New New Mexico State chancellor sees athletics as an asset

Jason Groves | Las Cruces Sun-News

LAS CRUCES - While it's true that New Mexico State University sports teams enjoyed an extraordinary amount of success in 2017-18, there is no margin for error for Aggies athletics, nor any department on campus.

There are current contract negotiations with four successful coaches at the school, in addition to Athletics Director Mario Moccia, who has a year left on his contract. The NMSU football team begins the uncertain life of an independent program in 2018 and NMSU athletics operates on a shoestring budget that includes an annual debt payment back to the institution.

More: NMSU appoints Dan Arvizu as chancellor, John Floros as president

New leadership at the top of the university can either help athletics continue its recent trend of success or place it on the back burner. The new leadership team of Chancellor Dan Arvizu and President John Floros both have impressive credentials for university leaders, but there are always unknowns whenever there is a change at the top.

Floros is set to start his new position in Las Cruces this week. Arvizu, a NMSU alumnus, sat down with the Sun-News recently to answer a handful of athletics-related questions in the immediate days following the Western Athletic Conference Board of Directors meeting.

LCSN: Walking in the door, do you see athletics as a burden or as an asset?

Arvizu: Its clearly an asset.

In order for us to be a strong institution, we need to have best-in-class professors and be able to attract the best students off all kinds. We have an asset in that we are a land grant institution, so we have a network of community colleges and extension services. We touch all parts of the state. Athletics fits into this in a very strategic way. It is the front porch of the institution.

I like the fact that the NCAA puts strong emphasis on student athlete. As an alum, I'm proud of the fact that in 1970 we went to the Final Four and I still talk about it all these years later.

I can remember listening to New Mexico State against Arizona State when Pervis Atkins ran back the kickoff for a touchdown.

I was in the Aggie band, so I marched at the games. To me, it was such an important part of the student experience. I see it as more than just athletics for athletics sake.

LCSN: Both New Mexico Division I universities have new leadership and their own athletic department financial issues. Have you crossed paths with new UNM President Garnett Stokes since you have been in the state?

Dan Arvizu: I had lunch with (Stokes) in (Washington D.C.) recently. We committed to work together on a lot of things. She didn't give any specifics but I could tell she had some issues that were weighing on her mind. From what I have read in the papers, I like our problems more than I like their problems right now.

LCSN: How familiar are you with the current relationship between FBS and FCS football and where New Mexico State fits as an independent football program?

Arvizu: I'm very receptive to (NMSU Athletic Director Mario Moccia) and his council on what we can and can't do and on where we should and shouldn't be. This is not ideal. It would be great to be in a conference that plays football. Being independent in football is not a long-term sustainable approach. We know that. Where we might position ourselves better for the future will be part of the long term strategy we are starting to put into play.

LCSN: What further understanding or appreciation of New Mexico State's membership in the Western Athletic Conference did you gain from the WAC meetings?

Arvizu: It provided a great deal of insight for me. I remember when i was a student here and we weren't in it. UNM was and it was fairly prestigious. I had a lot to learn. I got an earful from many community leaders. It's very clear our alumni is anxious to have a sports athletic enterprise and I endorse that. I went with no preconceived notions.

The chancellors and presidents who were part of the board all seemed very committed to the WAC's future. That is not to say people are not investigating what is in their own best interest. There was robust conversation about how to strengthen the conference, where do we go next, how do we make sure it's a viable and sustainable conference for the long haul.

We would all like it to be more stable. From my perspective, there was a commitment from around the table to make it stronger. I saw from some of the issues where there were votes that were taken, on not what I would call major issues, but of interest to some athletic programs, there were accommodations from the other schools. That theme came out several times in the decisions that we made. That gave me a good feeling about the conference. But we would be foolish to not have a long-term strategy for the best interest of New Mexico State. I would like to think that New Mexico State needs to have an athletics program equal in stature for the expectations that we have for our academics. If we want to be a powerful academic institution with national prominence, our athletic programs should follow suit.

LCSN: Given the university and the athletic departments' finances, how do you see the athletic department moving forward?

Arvizu: I think we are in much better position than we were in the past.

