Long not interested in other conferences

Editor’s note: On July 17th, sports editor Joe Marchilena sat down with new Athletics… Editor’s note: On July 17th, sports editor Joe Marchilena sat down with new Athletics Director Jeff Long to discuss the future of the program. The following is a selection of excerpts from the second half of the interview.

The Pitt News: All the focus has been on adding football schools. What has been discussed about basketball?

Jeff Long: We’re in a process, now, of discussing our future; the future of our basketball- and football-playing schools together. The promise we both have, as we go into this process and discussions, is what can we do to make both football and basketball – and our Olympic sports – stronger? In those discussions, we’ll examine a number of different things.

We’ll look at a number of different options to make each other stronger, and one of those options … is whether the conference will stay together.

There’s also discussions about how we can stay together as a 16-team conference with eight football-playing schools and eight basketball schools and then, of course, our Olympic sports. With those options on the table, as we go forward, it’s about what we can do to strengthen this conference and strengthen the institutions that compete in it.

TPN: If a better offer were presented from another conference, would there be any consideration about leaving the Big East?

JL: Our focus is kind of just what I said. Right now, our focus is making our current grouping of football-playing schools and basketball schools as strong as we can be. Other things are just speculation. We’re not talking with any other conferences other than the group that we’re associated with now.

TPN: So, then, if that were to come up, it wouldn’t be an option?

JL: It’s difficult to say whether it would be an option because we’re talking in hypotheticals.Certainly, as an institution, we would listen to opportunities. We would need to do that for our institution, but I would say, as far as what is happening now, we’re focusing on strictly the current group of schools.

TPN: With the experience you have in dealing with student season-ticket programs at Oklahoma, would you consider changing the way, especially with basketball tickets, that it’s done here?

JL: To be honest, I’m still getting familiar with how we distribute our tickets to our students. I think student involvement is very important. When students get tickets and buy tickets, we want them to not only show up for the big games, we want them to show up for all games.

There’s a number of different plans and ways of going about enhancing the student experience, and we’re going to examine that as part of our normal process coming in. When we do that, we will get feedback and take feedback from students.

Feedback from students is important, [as are] understanding what their thoughts are and then bringing that together with the goals of the athletic program and finding the best way to bring those two groups together so we can both accomplish what we want.

TPN: One way to avoid having students show up for only the big games would be to have a stronger non-conference schedule. While he was interim athletics director, Marc Boehm had said that the basketball program wasn’t at the point where it could make a stronger non-conference schedule. After last season’s Big East and NCAA Tournament run, is it at that point now?

JL: I would say, yes, I think our success has shown that our programs have advanced to the point where competition is important, and we can begin to build on our non-conference schedule.

But what I think about our students is [they] need to feel good about our program, and [I want] our students to come and support [their] fellow students, regardless of who we’re playing. If you look at the top schools around the country, students aren’t just deciding to come to just the big games.

We want that kind of support from our students and we’ll be reaching out and trying to work with our students to get that. Students coming, enjoying the game and getting into the game is part of my marketing efforts to get other people to come and buy full-price tickets to those games, because students are part of that atmosphere that we want to create.

TPN: Heading into the second year at the Petersen Events Center and with a new coach and some important players graduating, do you think there would be any kind of drop-off in attendance?

JL: I should hope not. With an undefeated [home season], I would think our fans would still be excited about what’s going on. The fact that we opened a new facility, one that’s as beautiful and user-friendly and fan-friendly as this facility is, and we’ve got a basketball program that’s going to be pretty good, and we haven’t lost a game on our new court, I would hope that excitement would remain, and I believe it is. Every indication I have from our fans is that there’s no slowing down. And we have, as I understand, over a thousand people on our waiting list to buy tickets.

TPN: What would you say to a recruit who is unsure about coming to Pitt?

JL: The first thing that I always point to is an outstanding academic institution. You can’t trade that. Then I’d tell them to look where we’ve come from and look where we’re going. This is a program on the rise.

There are several different ways to look at an institution, but this is a program that’s on the rise. They’ve got the opportunity to step into a very exciting situation. We are just beginning to engage the people of Pittsburgh in this area and get them re-energized and excited about the University of Pittsburgh.

I think it’s clear that we have the facilities, particularly in football and men’s and women’s basketball, that shows that we’re committed to our athletic program. I think that, if you look around our program, not only do we now have physical facilities, we’ve got great coaching staffs, we’ve got a great support staff and we’ve got a great academic staff here. Put all those things together, and it’s a great opportunity for any student to have.

TPN: Is it difficult coming into a job where there are already coaches established and being able to communicate with them on the same page?

JL: We’re just in the beginning of getting to know each other. With the timing of my hiring, and then some of the things that have gone on with our conference situation, and then with it being the summer, when coaches are involved in camps – they [were] out on the road for the whole month of July – we haven’t had the chance to really get to know each other.

They need to get to know me, know what my values are, what my expectations are and I need to get to know them, the way they run their program and the way they present themselves. I’m really looking forward to getting to know them and working with them as we build programs for our student athletes.

TPN: Have you had a chance to do anything in the city?

JL: I have two daughters, and my wife and I took them to a play down at the Benedum [Center]. I entertained about 15 sponsors down at the Pirates’ baseball game, so I got to enjoy PNC Park and got to see that beautiful facility. I’ve gone up on Mount Washington and I’ve [seen] that view back down to the city and the point. I haven’t had a chance to get to really know the city, but let me tell you this – I’ve been nothing but impressed with the beauty of the city of Pittsburgh.

I was really taken aback when I came for my visit in the interview process because I hadn’t been in Pittsburgh in 20 years or more. I was just really excited when I saw how the city had changed and improved itself and the work they’ve done along the riverfronts and how the University of Pittsburgh had grown and the work they’ve done to beautify the campus and really continue to work to create a real campus environment in Oakland.

The people have been tremendous here. I’ve been very well received and accepted by everyone I’ve met, and everybody told me that that’s the way I would find Pittsburghers, and I’ve not been disappointed. They’ve been very helpful and very accepting of my family and I, and I’m really looking forward to getting to know it even better.

TPN: Would you consider bringing back the Pitt script?

JL: At this point, it’s difficult to say. I know that a lot of work and a lot of branding effort went into the new logo and our new colors, and I think that those [have a] very positive impact. Just bringing back the script would not fit into our other branding efforts.

I’m so new that I don’t know that I have an opinion on that, but I do know that there is a large number of people that still relate to Pitt and what it means. I’ve been asking about it, whether we are Pitt or Pittsburgh, and my comment is that there are certainly times and places that we want to be known as the University of Pittsburgh because of two things.

One, we’ve got an institution that we should be very proud of and also we have a wonderful city in Pittsburgh, so I understand why we want [to be called Pittsburgh]. But I also think there’s a place for the use of “Pitt.” I think people understand and know what Pitt is and I think it’s another brand that we can utilize.