Stevenson Q&A: Athletic Director Brett Adams, Part 2

Stevenson University athletic director Brett Adams has overseen the school's entire sports history, and shared with Patch in an extended Q&A what it has been like to create a football program out of thin air.

, and how a head coach was chosen for the team. In Part Two, Adams talks about what role the football program will play at the university.

Patch: How important is it to have the Ravens old training facility and their old lockers in the new stadium facility?

Brett Adams: It’s very important. I believe in the history of Baltimore. The Colts were here [at this campus] before, and also the [Canadian Football League’s Baltimore Stallions] were here, and then the Ravens were here and every one of them won championships in this town...

I have [original Ravens major owner] Art Modell’s desk. It looks a little beat up, but I will take that wear-and-tear because of history and what it means.

Patch: What was the decision-making behind the building of the stadium, and how did that work out financially?

BA: The stadium was part of our plan, but we thought it would be about five years away. And, when we were constructing our football plan, we looked at what our minimum enrollment would be, and the football model wouldn’t work unless we were in a growth mode, which Stevenson is...what we want to be able to do with our educational product is offer that to other students, while still staying small, meaning very personalized.

So, if we’re going to grow, and we look at what the tuition dollars for $35,000 a year times 100 football players...that’s $3.5 million in revenue. It only costs us roughly $600,000 a year to operate football, which means the other revenue can be used for the school of business, the stadium, improving our science labs, and so on.

It was as much a business decision, as it was a social decision, as it was a [sports] decision, as it was a retention decision. So, it all worked hand-in-hand.

Patch: How was the stadium paid for up-front?

BA: Did we borrow the money to build the stadium? Yes. Part of the whole plan was, we knew we needed 60 football players the first year, 80 was our goal, and if we really knocked it out of the park it would be 100.

Well, we got 125, so we hit that market right away. And so that begged the question when we open up our first season, where are we going to play? We of course looked at Towson and some other places, but no, this is so important for Stevenson, and so our president said we’re going to build it right away.

Patch: How involved have you been in the rest of the process such as recruiting, choosing jerseys, etc.?

BA: I believe that you hire talented people, and when you hire talented people, you stay organized but you let them run.

And with the jerseys, Ed [Hottle] is ordering them, and I have total trust that he knows what he’s doing. Simple things like if a jersey gets pulled on is it going to rip, is it not going to rip? He knows that...really good coaches want ownership, and they want to be able to develop this program

Patch: What are your expectations for the team’s first season?

BA: I don’t think we’re going to be [an] 0-10 team our first year out, and I expect us to compete. I would be [very] pleased if we were .500 (winning half of the games).

Patch: What is your plan to market your first home games, and will they be broadcast to the surrounding community?

BA: We want to be a part of the community. It’s very important to Stevenson University not to just be successful on campus, but we want our successes to be a part of the community...we actually have activities all week long that are building up to the game on Saturday [dubbed “Stadium-palooza”].

Patch: What sort of activities will be included during “Stadium-palooza?”

BA: Everything from a bonfire, to a pep rally, and we have a crab feast on Thursday night for the students. We have inflatables coming, we have pyrotechnics that are going to be a part of the week, a fireworks show, and a lot of those things.

Patch: Will ‘Stadium-palooza’ be open to the community?

BA: Mostly, we’re trying to draw the students, but it will be open when he have our pep rally. We want to include the community.

Patch: What’s the most exciting part of the process of starting a football program?

BA: Watching something that came from an idea, energy...it’s bigger then yourself, and its very meaningful [and] goes beyond wins and losses.

It’s a social base, it’s their best friends, and it wasn’t there, and it wouldn’t have happened unless we started it.

And, to me, that’s very rewarding.