Allsooners
  • 11 months ago
Oklahoma Athletic Director Joe Castiglione speaks to the media after a Board of Regents meeting on Jan. 12, 2024.
Transcript
00:00 What was the important geometry in there about getting these done now instead of the spring contract?
00:07 I think he explained it exactly the reason why.
00:10 We, uh, and the fact that we knew you were going to ask that question, so I might not say it right up front.
00:18 I think it explained it just perfectly. I don't think there's anything else to add.
00:26 How has the climate for these kind of things, the contracts and things changed over the last couple years?
00:34 Has the college athletics world shifted?
00:42 Well, we're in the most dynamic, disruptive, unusual, chaotic time that college athletics has ever experienced.
00:56 And I don't even think there's a close second.
00:58 That being said, you know, there's challenges that we face that really don't have any previous blueprint or experiences to follow.
01:11 I think what our leadership characteristic has always included is being thoughtful, proactive, looking over the horizon,
01:23 trying to do things that we believe are in the best interest of the program and put ourselves in a better position as we go forward.
01:31 So if you think about that as a philosophy, that in part guides our decisions.
01:37 Joe, you mentioned around the SEC, everything you guys are doing, you're looking around and seeing how other programs do things.
01:43 Think about a salary pool or how much the staff of assistance gets paid.
01:47 How much does that matter, looking around and being where you guys are and meeting that standard?
01:52 Using market data has always been part of our decision making.
01:55 So in some ways, Eli, that's not new, but now we have new comparators.
02:00 And even though we're not yet a member of the conference, we're looking at all that data as well and trying to make sure that when we make decisions,
02:11 they're the most well-informed decisions they could be at that time.
02:17 Joe, what would you say it says about the job that Brent has done from a leadership standpoint to be in an offseason where he had to replace two coordinators
02:27 and yet you have all the rest of the assistant coaches coming back?
02:31 I think it's huge. Absolutely huge.
02:35 And having had a chance to visit with all of our assistant coaches, I think they feel the same thing.
02:40 That it's important to keep a great chemistry, which this staff has.
02:47 And certainly a massive reason for that chemistry is the head coach, Brent Venables, who identified them, brings them together, works with them day to day.
02:59 As you know, Brent is a highly detailed, person-focused leader and trying to do the very same things and helping each of them be at their best as they can help the team or the program as a whole.
03:16 So I think it's really a great example of the extension of his leadership, but also really just validates the importance of continuity and how that leads to staff chemistry,
03:29 which is a key ingredient for our success going forward.
03:34 Joe, with softball season kicking off in a month, how is the development of Loews Field, how is that project going, and is everything on track for a softball season start?
03:45 I drove through there with one of my deputies yesterday, Larry Nafee, and they are working feverishly.
03:52 They have a March 1st functional occupancy deadline that everyone knows because that's the first official game that will be played at Loews Field.
04:05 And if you don't believe me, come over and look at Larry's car and you can't believe all the mud over it.
04:10 Alon Rick is driving through the construction site after the rain we've had.
04:15 But they were out there putting in seats yesterday, the scoreboards going in, some of this you can see from the street as you drive by, but it's really exciting.
04:25 Talking with Coach Gasso, I saw some of the players yesterday, we're talking to them about it, and talked to many of our donors, most notably the Loews family.
04:39 We love family. Just everybody's excitement for the opening day is sky high.
04:47 Mr. Galeon, over the summer in Tulsa we talked a little bit about the rules, some changes in the NIL collective world, and I was just hoping maybe you could give us a little update on things.
04:58 I know there was a tragic scenario that occurred. But where do things stand in terms of the collectives and NOU's NIL strategy? Any updates that are available?
05:10 Well, we're always focused on what we can control, and as you know, there's so much going on out there that we have no control over.
05:20 And I know sometimes for our fan base, people talk about this so naturally, they somehow sometimes drop the structure that may exist around certain things and may not around others.
05:37 So they just sort of morph it all together and think that it's just easy to go do certain things.
05:44 And I think you could see by some of the interpretations and now two cases of enforcement, where the NCAA is definitely trying to focus their attention on at least enforcing the basic rules around NIL that were introduced way back at the beginning, especially around inducements.
06:12 And it's a really challenging world right now because of the kind of conversations that do take place by a wide variety of constituents or stakeholders that are in this space.
06:26 And the university at the moment hasn't had any way of being involved in that. You don't know because there aren't any disclosures.
