Sandy Barbour recently began her eighth year as head of Penn State intercollegiate athletics — she was hired on July 26, 2014 — with little fanfare.
Penn State’s vice president for intercollegiate athletics, Barbour has largely been the under-the-media-radar in 2021. Not that there isn’t plenty to talk about in what has been an unprecedented era of rapid change in college athletics:
COVID-19. Revenue shortfalls. Name, Image, Likeness. The transfer portal. A seismic shift in the major conference landscape. Ticket, parking and attendance updates (#111k on Sept. 18?) on a campus mired in controversy over vaccinations. A massive reorganization of the NCAA.
Barbour has a strong hand and big voice in nearly all of the above.
She did hold a Zoom press conference in January 2021, following Penn State’s uncharacteristic 4-5 football season. She was part of the introductory press conference/pep rally introducing Micah Shrewsberry as the Nittany Lions’ new basketball coach, back on March 30.
She appeared on Penn State’s virtual Coaches Caravan June 1-3, accessible only to Nittany Lion Club donors, dues-paying members of the Penn State Alumni Association and the media (which could watch, but not ask questions).
And then there was her appearance on a podcast this past Tuesday. You very likely missed it — through early evening on Sunday, it was hovering around 80 views on YouTube (and seven or eight were mine) and six subscribers (I’m 16% of those).
You can watch the podcast here.
The podcast, hosted by former Boston College and Villanova athletic director Gene DeFilippo, is produced by Playfly Sports, a sports marketing and management company where DeFilippo is an executive market strategist. (His son John is the former Eagles QB coach, now with the Bears.) Barbour obviously did it as a favor to a former colleague in the AD world. Barbour did a similar solid in August 2020, when she appeared on a podcast hosted by her agent, attorney Jill McBride, “Representation Without Taxation.” Listen to it here.
Also on Tuesday, the NCAA announced that Barbour will be one of 23 members of its newly-formed Constitution Committee. The group, of which Barbour is the sole Big Ten representative, will propose a new governance model that the NCAA will allow “for quicker change without sacrificing broader values.” The committee’s ultimate goal is to craft a proposal that the full NCAA membership will vote on at its annual convention Jan. 19-22, 2022, In Indianapolis.
She did have a few takes on the planned move by Texas and Oklahoma to the SEC, and what that means for college athletics.
“I’ll tell you this – and I hate to say this, to have to acknowledge it – it’s going to be, ‘Follow the money,’” she told DeFilippo. “That’s certainly was what Oklahoma and Texas’ move was all about. I think we all know as well that the answer to the ‘follow the money’ lies with media rights.”
Her interview follows. I transcribed the Q&A, and edited it slightly for clarity. Her responses are complete, but I re-worked the order so that you could her comments on conference expansion and media rights — the most newsworthy and salient points of her 26-minute interview – first.
MONEY: CONFERENCE EXPANSION
“We can get our feelings hurt. We’re human. I know what our colleagues are going through in the Big 12 right now. And obviously that has real ramifications on their futures. All of that is real.
“All of us who are professionals and men and women who have been in this a long time, we obviously know those two athletic directors at Oklahoma (Joe Castiglione) and Texas (Chris Del Conte) really well. They are as good as it gets.
“But…any of us would tell you that we have to do what is in the best long-term interest of our institution. That’s what we’re hired to do, that is our fiduciary responsibility. If you take a step back – again, emotions run high based on consequences for individual institutions – any one of us would recognize and acknowledge what is best for our institution. That’s our job. That’s what we are charged to do by our president, our chancellors and our boards.”
MEDIA RIGHTS: WHAT’S NEXT FOR CONFERENCES
“I’ll tell you this – and I hate to say this, to have to acknowledge it – it’s going to be, ‘Follow the money.’ That’s certainly was what Oklahoma and Texas’ move was all about. I think we all know as well that the answer to the ‘follow the money’ lies with media rights.
“We used to say, ‘television.’ We used to say, ‘broadcast rights.’ It’s much broader than that now. You listen to talking heads and they’re talking about television, but they’re (also) talking about over-the-top and streaming. I think from a technology standpoint, we don’t even know (what’s next).
“Think about the things that we have available to us today as consumers – consumers of live college sports. That’s where we’re really, really fortunate here. We’re talking about one of the very last in-demand, demanded broadcast entities – live sports. It can’t be replicated in any other way. We’re fortunate from that standpoint.
“I think it all depends on where the technology, and ultimately, the money, takes us. I’ve been fortunate to have started in the Big Ten (at Northwestern). In my time at Tulane we were in the old Metro (Conference), we were in the Great Midwest. Then I went to Notre Dame and we were in the Big East at the time. Then I went the Pac-12, then I came back to the Big Ten. I worked in some really great organizations in terms of the conference structure. I’ve been fortunate to be at places that yes, had an opportunity to create resources from a money standpoint, but also had a very sound values structure. And that certainly is where I am today, being very fortunate to be in the Big Ten.
“I know we are going to work really hard as a conference and as members and colleagues together to maintain that and grow that and have that become even stronger.”
VALUES: HOW TO DECIDE BETWEEN HIRING TWO EQUAL CANDIDATES
“I don’t think there’s anything more important in what we do than hiring of people – who we invite to come and contribute to our culture and be a part of our family. I would say this: You probably don’t get down to a final two, as a candidate in my final two, without being a values fit for the organization and us an athletic department no matter what the role is.
