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Here is an interview done this week with the outgoing president at the University of Montana. He makes some interesting comments about how athletics can impact other fundraising, and how he doesn't see the Griz being in any hurry to move up a division. Have a good read.
Dr. George Dennison is set to end his 20-year tenure as the president of The University of Montana on Aug, 15. This week, Dr. Dennison attended his final meeting with the Big Sky Conference presidents in Salt Lake City, Utah. The University of Montana in Missoula has enjoyed unparalleled growth during Dennison’s 20 years. A big part of that growth has been in athletics. During Dennison’s reign, Montana has won 15 Big Sky Conference and two national football championships, seven postseason and four regular-season men’s basketball conference championships, 13 regular-season and 12 postseason women’s basketball championships, four regular-season and three postseason soccer championships, three regular-season and one postseason volleyball championship, one golf championship, and a Sterling Savings Bank Big Sky Conference Presidents’ Cup. On the eve of his final commencement ceremonies, Dr. Dennison spoke with Jon Kasper of the Big Sky Conference about a wide-range of athletic-related issues:
Q: Dr. Dennison, I find it fascinating that you attended The University of Montana during a time when athletics was deemphasized by the administration, and didn’t have much success. Did that experience impact the way you ultimately handled athletics when you took over as president at your alma mater in 1990?
A: No, I don’t think so. The thing to remember is that when I was a student, I was a non-traditional student. I had a wife and a couple of kids. I spent a lot of my time working and studying. Honestly, I didn’t pay much attention to athletics. I knew about it. I knew a couple of people who played. I only attended a couple of games. I went on through graduate school and attended a couple of events. Athletics increased in importance as my boys grew older.
Q: History will define your tenure at The University of Montana as an era of tremendous growth. Under your leadership, enrollment has climbed from just over 9,000 to more than 14,000. Countless new educational buildings have been constructed, millions of dollars have been donated through campaigns, and the athletic department has flourished. Washington-Grizzly Stadium has gone from a 13,000-seat stadium to one that now holds more than 25,000. The renovations of the Adams Center, the addition of the auxiliary gyms and a soccer stadium are other examples of athletic improvements. How do you believe a successful athletic department correlates to the overall success of the institution and vice versa?
A: Most people know that a virtual army of economists have studied this question. They all say there is no relation between the athletic program and what happens with fundraising on the academic side of the enterprise. They just don’t seem to find that connection. Based on the experience here for 20 years and the pattern of giving on the part of the donors, I think no doubt whatsoever that the success of Grizzly athletics has made a world of difference in our capital campaigns. I can look through my donor list and see that those who give to athletics give to other areas of the campus. I have so many examples of that, including locally people like Dennis and Phyllis Washington and the Davidsons (Ian and Nancy), I can go on through the list. It’s helped immensely, and it’s very clear the success of the athletic program has generated millions for other activities and academics, and it’s attracted thousands of students. I think it has sort of disputed the claim of those who study it closely. Maybe The University of Montana is an exception, but the parallel relationship has been very strong here over the years.
Q: How do you believe a university president impacts the success or failure of an athletic department?
A: I think they set a tone and insist that we have rules. You make it clear to the coaches and others that those are rules you live by. You put the emphasis on the student part of student-athletes. We want them to do very well in the classroom. We’ve made that very important in terms of graduation rates and now the APR (Academic Progress Rate). It’s like the NCAA commercials show; most of them will be professional in something else. You have to help them with that, and they will if they know what the rules are. Experience has shown that you can’t be right in every prediction you are making when recruiting student-athletes. There will be some exceptions. But, I think for the most part our coaches have been right, and I applaud them for that. I don’t think as far as presidents go, you can go much beyond setting the tone and letting it be known what the expectations are.
Q: You mentioned the APR, something the late Dr. Myles Brand championed in his role as NCAA President. APR has become a very important aspect of all athletic departments. Do you believe APR has changed the way athletic departments recruit student-athletes. Overall, what impact do you think Dr. Brand, himself a former University President, had on college athletics?
A: My response is we’ve always believed in the APR at The University of Montana. We have not had much trouble in any sports. I think we lost .20 in a grant-in-aid in track, and that’s because the coach wasn’t paying attention. You have to pay attention to those issues. They are students first and athletes second. If you recruit for academic success, APR shouldn’t be a problem, and it hasn’t been a problem. This approach with the APR is the important culmination of several years of reform at the national level, and I’m very supportive of keeping it going and enforcing it.
Q: Athletics, fitness and education all seem to be very important to the Dennison family. You begin every day at 3:30 a.m. with a four-mile run. Your brother Tim was a long-time high school coach and administrator in Missoula. Your son Rick played professional football and is an NFL assistant coach with the Houston Texans. Your other son Robert is a high school teacher and coach in Kansas. Did you and your wife Jane feel that athletics and fitness were as crucial to a well-rounded life as education?
A: Well, I admit that I’m an addict. I go out running every day. It’s a habit, and it helps get my day started. I need to do that. It’s very helpful. It’s the only time of the day no one wants to see me, and I don’t have to worry about getting interrupted. I’ve always believed there is a very good relationship with physical and mental condition. Our boys were involved in athletics from the time they were old enough to do it all the way through college. They’ve also got me involved in the lifetime sport of golf. They were very good golfers and they shamed me into at least being respectable at the game. Jane and I like to play as frequently as we can get on the course, and we plan to do it a lot more now.