06:34 There's just a lot there that, again, going back to what I said, is out of our control.
06:40 Yet we know how important it is to have a successful NIL program and to that extent, and the areas where we can be involved, which are pretty limited, but we're trying to focus people's attention on the importance of supporting the collective.
06:59 And those collectives in turn can support athletes.
07:04 But there are other ways to help athletes get involved in name, image, and likeness activities that don't have to even go through a collective whatsoever.
07:12 And actually we've seen a really robust activity around there because now businesses are getting more comfortable, getting more used to it, and they have a direct opportunity to contact athletes and ask them to get engaged in some type of business arrangement with what they want.
07:36 So, being around appearances, being around employees, being around customers, posting certain things on their social media, repping, endorsing, whatever.
07:49 And those kind of activities are really what we call the organic side of name, image, and likeness.
07:56 That's what it was intended to be when the whole gate opened.
08:02 The idea of collectives, that wasn't part of the structure.
08:06 We certainly understand why it happened because when you have an unregulated element like this is, you're going to get whatever fills the void of the vacuum.
08:16 And collectives were one example of what filled the void.
08:20 What do you feel like is the biggest change that needs to happen in the NIL structure that's currently in place?
08:28 You said I was going to talk to you for a few minutes?
08:33 I have an answer.
08:36 Come by my office. I'll be happy to share it with you.
08:40 Let's just start with the understanding that with all the different narratives, with all the different policies, with where we think we're seeing the vast majority of people start to understand that we need to find a way to properly share revenue with athletes.
09:05 People haven't come to grips with that yet. I don't know what else can happen to give them any better idea.
09:11 That's going to happen.
09:13 So what I think our best move is for our thought leaders to get together, navigate this with all the rules of our membership association, understanding the legal implications, what's sustainable, and find a solution so that institutions can be more involved.
09:36 I actually think that's going to start to move in that direction.
09:41 I think if you watched what took place the last couple of days at the NCAA convention, you see some of the comments that are coming out of there by a number of people, including our leader of the NCAA, Charlie Baker.
09:59 I think with conference commissioners, people are working feverishly to try to find the right path toward that.
10:08 It's complicated. It's super, super complicated.
10:11 There are a lot of other external constituencies that want their hand into it as well.
10:17 That makes it even more challenging.
10:19 At the end of the day, we've got to find the path forward.
10:22 I think the path forward is definitely going to include institutions being more directly involved.
10:27 So, happy.
10:29 I've been talking about this. I think if some of you who were there at Big 12 Media Days, you were either there when I was speaking to several members of the media or you heard my comments to the guys that were asking me about NIL.
10:47 So, July, I think I made my stance pretty clear what I think needed to happen. One person's opinion.
10:55 I'm very, very happy to see some of the work moving forward to help bring that about.
11:01 Joe, the arena project, it seems like there was a delay.
11:05 You moved something back. Are you still encouraged and confident?
11:07 I guess, what is the next step?
11:09 I think that was...
11:11 How should I say?
11:13 I'm not saying it's falsely reported because it sounds like that actually got stated that way.
11:21 But I don't think there's really any news there.
11:26 From what I understand, it wasn't there at the meeting, but what I understand, that the action of the planning group really has followed what we expected.
11:41 And we know there's another meeting coming up at the end of this month where information that they've requested, the financials, the plan from around management, basically everything that the group and the statutory TIF committee needs to hear and the public needs to hear.
12:04 All of that's going to take place at a meeting coming up later this month.
12:08 When the statutory TIF committee was formed in late November, that was a great first step.
12:14 And we said at the time that all the questions that people have can be brought forward and answered at that time.
12:23 This is going to be done full public disclosure.
12:26 And I feel like we're really moving forward in a way that we said we would.
12:32 And it's collaborative.
12:34 It's connected to all parts of the process.
12:37 And this is a transformational project for Cleveland County and the city of Norman.
12:46 And all the constituencies working together to give it the best chance to go forward has really been exciting.
12:55 And I feel grateful that everybody's given this the best chance to have a life down the road.
13:03 We'll see.
13:04 There's a lot of work that has to be done between now and the time a vote takes place.
13:09 But there's also been a lot of work done behind the scenes.
13:14 And then, of course, these meetings provide it to be in full public view so everybody can hear and see what they want to see about the project.
13:25 But when you hear it and see some of the work that's been done, it's really, really exciting.
13:31 Transformational is not a word that exaggerates how much of a game-changing force this can be for our community.
13:41 No, I bear belief.