“I would say that if it is two people who are really close, it is who is the best values fit, who is the best values alignment, who fits how we define success. Sometimes, that may feel like a pretty good tie as well. Again, I don’t think you get to the finals without there being a good values alignment. So really, it’s, Who’s got the best upside potential? Who’s got the most growth, who’s got the opportunity to have the highest ceiling would probably be the tie-breaker for me there.”
PEOPLE: THE MOST REWARDING PART OF THE JOB
“I’ve had the opportunity to be at some incredible places that have had great athletic success, whether they be national championships or conference championships or great winning streaks. But I can tell you those things are not even in my Top 10 now, after 40 years.
“The best memories, the things that someday when I decide to go off into the sunset – whatever that means, whatever that looks like – the things that I will think about are people. “And at the top of that list will be students. The things I think about are like 10 years later, when a former student-athlete and alum comes back or calls me up and now has a child or is married or doing something incredible in their career and they talk about what they learned in the program and how that maybe set them up for what they are doing now. Or when they come back and apologize and say, ‘Boy I was a real butthead as a 20-year-old and we clashed. But now I see what you were trying to do and I’m very appreciative of that.’
“So, it’s mainly around student-athletes and watching their growth and development. And again, I’ve been in it long enough now that some of my original student-athletes are in their 50s now, and I’m listening to what their experience set them up for. It’s also coaches and staff members, and maybe hiring a young staff member who now has an opportunity to be an athletic director.
“I worked for a guy and continue to be close to in Kevin White, who has this incredible athletic director tree. And I’ve had the opportunity to grow my own, whether it is my own or people I’ve helped along the way – men and women – who are sitting in the seat and I’m really proud to say that maybe I’ve been a part of their growth and development, and am really excited for giving them the keys to the kingdom as it relates to our industry and the future. Those are the kinds of things that really light my soul.”
THE JOB: THE BIG PICTURE
“I think that’s a challenge, because we get so focused on the day-to-day, we get focused on something that may not be going well or the challenge or crisis in college athletics du jour, whatever it is. I have to, and most of us do, have to be conscious about stepping back from that, pulling back from that, and going, ‘As leaders, we have to have the big picture in mind.’ One of our responsibilities is to give our organizations, and most importantly the people in our organizations, hope and confidence in what is down the road.
“Part of that is understanding the journey, instead of the little steps and the nuts and bolts along the way. I don’t think that’s easy. I don’t think our society makes that easy for us and certainly our industry, in particular, right now does not. …The old ‘Smell the roses’ and think about the journey.”
THE JOB: NEW LEADERSHIP
“As we come out of Covid, we see across a lot of industries people really reflecting. Also questioning, but reflecting on their lives, reflecting on their relationships with their families, with significant others, etc. Within our industry, you take Covid and add in some of the things we’ve talked about – whether it’s Name, Image and Likeness or transfers or conference realignment, there’s a lot going on in our industry.
“We have so many great people in this industry, and we have a lot coming up through the pipeline that are phenomenal. I’m so excited about the future of our industry, because of our leaders who are coming up through it. I’d had to lose some of our really, really good people what I might consider prematurely just because there’s so much going on. A lot if it is really difficult and complex and complicated.
“But it is rewarding. Sometimes I think we get mired down in what is challenging and tough and hard, and we don’t give the proper weight to really how satisfying and phenomenal this is. I feel really fortunate to make a loving, make a career out of this. Yeah, there are have been hard and difficult things to solve. We deal with 17 to 22-year-olds, and sometimes really tough stuff happens and on behalf of our organization, work our way through that stuff. All in all, I just pinch myself every day thinking about how fortunate we all are to get to do something we’re just so passionate about. I don’t want that to get lost.”
THE JOB: HANDLING STRESS
“I’m really about a great conversation with somebody that’s got an interesting take on something. I certainly will admit to, over my 10 years in northern California, learning a lot about wine. So, most of what I do these days includes a nice glass of wine. Not during the workday, obviously (laughs) But in terms of relaxing and taking time away. Part of that is in the wine itself and part of it is just learning about wines. A lot of our Berkeley folks were involved in the wine industry, either through ownership or the actual industry itself. I find all of that fascinating, the story behind a vineyard or a bottle of wine.
“I’ve always had as a member of the family a couple of dogs. Usually labs, as an adult. Dogs are as good as it comes. They don’t care what kind of day you’ve had or if you won or lost by 25, they’re going to greet you at the door and they’re going to tell you that they’ve had a great day and that they love you. Whether it is taking dogs out for a run or a big hike or a swim in the lake or river, is also very relaxing for me.
“The last thing, and I don’t get to do this as much as I would like, but when I mentioned relaxing, Central Pennsylvania is known for their fly-fishing. I’m not a very good fly-fisher, but it is so relaxing. It is so quiet, that I really don’t care if I catch any fish or not. You get out there in your waders and cast a few, it’s all great fun.”
ADVICE: TO A YOUNG SANDY BARBOUR
“Take your time, don’t be in a hurry and learn from everybody around you. And learn from every position that you have, because it all adds up. The second piece would be, Understand who you are. Figure it out and be very intentional about understanding that, don’t just let it happen. Then be yourself. Align yourself with institutions and people you work with and for where you can be yourself. I think that’s where you are going to shine.”