If you don't have programs that generate the kind of income that is necessary to offset the investments you have to make, the cash flow is a big issue. With the extension of the athletic department debt re-payment, it has given us the opportunity to be cash flow positive.

We are woefully inadequate in terms of what we pay faculty, coaches and the staff. We have had serious cuts that are not helpful to the university. We are committed to a growth environment where revenues from additional growth can be re-invested in the future. But until we get past that, it's tough sailing. I'm confident we can turn these things around in the next year or two. Then available resources are not nearly the issue of the tradeoff between one thing you care about and some other thing you care about. Tradeoff between priorities has been the biggest issue we have always had to wrestle with.

LCSN: Regent Kari Mitchell recently suggested that while athletics likely will not be completely self sufficient, it can get to a point where it's less reliant on university subsidies. Is that realistic?

Arvizu: I haven't looked at the numbers to that point. My instruction to (Athletic Director Mario Moccia) when I came in was that whatever moves we make, like re-negotiating contracts, we have to have money to pay for it. We cannot afford right now to have to borrow from Peter to play Paul. I need discretionary resources. We have a few but not many. We have a number of generous donors and folks who are willing to invest in our future. I want to be a good steward of those resources.

LCSN: What kind of relationships or experiences do you have that could help athletics moving forward?

Arvizu: One thing that I bring is a very broad network. I counted the other day. I have a relationship with at least 20 other chancellors and/or presidents. George "Bud" Peterson (former president of Colorado Boulder, current president at Georgia Tech) is a very close personal friend of mine. He's now also the president of the NCAA (elected chair of the NCAA’s Board of Governors in 2016).

The university is currently doing a gap analysis study with Wheless Partners and one of our consultants helping with our on boarding is (Robert Whitt), the former chancellor at Alabama. He is someone I can rely on to give me some wise council on athletics.

I was twice appointed by the (President of the United States) to be on the National Science Board. ... The last four years (of a six-year term), I was elected as the Science Board chairman. You go before Congress every year to defend the budget so all of a sudden, I am in contact with a whole lot of university presidents who want to provide their input to me as chairman, who is defending the National Science Foundation budget in front of Congress during the budget cycle. That gives me great visibility.

I was a National Academy of Engineering member.

I have been around universities and all of those networks have given me the opportunity to have contacts that otherwise, people don't have. I can use that in a positive way.

LCSN: Have you determined a leadership structure? Who does Moccia report to and who would sign off on athletic department contracts?

Arvizu: The regents have indicated to me that they will delegate that authority to me. As a practical matter, they delegate that to the CEO of the university. I could further delegate with their approval and some I will delegate to (Floros). We haven't determined yet what that will look like. It's to be determined based on how we want to divide roles and responsibilities. Athletics is one of those things where I made it clear that there are three reasons why I'm going to take control of of things right away.

First of all, it's systemwide and it affects everything across the campuses so that is clearly my role as chancellor. The second thing is if it needs to be strategic and/or if it needs immediate attention and this (contracts for Moccia and head football coach Doug Martin) is one of those right now. I am kind of on the point making those decisions and I will sign off on those.

LCSN: What is your approach to athletics contracts? Are athletics contracts different than other personnel across the campus?

Arvizu: There are certain efficiencies that you can gain from centralization. ... What I have learned over many years working in and around bureaucracies ... there is also value in being able to work in a nimble and flexible manner to be as effective as possible. I want to strike the right balance between central control or compliance control. ... When it comes to HR, and every organization I have talked to so far has complained about HR. ... That's not unique to New Mexico State because they control so much of what you can do to get your job done. ... But the kind of timeframes you need to move on athletics is different than if you are trying to find the next academic leader for some broad domain where you might do a national search and you are willing to wait six or eight months, but you can't do that in athletics so you need a different mechanism for that. ... I want to make sure we do things right but I also don't want to be constrained by one size fits all to get the outcome you are looking for when you need it really quick. ... I think (Floros) will be more likely to be in charge of the centralized functions and I will have that entrepreneur group that can do things a little differently.

My intent is not to add staff but re-prioritize what we do. ... We are not going to do some things so that we can do what is most important to us.

Sports Editor Jason Groves can be reached at 575-541-5459 or jgroves@lcsun-news.com. Follow him on Twitter @jpgroves.