MMurphyinttext

Backgroud: This is the first of a series of interviews about Colgate athletics. We started with our own Athletic Director, Mark Murphy.

Gary: I just wanted to start with, you played football here, what do you think the changes are...

Mark Murphy: And baseball and basketball.

Ok, so since that time, how has student life at Colgate, as well as the expectations of the athletes, both in and out of the classroom changed since that time?

Yeah, you know I think there have been a number of changes, but it's not just at Colgate.   I think it's that theres more emphasis on year round participation on the sport now. When I was in school, a number of athletes played more than one sport.   You know, you really just competed in your sport in the regular season, there was no out of season training. There wasn't an out of season competition. Now, just about all of our sports, realy requires the athlete to make some kind of committment throughout the whole school year. And thats very typical of both division 1 and division 3 schools.

Do you think the academic reputation of the University has imporved since that time?

I do think so, I think that our standards have increased, and I think that it's a much harder school to get into.

When we recruit a student athlete, who usually makes the first contact? Does the athlete initiate it, or do we actually go out and activly search for people?

I'd say in most cases it's the coaches that makes the initial contact, but we do have a lot of situations where the student, the High School student athlete, will write or call us.   You know, but we're not going to be interested, unless we think the athelte has the ability to play here.

Ok, so, what would our recruiting strenghts and weaknesses be? I'm trying to convince someone to spend thier next four years here in Hamilton NY?

Well, I think our real strenght is a couple of things, it's first the quality of the educatuion, and the fact that we're a small liberal arts school, yet we have division 1 athletics. So that kind of sets us apart from most of the schools we compete with.   I think the fact that it's a relativly small student body, the fact that students aren't going to get lost here.   And I think the tradition we have here athletically, thats exciting for a lot of recruits. That we have the tradition of the small little school that competes against schools many times larger.   And the support we get from the students and fans.

So, how do you think the student athlete experience at Colgate compares with other schools nationwide, and within the Patriot League.

I think we're very similar to other schools in the Patriot League, you know, it's really the same model. Compared to division 1 schools nationally, I think it's much more rigerous here, I think the demands on our students both academically and athletically, well, academically, are much more than whats expected at other schools. Athletically it's probally less than other schools, but it's still a pretty big time committment.

What sort of student athlete in high school, would best be suited for Colgate as far as athetics and academics?

Well, I think that somebody who has excelled in both in high school. That is well rounded, somebody thats been a leader in thier school in a number of different programs. And I think, one of the things we say is that you've got really disiplined and well organized, somebody that wants to challenge themselves.

What sort of high school student athlete should not bother applying to Colgate?

One that doesn't take thier academic work seriously.

There a lot of talk going around in the Patriot League, about many different tiers of scholarships, Holy Cross has full for basketball, American was invited in, with full scholarships, how do you think that will change the league?

Well, obviously thats something we're going to have to monitor. Really, I think when Army and Navy came into the league, that was the first big change. Because they have full scholarships for everybody on thier campus. I think our league still remains very competitive, there's a lot of pairity in the league in different sports, and I think it's still very healthy.   The biggest concern for a lot of people is what's going to happen with the basketball. Are Holy Cross, American and Lehigh going to end up dominating the league, and be at the top of the league every year?

And there was talk that Bucknell having scholarships, Lafayette was used to being at the top of the basketball world, now they are losing to the other scholarships schools.

It's something that we're very aware of, and what none of us want is a situation like we had in football from 1986-1991 when Holy Cross was the only team in the league with scholarships, and went 26-1 over that period and dominated. I don't think that was good for the league, or for anybody.

What if the other schools in the league, were to adopt scholarships, I think thats something a lot of the fans are concerend with, what would Colgate do?

Well, thats something we have to look at. Our plan right now is that we want to be competitive, we think it's important to have a successful program and we're trying to do it through a need based finiancial aid system.

What would happen in a situation where most of the other schools in the Patriot League had some form of scholarships and we found ourselves drifting to the bottom of the league in everything, would we continue to have the sort of David Vs Goliath tradition that we've always had, would we search for another league?

Thats, a good question you raise, you can't really answer until your there. In terms of other league, I don't think there would be another league in division 1, that would be a better fit for us than the Patriot League. So, I hope that our reaction would be is to say, what can we do to remain competitive, what kind of things can we do? I worry about the student atheltes, and what kind of experience they are having.   Coaches, can we attract and retain quality coaches, and just the kind of atmosphere on campus.

To answer the quation a lot of people are asking on my website, as...

Do you get mostly other students?

Actually, its also a lot of alumni as well, the question is, how committed is Colgate to remaining scholarship free? And competitive at the D-1 level at the same time?

I's say we're very committed to remaining competitive, and I'd say at this point, as far as I know, we're committed to remaining scholarship free.

What changes do you see in Colgate athletics over the next 5 years?

I think the biggest change is going to be with the womens ice hockey team going to the division 1 level.   I think thats really an exciting move for the school. I think we'll continue to see development of our womens programs. I think looking 5 years ahead, we're going to be looking at adding womens sports or a womens sport.

Any sports we've been looking at in particular?

It's something we're trying to monitor, it's really going to depend on where the interest is.

I just wanted to ask about Starr rink, if there was any chance on remodeling it, making it like it was in the old days.

No plans to take it back to what it was, but we're looking at a number of capital projects, we do have a need for additional locker rooms and coaches offices. We've looked at making a few renovations that would help us in those areas, and maybe adding some additional seats at the one end. That end is pretty bad, opposite the press boxes.

How about fan involvement in Colgate sports right now? Obvously with a lot of other stuff going on on campus, a lot of mid week games are hard for fans to get to.

That's a concern, we want to have a great atmosphere, something that the students would love to come out to and be excited about. But we realize that there's a lot of competing interest, but you know, when we win and do well, hockey last year was a great example, people come out and support us. When we were winning Patriot League championships in basketball, we had tremendous support, so I think thats the most important thing.   But, we try to do some things in terms of our marketing and promotions to make it a fun atmosphere for students.

This particular season, it seems like we're going through a slump, where every team is not finishing as high as they were predicted in the standings, do you think it's a coincidence that it's all happening at the same time?

Yeah, are you talking about winter or fall sports?

Well, both so far.

In the fall, we ended up second in the Presidents Cup race, but we didn't have a single championship, but I don't think it's part of a trend really.

It could be a product of tougher academics, more focus on other activities...

Nahh... I think there are just cycles, you look at hockey, where you lose an Andy McDonald and and a Shep Harder, and you come down a little. What we've got to do it try to get players who are quality back into the program. We'll have to see, I think in mens basketball, we have a chance to be better than we were last year. But the leagues more competitive this year.

It looks like theres going to be a strong spring season, with softball and womens lacrosse all making strong runs for the title, do you think there's any chance for a Presidents Cup in the near future? Either this year, or within the next few years?

It's really hard for us to ever win that, primarily, because we have two major sports that are not a part of the Patior League that we put a lot of resources into, and that's mens and womens hockey.   And, where we end up losing points is cross country, track and field, swimming and diving. Thats 8 sports.

Is that because we can't bring in the recruits?

We just don't emphasize those sports as much, we don't have as many resources tied up in them, whereas Bucknell and Army, Navy, do.

So thats not one of the major goals of the program?

No, we want to do well, but we do empasize certain sports, and we want to do well in those.

Ok, I think that just about wraps thins up.

Thanks, I appreciated it, I look foward to reading it.

Go back to the interview summary HERE