Mack Rhoades article

[Z-Pouch]

Nice artilce on the new AD.----------------------------------------------Zips AD all about peopleRhoades considers communication key factor in management, is eager to build football stadiumBy Tom Gaffney Beacon Journal sportswriterMidnight was nearing and Doc Sadler desperately needed some professional advice.Sadler, who was in his first year as head basketball coach at the University of Texas-El Paso on that 2005 evening, knew that the best sounding board would be Mack Rhoades IV, the school's associate athletic director.``It was about 11 o'clock, and I had some issues with the basketball team that were bothering me,'' Sadler said. ``I called Mack on the phone. A lot of guys would have said to wait until the morning to talk about it. He said, `Let's visit. Pick me up.' ``I went to his house and we drove around in my car for three hours... it was 2 a.m. when we finished. We talked about the program, problems we were having and he gave me some great advice. He is a guy who is very, very professional and will do anything to help his coaches be successful. He has a bright future as an athletics director.''The University of Akron shared that opinion when it named Rhoades director of athletics Dec. 20. The 40-year-old Rhoades has taken over a Zips program that includes 18 sports (10 women and eight men) and has an annual budget of $14 million.Rhoades remembers the midnight ride with Doc Sadler but did not think it was noteworthy or beyond his job responsibilities.``I want my staff to work with me, not for me,'' Rhoades said. ``The staff has to be able to do the job they were hired to do, and it's my job to help them do it.``My philosophy of management is based on communication.`` I would hope I clearly communicate my expectations and then hold people accountable. That can't always be done 9-to-5.'' Darren D'Attilio, UTEP's associate athletic director for development, worked for Rhoades for seven years and said such words are not mere rhetoric.``He is the type of boss you want to work for. He has great relationships with so many people. He brings everybody up,'' D'Attilio said. ``He is a bright guy with a tremendous amount of experience. He has tremendous potential (as an athletics director). I would like to work for him again.''Todd Wyard, UTEP's associate athletic director for marketing, began working for Rhodes two years ago and said the job was not a chore under him. ``He created a family atmosphere,'' Wyard said. ``If he asked for anything, we would do it because you knew he would do the same for you.''Rhoades was considered one of the nation's rising stars in athletic administration when UA formed a search committee to look for a replacement for Mike Thomas, who resigned to become athletics director at the University of Cincinnati. The committee hired a search firm, Eastman & Beaudine, to provide candidates. Rhoades was on that list, began the interview process and became one of two finalists. Rhoades accepted the job in mid-December after having turned down similar offers at three smaller schools in 2004 and 2005.``There were several factors why I accepted. First and foremost, I saw that the university as a whole was moving forward,'' Rhoades said. ``Second, I liked the athletic success the school had been having, and I knew there was potential for more. ``And I liked the community. My wife and I always thought this time would come (to be an athletics director), and we wanted to move to a great community to raise our three daughters. We heard nothing but wonderful things about the Akron community... that it was family oriented.''Rhoades comes to Akron with 11 years of experience at Yale, Marquette and UTEP. He was at UTEP for seven years, holding three positions there. While at UTEP, he worked in fund-raising, marketing, development, licensing, media relations, budgeting, ticket sales and facilities upgrades, among other areas. Two of his primary team responsibilities were in football and men's basketball.UA president Dr. Luis Proenza interviewed the two finalists and enthusiastically endorsed the search committee's choice of Rhoades. ``We feel fortunate to find a person of his caliber,'' Proenza said. ``He has come in with a huge amount of energy and great ideas. We are excited about where his vision can take us. When you meet him, you can't help but be impressed with his depth of experience and the range of his ideas. The choice was straightforward.''Rhoades takes over an athletics program that has been invigorated by successes in football, men's soccer and men's basketball. However, those successes have not been accompanied by corresponding revenues and attendance increases. Rhoades said generating higher attendance, especially in football and basketball, is one of his biggest challenges.``With so many colleges in close proximity and with Cleveland pro sports, we have to try to find our niche,'' Rhoades said. ``We have to get people excited, get people to our games. ``Tickets are the lifeblood of any athletics program. When people ask me how to best support our programs, I tell them to buy a ticket.'' Rhoades said UA must have help. ``You can put together great advertising campaigns and that has been done here,'' he said. ``But we have to do more than that. We have to get out into the community. ``We need to find people who care about Akron and who will volunteer to go out into the community and help us sell tickets. It has worked at other places and it can work here.''A healthy increase in football revenues is important, Rhoades said. He oversaw a football program at UTEP that led Conference USA in attendance in 2005 with an average home crowd of 47,000. In 2005, the Zips' had an average home crowd of 10,893 at the Rubber Bowl. In the long term, Rhoades' experience in football and in fund-raising will be needed because a new stadium has moved to the forefront of UA's athletic goals. Preliminary plans seem to indicate a facility of between 25,000-to-30,000 seats will be started in the Exchange Street-Brown Street area of campus with completion scheduled around the end of the decade. ``The bottom line is the Rubber Bowl needs a lot of work,'' Rhoades said. ``Is that cost efficient, given where it is located? The charge to build a new football stadium is extremely important. It is something that is needed and is something that will make a statement nationally. ``It certainly will help our football program, so it can sustain the success it has had. It's a win-win situation for everybody.''Rhoades said his personal and professional philosophies were formed growing up in Tucson, Ariz., being raised by his parents, Carmen and Mack Rhoades III, and having a close relationship with his grandfather, Mack Rhoades, Jr. ``My grandfather was a people-person,'' said Rhoades, who played baseball and basketball in high school but did not play any sports at the University of Arizona. ``He was a great example of being a giving person, putting other people before himself.'' In recent years, his personal hero is his wife, Amy. ``With the workload and hours that everybody in this industry puts in, you need a spouse who is supportive,'' Rhoades said. ``For the most part, she takes care of all the responsibilities of the home. I would not be here without my wife, Amy.''Rhoades said one particular group of the UA community will be part of his professional focus.``Student-athletes are special people. That's why I am in this business,'' he said. ``You will see me at a lot of different events, not just football and basketball. I enjoy watching student-athletes... watching them grow.'' Rhoades has been on the job for only a month and said it is too early to make major changes. He said coaches and staff members will be judged on success on the field and in the classroom.``You win with people. That will be the bottom line,'' Rhoades said. ``People will be held accountable. Mediocrity is not a term we will use here. In everything we do, we will do to the best of our ability.''

[Sloopy]

He is a major step up for Akron.

[zippyrifle32]

he came down and met with our team. i must say he's a great guy and i buy into his vision of akron athletics.

[Captain Kangaroo]

Rhoades takes over an athletics program that has been invigorated by successes in football, men's soccer and men's basketball. However, those successes have not been accompanied by corresponding revenues and attendance increases. Rhoades said generating higher attendance, especially in football and basketball, is one of his biggest challenges.

Increasing attendance in basketball is not one of his biggest challenges. Our attendance has been rising for 2 years. We will draw 5,200 and 5,500 for our last 2 games of 2006. We will be a major force next season in hoops, riding the coat tails of 2006. Plus we will have a decent home schedule. Mack needs to focus on football. Hoops work is done, whether Tom Gaffney can figure it out or not. If the arena is expanded and renovated...THEN there is work to do to fill it. Or, if he wants to do some hoops work....try to figure out a way to dislodge the dead wood from the lower section and get some vocal fans there. Or, figure out a way to get the students together, instead of splitting them into two small sections. In general...the whole JAR should be gutted...but that's a separate topic.