The challenges Rossini faces as AD are as real as his Sun Devil passion
Seven long months have passed since ASU’s former athletic director, Ray Anderson, finished a mostly disastrous tenure. Terrible hires in Arizona State’s major sports, with the cherry on top in hiring a football head coach who led the Sun Devils into numerous recruiting violations that culminated with recently announced NCAA sanctions, have certainly presented an athletic department in major need of repair.
Many had hoped that ASU president Dr. Michael Crow would have looked outside the school for an experienced athletic director to right the ship and bring a much-needed outside perspective and approach to the ailing department.
Alas, seven months after Anderson’s departure, Crow decided to promote Graham Rossini, the athletic department’s executive senior associate athletic director and Chief Business Officer. When asked how many other candidates, external or internal, he interviewed, Crow replied: “Zero.”
According to Crow, the long wait to name a permanent athletic director was due to the fact that the athletic department had to go through some major operational restructuring again thanks to Ray Anderson’s tenure, as well as wanting to have the NCAA investigation resolved, which did take place on April 19th.
The ASU president indicated that one of the major decisions made during this department overhaul was to eliminate most of the costs that the department incurs, mainly scholarship costs, which the school will now absorb. Therefore, time was needed in order for Rossini to begin his post without carrying over the debt incurred before his appointment. For an athletic department that has often been hamstrung by low revenues compared to its conference foes, this was a vital move to be made. Furthermore, it’s an absolute gift for an inexperienced athletic director.
“A lot of athletic programs around the country nowadays borrow money from the universities,” Crow explained, “and then they carry debt with the university. So we have eliminated all of that. We have built a structure now for finances, which can weather any hurricane going forward. We’ve built the athletic facilities district as a legal entity that generates the revenue to build things like this (football) stadium. We’ve created all types of other financial structures that are going to allow ASU athletics to be able to advance.
“What has happened in the past is that athletics was considered an auxiliary enterprise. It’s not an auxiliary enterprise now. It’s at the core of the enterprise of ASU. So we’ve changed the model that’s going to allow us to have our athletic department focus on victory and success of our student-athletes academically and athletically. The rest of the enterprise is going to worry about the bigger financial issues.”
Rossini, an Arizona State alumnus, will oversee a department with no fewer than nine of his fellow alumni as head coaches. His Sun Devil passion is purely genuine, and if nothing else, that can help combat the fear that stringing accomplishments over a longer period of time in a place he cherishes could prevent him from having wandering eyes for greener pastures.
Yet, the pessimistic ASU fans out there, and let's face it, they may be more than just a vocal minority, are certainly not pleased with an athletic department that hasn't been run efficiently by its predecessor. Ray Anderson and the athletic director he replaced, Lisa Love, were both hired by Crow with no athletic director experience. And it would be hardly harsh to state that the majority of each of their tenures, reflected some of the most forgettable periods of the athletic department this century.
While no one implies that Rossini was an integral part of Anderson’s adverse actions and philosophies, he was still a high-ranking administrator in a department that has been marred with dysfunction so far this decade. Time will tell how slowly or quickly Rossini can change that perception.
"I understand the expectations of our fan base," Rossini admitted. "I'm a Sun Devil fan, first and foremost. That's the reason that I'm here today. I understand the expectations, but what I want our fans to understand is that we, as an athletic department, are behind their experience. As simple as it sounds, we want to obsess over the people that obsess over us. That's going to be looking at all aspects of game day, aspects of our fan experience, and the touchpoints our fans interact with. We embrace the high expectations.
"I'm a big believer that trust is earned. We'll do that hand in hand, community by community, group to group. We want to make ourselves available and be present and visible in the community. We know there is an incredible passion for what ASU can be."
Lack of athletic director experience aside, he undoubtedly has a strong proven business sports acumen. At the young age of 44, he already has 13 years of executive experience under his belt with the Arizona Diamondbacks. He served as Vice President of Special Projects and Fan Experience and led over $300 million in capital projects during his time in MLB.
Since he arrived at ASU in 2021, he has been charged with the growth of Sun Devil Athletics' external departments, such as driving new ticket sales, corporate partnerships, philanthropic contributions, and an increased focus on NIL, fan experience, and letter-winner outreach. He led the athletic department's efforts to secure a 15-year naming rights partnership with Mountain America Stadium and a 10-year extension to the naming rights of Desert Financial Arena.
In his press conference, he stated unequivocally that he’s “100% committed to NIL,” a stark departure from the narrative that Anderson touted in his last couple of years on the job. Rossini added that he looks to parlay his experience with corporate sponsorships to bolster the NIL program in Tempe but is also committed to the grassroots efforts of fan engagement in that arena.
Sun Devil fans are fretting over the fact that ASU has 26 Sports, which is only one of two Big 12 programs that have over 20 Sports (Arizona is the other with 22). Surely, the aforementioned financial structure Crow alluded to has the potential to prevent any sports from being cut. Nonetheless, Rossini made no qualms about the fact that the emphasis of the athletic department needs to be placed on the big three sports, football, men's basketball, and baseball, as revenue generators and doing everything possible to set them up for success.
With all the criticism this hire has received, and unquestionably some of that has been unfair towards Rossini, ASU's new athletic director ‘won the press conference’ today. He presented the perfect combination of narrative and delivery. He came across as very communicative, thoughtful, and ardent in his love for his alma mater.
Granted, actions will have to back up all the right words spoken on Thursday morning. A questionable hiring process aside, I think it's fair to be cautiously optimistic about Graham Rossini's appointment and what he can accomplish as ASU's new athletic director.
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