Oct. 17, 2003
Stony Brook, N.Y. -
Sweet Sixteens or SATs? National championships or Nobel Prizes? Few campuses are powers in both athletics and academics. But Stony Brook University is giving it
the old college try.
Most schools trying to balance big-time athletics
and serious scholarship look like tightrope
walkers who have had a few too many martinis.
Headlines are full of NCAA violations and
charges of shamateurism, particularly among
football programs.
(For footnotes on recent university fumbles, refer to Ohio State University, now embroiled
in legal wrangling with suspended tailback Maurice Clarett, and the twisted tale of Baylor
University's basketball program involving a coach's cynical attempt to use a player's
slaying to block scrutiny of NCAA violations. For backlash against the exalted status of
college athletics, see the Vanderbilt chancellor's "war" on that culture and the university's
abolition of a stand-alone athletics department.)
Still, Stony Brook, whose academic reputation has been burnished by its 2001 induction
into an elite research body, the Association of American Universities, and the Oct. 6
Nobel Prize in medicine awarded for research done at the university, has been making
parallel strides in athletics.
In 1999, the university elevated its athletic program - save football, which remains
Division IAA - to Division IA. In September 2002, Stony Brook opened the $22 million,
8,136-seat Kenneth LaValle Stadium. And in August, Stony Brook hired hard-charging
Jim Fiore, at 35, the youngest Division IA athletic director in the country.
Why the sharper focus on the Seawolves (the latest iteration of a series of nicknames
from 1957's Baymen to Warriors to Patriots)? The rationale, said Stony Brook President Shirley Strum Kenny, is to raise the university's
profile overall, making it a beacon for students, alumni and Long Islanders in general.
"Athletics is very important as a community builder. Our football games are wonderful
places to bring a family," she said, noting that Division IA status inserts the Stony Brook
name on the crawler at the bottom of the ESPN screen.
In one estimate cited by Stony Brook, the school has reaped print and broadcast media
coverage in the four years since going to Division IA worth more than $10 million.
Kenny also noted that at her alma mater, the University of Texas - a state institution like
Stony Brook - the halo of athletics can loosen the purse strings of both alumni and state
legislators
"I grew up in Texas," she said. "Football was always a big part of my life. At the university
it was a very important part of building the university ... It makes a huge difference with
alumni and, I suspect, toward state legislators' willingness to fund it as well."
Still, Kenny said she doesn't view athletics as a profit center. "I suspect it's not even a
moneymaker for the teams that win a national championship."
The moves also keep Stony Brook on pace with its SUNY brethren, who also have been
busily upgrading their athletics programs. Furthest along is the University at Buffalo,
which moved to Division IA four years ago and whose football team plays in the
Mid-American Conference.
Charged with leading Stony Brook to the athletics Promised Land is Fiore. The Long
Beach native and former Hofstra free safety most recently served as senior associate
director of athletics at Princeton and, before that, as assistant director of athletics at
Dartmouth.
An indication of his success: In three of his last five years, Princeton finished among the
top 25 in the Directors' Cup, which measures the success of athletic teams across all
sports, men's and women's.
When he arrived at Stony Brook, Fiore hit the ground running, meeting with each staff
member at least two hours and some as long as five. "We start at 6 and leave at 11,
seven days a week," he said.
Though Fiore acknowledged that Stony Brook's program is "just a puppy" in the
hyper-competitive world of college athletics, he said accountability and high expectations
would be at the core of "Team Stony Brook."
"The No. 1 thing is we've got to change the culture," he said.
An indication of Stony Brook's historic attitude toward athletics was reflected in a Dec. 28,
2000 headline on a Newsday story about men's basketball: "Stony Brook's Goal Is Just
Stay Competitive." After a strong start this year, the Seawolves football team has been
having trouble doing even that. On Oct. 11, the team was smothered 49-21 by
Georgetown, despite three touchdowns by star running back Clinton Graham. The
Seawolves record: 2-3 and 1-2 in their Northeast Conference.
At the same time, Fiore understands that Stony Brook's funding for the athletics
department pales when compared to many rivals.
"We have a very real obstacle to overcome, and it's finances," Fiore said, noting the
meager funds available for scholarships and recruiting.
"Stony Brook needs to be creative and passionate about how we raise funds and
generate different revenue streams. We have to throw a lot of ideas against the wall."
Even with a limited budget, however, Stony Brook has had some successes, managing
to snare high school Christ the King guard Mitchell Beauford, a Newsday All-Queens
selection.
In its latest available budget, 2001-2002, Stony Brook spent $9.9 million across all its
intercollegiate sports teams.
Dennis Howard, professor of sports business at the University of Oregon, noted that
figure was higher than the average program with a Division IAA football program, but
less than half of the average $25.1 million spent by the 117 programs with Division IA
football.
"To play with the big boys requires considerable investment," he said.
In 2001, schools running a Division IA football program ran an average deficit of $3.5
million, Howard noted, with only 40 big-time sports programs turning a profit.
How might Stony Brook boost athletics funding?
Since the opening of the stadium, Stony Brook has been courting corporate support
through signage, radio and television advertising and game sponsorship.
Fiore has a vision of hosting every high school championship in Suffolk in the new
stadium.
"I want to be the athletic cultural icon of Suffolk County," he said. "When kids are working
out on their respective (high school) fields, I want them thinking: 'We need to work out so
we can play for a championship at Stony Brook.'"
Beyond that, Fiore wants to book major music acts, for which the stadium can be
reconfigured to 13,000 seats.
"When Jones Beach is full and Jimmy Buffett wants to come to Long Island, I want
Jimmy Buffett."
From where does Fiore draw his blueprints?
Not surprisingly, he looks to Ivy League Princeton as a model of balance between sports
and academics.
The graduation of Stony Brook student athletes is about 76 percent, he said, and he's
aiming for 100 percent.
And what's his target for raw athletic goals?
Basketball powerhouse UConn is the one for "how far they've come."
Kenny also has some hoop dreams.
While football requires a massive squad and tends to skew a school's Title IX
requirements of equitable spending for men's and women's sports, just a few stud
players can tip the balance in basketball, where Stony Brook men play in the America
East Conference. This year's non-conference opponents include Utah and St. John's.
"We have aspirations in basketball, men's and women's," she said.
But could Stony Brook eventually jump to IA football?
"There's no intention at present to move up to IA football," said the football-loving Kenny.
"But I would never say 'never.'"
