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Luck's Tenure Features Many Accomplishments
December 18, 2014 09:20 AM | General
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MORGANTOWN, W.Va. - These last four and a half years with Oliver Luck running the West Virginia University athletic department have been a whirlwind, to say the least – and in a good way, I might add.
I can remember three years ago, in the fall of 2011, running into Luck in the hallway at the WVU Coliseum right after Pitt and Syracuse announced that they were leaving the Big East Conference. He had the look of a man who was carrying the weight of the world on his shoulders that afternoon.
Realizing this, I decided to keep our conversation light. And brief.
“Interesting times, huh, Oliver?” I said.
“Always interesting,” he replied, flashing his trademark grin.
Even though most of Luck’s professional experiences were outside of collegiate athletics before his arrival at WVU, he knew enough about what was going on in college sports to understand that conference expansion was going to hit West Virginia University “right in the face” – which were his exact words to former president Jim Clements when Luck was hired in the summer of 2010.
Luck, who can comfortably talk about anything from Voltaire to the Veer offense, had done enough homework beforehand to know that his alma mater was heading toward the deep end of the swimming pool.
It was either sink or swim time for the Mountaineers.
His first inclination was to reach out to some of our old friends, the folks at Pitt, Syracuse, Miami, Virginia Tech, Boston College and our immediate neighbors in the ACC to see where we stood.
He advised Clements to do the same.
“I said, ‘Jim, you call everyone that you know - anyone you have a professional relationship with, know casually or just once had a beer with, and I will do the same,’” Luck recalled earlier this summer.
Luck called his people and Clements called his people and when they got back together a couple days later the response was unanimous – thanks but no thanks.
That’s not surprising for those of us who know and understand the history of West Virginia University. ADs from Stansbury to Pastilong listened to the same old spiel through the years whenever the subject came up.
So Luck had to think creatively, come up with something outside of the box and toss his hat over the wall. And once his hat was over the wall, we had no choice but to climb over and follow it with him to the other side.
“I knew there was some discussion throughout the industry that the Big 12 was possibly interested in adding Pitt when Texas A&M left the conference, so I thought why not West Virginia?” he said.
West Virginia University in the Big 12 Conference? Surely, he must be kidding when he began discretely tossing the idea around to some of West Virginia’s most influential supporters. Too radical and risky, they thought. Let’s just try and be patient and continue to promote our strengths and hope that somebody in the ACC will finally listen to us.
Luck disagreed, believing it was time for West Virginia University to stand up for itself and take matters into its own hands. If other schools were offended, too bad.
If you recall, Luck’s first major decision soon after he took a seat in the AD chair in 2010 was unconventional and somewhat controversial. West Virginia was having an awful time with unruly fans at home football games at the time, in part, because of the pass-out policy that had been in place for many years.
What was happening, Luck quickly discovered, was that many fans were leaving the stadium at halftime for the parking lots and consuming large amounts of alcohol and then returning in far worse condition than they were when they left.
Luck figured the best way to address the situation was by eliminating the practice of pass-outs at halftime and by selling alcohol inside the stadium. At a minimum, consumption can be monitored and the university could profit from it as well, he figured.
When the decision was first announced that beer was going to be sold at West Virginia University football games, Luck was immediately criticized as an enabler and a profiteer.
Three years later, the WVU athletic department has realized an additional $2.25 million in total revenue from beer sales at WVU athletic events, but, even more importantly, fan behavior has improved dramatically at home football games because of it. Today, the beer sales plan that Luck has put in place at WVU is the model that many other schools around the country are now copying (and adopting).
So when Luck first broached the idea of seeking membership in the Big 12, the response he got was somewhat cool. The schools are too far away and we have very little in common with them, he was told.
They may be far away, Luck conceded, but if you dig a little deeper you will learn that most of the schools in the Big 12 are very similar to West Virginia University – research-oriented, land-grant institutions located on rural campuses with large, passionate alumni bases. When you get down to it, West Virginia University actually has a lot more in common with those schools than the prior institutions WVU was aligned with in the Big East.
