I always enjoy Chris Hill's "State of the Utes" segments. I personally love that an athletic director at a major university takes the time to address fans personally, and on a regular basis. It not only gives fans an opportunity to gain an inside look into the happenings of Utah athletics, but it shows that Chris Hill really does value the fans and how they perceive the athletics department.
The most recent segment of "State of the Utes" was titled "Upward and Onward," and as you can probably guess, deals a lot about the future of Utah athletics. A lot is addressed in the video. Things like new facility construction, our status in the PAC-12, and even a new video board for the football stadium. But there were a few particular points in the video that seemed to give me a lot of hope when it comes to re-instating men's track and field.
He starts by making a very clear point:
Over the last four years, we've had a chance to grow. We've had some teams in national rankings... but the chance now is to establish it [utah athletics] and be a major part of the PAC-12.Right there, Hill acknowledges that the last four years have been a growing period for the Utes, but at the same time he states that they are fully invested in becoming legitimate and major contributors to the PAC-12 conference. The transition from a non-power 5 conference to a power 5 conference was a big one. With it came a lot of growing pains like scheduling, athlete transition, etc. But two of the major growing pains that Utah has had to deal with since it's transition are facility quality and coaching salaries.
After addressing the addition of new facilities like the football center, softball field, and basketball center, Hill states a goal that he has set for the university:
....many things we need to move forward, and many things that we need to do. Part of it is looking at how do we establish that continued support from all our fans...we really need to move forward and take a run at championships, and taking a run at establishing ourselves as a post season event, and post season team.The athletics administration isn't doing all of this building construction just for the heck of it. Hill wants the University of Utah to not just produce post season teams, but host post season events! Let me put it this way for all my track heads out there; the new track and field complex wouldn't have been built if it wasn't meant to potentially host a PAC-12 conference championship one day. One would have to deduct from that statement that if McCarthy Track is meant to host major PAC-12 events, eventually the track team at the University of Utah would will be restored in full so that the university would be well represented.
Hill goes on to talk about the second growing pain. In speaking about the transition into the PAC-12 he stated:
One of the frustrations that you have is that once you get into the PAC-12, everyone thinks it's done, everybody thinks you're there, everybody thinks you're loaded, and that's just not the case. You know, we have to retain great coaches and that's what we've done. People [need to] accept that it costs a lot of money to have great coaches, that's the reality.He's had to pay his coaches folks, pure and simple. Kyle Whittingham signed a new contract extension through 2018 worth $11 million. Larry Krystkowiak signed an extension that will take him through 2023 and is worth just over $2 million a year. We've already seen with the Kyle Whittingham offseason drama how important it is to not only pay head coaches well, but also their assistants. Bottom line, in order to keep the programs at a high quality, you need good coaches. How do you get good coaches, you have to pay for them. That's been a growing pain for Utah, but fortunately, it looks like a pain we are growing out of.
With the two highest revenue sports coaches locked in, Hill can now start to give his attention to other areas of growth. In addressing the fans, boosters, and supporters, Hill says:
We need you to continue to help us because all I've ever heard is we want to be great, not just good, and not just a member of the PAC-12.We don't just want to be a member of the PAC-12 conference, we want to be a leader of the conference. Facilities? Check. Coaches paid? Check. Now what? How can we move forward and become a conference leader the way Hill wants to? Again, by competing in the conference's best sports. Football? Check. Basketball? Check. Track and Field? Almost. Those are the three best sports of the conference. They have to be taken care of, and it starts by re-instating the men's track team.
We aren't naive. We know that to re-instate the men's track program in full, it will roughly take an endowment worth about $5 million. That can be taken care of through various fundraising methods over a period of years. But in the mean time, semi-re-instating the men's track program, the way that Oregon State has done, is completely within the current financial means of the university. It's a great way to get the ball rolling while the funding and logistics for the official team are sorted out.
How sweet would it be if the next "State of the Utes" segment was the announcement of the return of Men's Track and Field?
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