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AFM Magazine


Working His Plan...

FSU\'s Dave Hart, JR.
by: Rod Smith
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When one thinks of the success the Florida State football program has experienced, the first person that comes to mind is head coach Bobby Bowden. But even Bowden, who has spent more than a quarter of a century on the Seminole sidelines, has to answer to someone. That someone is Florida State Director of Athletics Dave Hart, Jr.

In six plus years at the helm of the FSU athletic department, Hart has set a direction for the former women's college - it became co-educational in 1947 - that has established it as one of the pre-eminent academic and athletic institutions in Division I-A. Since coming to Tallahassee from East Carolina in 1995, Hart has overseen the expanding Seminoles' athletics budget ($39 million at last check) and has spearheaded the university's first-ever capital campaign, a $70 million effort that according to Hart may reach its goal in just three more years. Other undertakings include the development of an extensive and comprehensive athletics facilities master plan, the initiation of a multi-faceted Student Development/Life Skills program for all student athletes, and the rewriting of the athletic department's mission statement to place the student athlete at the core of everything the department does.

During his tenure in Tallahassee, Hart has assumed prominent leadership roles in numerous national and conference committees and was honored by his Division I-A peers as the Athletics Director of the year in the Southeast Region two years ago. This past July, we got our own private pow-wow with the head Seminole.

Are there any major differences between overseeing the athletics department at East Carolina as compared to Florida State?

That's a question that I frequently received when I initially made the transition from East Carolina to Florida State. My response to that was always very consistent. There are far more similarities than there are differences. For me personally, I've enjoyed the similarities. East Carolina will always hold a very special place in my heart. They were very, very good to me. I loved living there; I loved the people. We raised our children there.

I find so many similarities in the fan base, the growth of the institutions - East Carolina from a teacher's college, Florida State from a women's college. There's a passion that exists in both of those fan bases that I think is unusual and exciting. But the only difference is resources, and I say that very sincerely. We are fortunate here to have been around longer than East Carolina in that transition to a I-A program, therefore, we have more resources. We don't have the resources even here that other people we compete against have, but we have resources adequate enough to expedite the growth of our program. That is the primary difference and the only difference. Again, there are far more similarities.

How would you describe or define your management style?

I've always believed in hiring good people and letting them perform their jobs. At the same time insisting always on accountability because I think that's very much a part of that philosophy. I don't think anyone likes to work with a micro-manager. And at the same time, I think everyone values communication and trust. Of course, I feel strongly that trust must be earned, and usually it's earned through performance.

What exactly are you referring to when you use the term mircro-manager?

I think someone who is unwilling to delegate responsibilities and is constantly, if you will, looking over the shoulder of associates and employees. Certainly, while it's not maybe intentional on the part of someone who operates that way, it is troublesome for those who work in that environment. So I think you have to learn to delegate, you have to learn to trust that people are doing their jobs. The tradeout is that those people you are entrusting must be accountable for decisions they make and for their every day job performance.

Does coach Bowden's success and following that he has developed in his 26 years at Florida State create any conflict or adversely effect your working relationship?

Quite the opposite; it only enhances it. Mainly because the type of person Bobby is. To have experienced the level of inordinate success that we've enjoyed and that he's enjoyed as the leader of our football program, it is unusual that that success has not changed Bobby Bowden. I think that's the highest compliment that he could be paid. Most people who experience that level of success unfortunately allow the success to make them different people. Bobby Bowden has not allowed that to happen. He is as genuine today as when he was an assistant coach at West Virginia University. And I think that quality about him is one that maybe we don't mean to, but we all take a little bit for granted. We shouldn't because its a very unique quality.

One of the things you've accomplished at Florida State is the development of a comprehensive athletic facilities master plan. What role do facilities play in the success or failure of an athletic program?

I care about our student athletes as people first. I think enhancing facilities very much plays into what I said about putting the student athletes first in decisions we make and the strategies we build within our department. As I walk around our facilities, and I walk where the student athletes walk, I think it's our responsibility to have facilities that are first class. I do not view it as an "arms race," but I think that's a fair question when people ask that. Certainly, we were not motivated by what anyone else was doing when we developed the master facilities plan and announced our campaign. I see this as a campaign and an effort for the student athlete at Florida State. We don't hesitate to prioritize and build nice facilities for our donors, our administrators, or our coaches, so why would someone question building first-class facilities for the student athletes?

As athletic director, what role do you play in setting the philosophical tone for the athletic department or more specifically for the football program?