Luck had Clements convinced the Big 12 was West Virginia’s only option to remain relevant in college sports … take a pass on it now because it’s too radical or too out of character for WVU as an institution and we do so at our own peril, Luck said.
Fortunately for West Virginia, Clements was all in and he soon got another key player on board: former football coach Don Nehlen, whose vast associations throughout the country included a close friendship with Chuck Neinas, the Big 12’s interim commissioner at the time.
“Jim thought I was the key guy because of my friendship with Chuck. He told me, ‘Don we’re not getting in the ACC’ and I remember telling him, ‘Jim, are you sure you want to go to the Big 12?’ He said, ‘I want to go somewhere. Bad,’” said Nehlen.
When the decision was made to go after the last open spot in the Big 12 Conference, Luck went at it the same way he used to go after defenses as West Virginia’s quarterback – with laser-like precision and focus.
And when Louisville got wind of what was happening and began exerting political pressure to try and jump ahead of West Virginia in line Luck didn’t lose his cool and veer off course.
He just smiled and kept his eye on the finish line.
Which reminds me of a story Nehlen once told me about Luck when he was his quarterback. Luck had severely injured his ankle after a game and could barely walk on it afterward, but by Friday of the following week he had gotten himself to the point where he could stand the pain enough to play when others would have been sidelined for weeks or longer. He was so focused and determined not to let his coaches, teammates and the fans down.
“What people don’t realize about Oliver as a quarterback was how tough he was,” Nehlen once said.
Luck’s toughness, intense focus and willingness to think creatively have put West Virginia University in a great position for the next decade now that the Mountaineers are full-fledged members of the Big 12 Conference.
“Oliver will always be remembered for moving the Mountaineers forward to the Big 12 Conference and making WVU a part of one of the highly visible conferences,” said men’s basketball coach Bob Huggins. “Being in the Big 12 Conference has put our University in a great position to be a part of the major athletic decisions that are being made nationally.”
“He helped push our University forward in so many areas and his lasting impact will be felt for years,” added football coach Dana Holgorsen, among Luck’s first coaching hires at WVU.
West Virginia University finally has the financial stability to be able to do the things for its athletic program that Mountaineer sports fans have desired and deserved for many years.
Specifically:
- The signing of an $86 million multimedia rights deal with IMG College that gives WVU additional financial stability and flexibility beyond the large monetary bump the school is already enjoying from the Big 12;
- The increase of West Virginia University’s athletic budget from approximately $55 million when Luck arrived in 2010 to $77 million this current fiscal year, with the projected department budget reaching $100 million by 2021 if things continue to go well;
- The construction of a $21 million ballpark for Monongalia County that includes affiliated professional baseball in Morgantown for the first time ever;
- The initiation of more than $100 million in facility improvements now underway for Milan Puskar Stadium, the WVU Coliseum and other venues, with additional improvements in the planning stages;
- The introduction of men’s golf during an era when men’s sports are being eliminated from athletic programs across the country;
- The oversight of the best fundraising efforts in the history of Mountaineer athletics the last four years, with the Mountaineer Athletic Club enjoying its best year ever in 2014;
- The willingness to pay market rate for top coaches and administrators;
- The adoption of the most difficult football schedule in school history this year, with many more appealing Power 5 non-conference opponents on the horizon, including Penn State, Virginia Tech, Tennessee, NC State and Missouri;
- The stature to be able to serve on some of the most influential committees and associations in college sports, most notably the College Football Playoff Committee this year.
Thankfully, things have finally started to settle down now here at West Virginia University - four and a half years after Luck first took over in 2010.
“His leadership has changed the face of WVU athletics,” noted West Virginia University president Gordon Gee. “I have greatly enjoyed working with Oliver this past year, and wish him and his family all the best in future years. And, we fully anticipate seeing him back in Morgantown to cheer on his Mountaineers.”
So now he’s off to the NCAA to jump into an even deeper pool of water – with a smile on his face, of course.
Luck is smiling because his alma mater is on much firmer ground now than when he first got here. He’s also smiling because of the many challenges that still await him in his new job.
Happy Holidays from WVU Athletics!
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