have set records in GPA, graduation rates, APR scores, you name it. I feel very, very good about the base of where we are academically."
Future Rewards
The pieces are now in place at Tennessee and the view from Hart's office shows a small slice of it. The segment of Lake Loudon Blvd. that serves as a front door for Tennessee's athletic facilities has gone from an eyesore to being one of the most visually appealing stretches on campus.
Three floors below Hart's office, the Ray and Lucy Hand Digital Studio is nearing completion. The studio will serve as a center of activity for Tennessee broadcasts produced for the SEC Network and UTSports.com. Studio shows, coaches shows, live network appearances from coaches and student-athletes and even visiting shows from ESPN and the SEC Network will originate from the facility. It will also serve as a control room for live broadcasts of Tennessee events in a variety of sports for the SEC Network.
The most prominent feature of the studio is the large glass windows that cover its length, giving fans a behind-the-scenes look inside anytime they walk by.
"We're very excited about what the studio will do to take us forward from a technology perspective and from a fan interaction perspective," said Hart. "I think it will be a Times Square-like experience for our fans."
And like Times Square, the re-birth of the Lake Loudon corridor has been an aesthetic game-changer for a side of campus long in need of a facelift.
"Lake Loudon has become an entry point of beautification for our campus, the centerpiece being the Pat Summitt Plaza," Hart said. "The trains are now gone, the landscaping catches your eye, the overgrown trees have been removed. This is a point of pride now for our entire campus. The studio will become an exclamation point to the Lake Loudon beautification project."
A little farther up Lake Loudon Blvd. is the spot where Tennessee will take its next major step. Where Stokely Athletics Center and Gibbs Hall once stood, an expansion of the outdoor football practice fields and construction of a state-of-the-art residence hall are underway. The loss of both buildings pulled at the heartstrings of Tennessee fans and alumni, but their replacements will be more difference makers for the department.
"What parents and guardians ask me first on recruiting trips is `Where will my son or daughter live?'" Hart said. "That's the number one question, and we did not have a great answer for that. When you go nearly 40 years without building a residence hall, you don't have a great answer for that. Now, under Dr. Cheek's leadership and his strategic plan, we have Brown Hall, we have another residence hall going up, we are a campus that is improving."
The new residence hall will be across the street from the Anderson Training Center, a facility utilized by all sports with its two weight rooms and training rooms as well as Smokey's Grill, the athletic training table. On the other side of the new residence hall is the Thornton Center, the home of academic support for student-athletes.
"To have all of that together, because the next questions are where will he or she get academic support, where will they eat, where will they train, these are questions parents want to know. We'll have tremendous responses to those questions and the proximity of where they will do all that will be almost unparalleled around the country by our peers."
The work of many individuals has put the Tennessee program in position to move forward. But now is not the time to sit back and watch for Hart and his staff. Their work continues so the fans can be the ones to enjoy the payoff.
"It's very exciting," Hart says if the future that he sees coming for the program he leads. "I tell recruits and parents that they are coming to Tennessee at one of the most exciting times in our history. We're exploding, we're becoming the cool university. Our athletic program is on the move.
"When you look at how our fans and alumni have supported our Campaign for Comprehensive Excellence, it's one more tangible tribute to the passion and support of our fans."