I think the person at the top of the pyramid can and should set the philosophical tone for the entire organization. I think that person is obligated in that regard. In order for everybody to be pulling in the same direction, prioritizing the same goals and virtues, trying to make certain there's a oneness that exists within the department, I think it's essential that leadership be clearly exhibited. One of the things that I take great pride in is that Bobby and I have a genuine respect for one another and we communicate our shared vision. I think that that's very important.

So your relationship with Bobby Bowden started before you became the director of athletics at Florida State?

Ironically enough, Bobby recruited my brother when he was an assistant coach at West Virginia and this was back around 1969 or 1970. I see no changes having worked with Bobby now into my seventh year. I don't see any changes in the type of individual he is or the priorities he sets in his own life or for our football program, and he's an absolute pleasure to work with. He's a big picture person. He doesn't have to operate on an island, he sees the big picture.

How did the facilities master plan develop and what sort of facilities have been built or are in the works?

We took every program we have, men's and women's, and did a exhaustive comprehensive study in terms of needs assessment - what it would take to endow our athletic scholarships in all our sports. We currently budget well over $5 million for athletic scholarships. We compete against some people who don't have to budget anything because their athletic endowments are big enough that they take the interest off that principal and fund scholarships on an annual basis. You know, we're only 53 years old. We forget that ourselves sometimes. We've only been competing at the highest level of intercollegiate athletics for less than 55 years - we compete against people who have been at this for 100 and 110 years. We're still growing. Many of our alumni now are reaching the point where they do have discretionary income that they can give back, so the timing of our campaign is very good.

When we did (the needs assessment), we also examined facilities for every sport and determined what needed to be done - whether we needed to renovate or we needed to build new facilities. A lot of that has come to life. We have a beautiful new soccer and softball complex that's one of the finest in the country. We just did a massive renovation a year ago to our football locker room. It is now far more representative of the type of program we have than the old locker room was. We are going to renovate our baseball stadium beginning next year; we have broken ground on a new golf facility that will be ready in October (2001); and, we recently broke ground for a new basketball practice facility adjacent to where we play at the Leon County Civic Center, which will be ready in April 2002. We plan to expand the size of our weight facility, we will expand the size of our training room, which was built when we had half the student athlete population that we currently have and we will build a new student athletes' services center that will house all of our academic needs, our compliance functions and all of our student development functions. Those are just some of the individual components of our master facilities plan which we think in another three years could be totally completed if we are successful going down the stretch of our capital campaign, where the goal is to raise $70 million for these facility enhancements and the endowment of our athletic scholarships.

Florida State is relatively young as a university, but at the same time has had a wealth of success. How does this affect how outsiders view Seminole athletics?

Well there's no question that many times people, who are not familiar with our university, are surprised when we say we've only been at this level for less than 55 years. And that (fact) is distorted because of the success of our football program. For fourteen straight years, we've finished in the top four in the country, and for fourteen straight years we've won at least 10 football games. The Bowl Championship Series has only been in existence for three years and we've been in all three national title games. That level of success, coupled with a similar level of success that our baseball program has enjoyed - going into this last year we had been to the College World Series eight of the past ten years - the success of those programs, particularly football with its visibility and exposure, schews a lot of things.

Just as our (Doak Campbell) stadium, which I believe is one of the most striking if not the most striking stadium aesthetically in the country. People would come and see our stadium and our university center, and that was distorting their perception of our facilities. What they didn't realize until we announced the campaign was that as they came in for football weekends and sat in the stadium that it was not representative of the condition of many of our other facilities.

What are your goals or priorities for the Seminole football program? How important is winning and what is your measurement or yard stick of success?

Being successful is important. I've been an athletics director for a number of years now, and at no time have I ever told a coach - either when we were interviewing or one who is a sitting head coach - that if you graduate your student athletes, make certain that your focus is on the student athlete and run a clean program that you'll be here forever. In my mind, running a clean program and graduating athletes is not a request - that's a mandate. So I've tried to be very honest in saying, "Is winning important? Yes it is." And progress is a reasonable expectation and I think coaches understand that. Now I think that all programs are different, and is (winning) the sole measuring stick - absolutely not and it should not be. Now, I would be less than honest to say that building a successful program is not important. But I think that any measuring stick has to include an assessment of graduation rates and academics. We do an outstanding job here. I applaud our academic people who spearhead these efforts - academics is a priority here. We graduate our student athletes, we graduate our football players. I think compliance is absolutely critical. Nothing can bring a university down faster than not having a top priority be compliance with conference and NCAA rules. I think representing the university and how a coach represents his or her institution is absolutely critical. As far as representation goes, and I've said this many times, no coach in the country in any sport, male or female, represents his or her institution better than Bobby Bowden represents Florida State University.






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