Q: During your presidency, you’ve traveled around the globe, meeting with countless dignitaries. You’ve also traveled to all parts of the nation to watch Montana athletic teams. Where do the 1995 and 2001 football championships rank as far as memorable events, and since you are a graduate of UM, can you share with us the source of pride those victories brought?
A: I think the first one was just an overwhelming experience. We played Marshall in Huntington, West Virginia, and the last few minutes were something really special. We had a huge crowd; all these planes of people went. It was the first time in modern history that one of The University of Montana teams was involved in a national game like that. Everyone wanted to be there. The following national championship games were equally as much fun, but a little different. Win or lose, I think it’s just a wonderful thing for the campus and student-athletes. I still see a lot of the student-athletes from the 1995 team and the 2001 team. They remember those experiences very well. I had a son (Rick) play in Super Bowls. I went to watch those. He didn’t win any of them, but just being there made all the difference. It’s an amazing thing for the campus and it is part of the mystique of Grizzlies. Everyone wants to talk about it. We have a target on our backs. It’s represented us very well. People come out of the woodwork and want to talk about it everywhere I go. We have alumni show up at television parties, and are always quite willing and quite happy to get together for games. I don’t want to say it’s just a Grizzly thing, because I think it’s the same for Montana State. Montanans really identify with their schools.
Q: Are there other athletic events other than the football championships that stand out?
A: Well, both our men’s and women’s basketball teams have been very competitive. I’ve enjoyed that too, and that does attract students. I’ve watched our soccer teams, volleyball teams and golf teams. I try to get to as many events as possible. We’re doing well again in track, and that’s great. We’re competing for the Presidents’ Cup this year, and that’s what I like to see, pushing hard on all fronts. We’ve got 60 to 70 percent of our athletes from Montana on our teams, so we’re using Montanans, and I think they are doing very well for us.
Q: The University of Montana is a charter member of the Big Sky Conference, helping to form the league in 1963. After almost 50 years in the Big Sky, why do you believe the conference and The University of Montana have been such a good fit?
A: Well, because we’ve had good competition. People want to come and see knowing full well that we could get knocked off anytime in the sports. That’s what athletics ought to be about. We can make some pretty good money selling out our football stadium, and we need to do that. As long as you’ve got good teams in the Big Sky, why would we even think about anything else? If you go to a different level, you have different headaches. We’re doing very well where we are. As long as that competition stays there and the competition increases, I think we are just fine.
Q: During your 20 years, the Big Sky has certainly undergone change. Nevada, Idaho and Boise State all left the league in the early to-mid 1990s. Schools such as Sacramento State, Portland State and Northern Colorado have been added. How do you feel the league has fared since those changes in the mid-1990s?
A: I thought we lost something when Nevada, Idaho and Boise State left, but schools are going to make those decisions on their own. I think schools like Sacramento State, Portland State and Northern Colorado have done relatively well. Some are still reaching their stride, one might say. As long as the conference maintains the rule that a member has to be a member in all of the required sports, it will be strong. If the conference loses that, I think something will happen. I’m pretty much a firm believer in continuing that rule.
Q: What challenges do you believe the Big Sky Conference and its institutions face in the coming years?
A: Well, I think challenges will probably come up within the next year, and that challenge is related to lifting the moratorium on level and division changes. Some changes may be occurring in the conference. Some of what the big conferences do will create challenges for others and decimate some. Secondly, I don’t think the continued effects of the funding problems are going to ease up for at least five years, maybe a little longer. We’re not going to come out of a meltdown as quickly as we have in the past. Minnesota President Bob Bruininks has called this, “The new normal.’’ We need to start thinking differently with how we are going to fund things. There is pressure on schools and athletics to cut expenditures. But if you cut and stop being competitive and go into a downward spiral, that would create more problems. We have to remain competitive. If some of the conferences are affected by restructuring, it might create a situation where we look.
Q: As you mentioned, there is a lot of talk about conference realignment. Talk is rampant throughout the country right now. The entire landscape of college athletics could change in the next 12 to 24 months. How do you think The University of Montana will eventually factor into these discussions?
A: Everyone is speculating around Montana in regards to that. As long as we maintain a competitive level, why would we want to incur more expense? That’s something many don’t realize about the move to the next level. You sit at the bottom rung and hope you don’t get exposed. If we’re doing well, I can’t see much reason to move. We look at factor analysis all the time to know where we stand. We’ve done it all along. When we expand the stadium, we don’t just expand. We have a rule. If we have the seats sold before we put it in, I’ll get the bonds. It’s been a good recipe for success. You have to spend money to be competitive. If you cut too far, you destroy the reason fans watch. If they see something they don’t like, and you don’t deliver and make it an event, they aren’t going to be there.
Q: The past couple of years have been some of the most challenging for institutions of higher education. With the current financial situation and the multitude of cuts that have to be made, how difficult has it been to try to balance academics and athletics without causing long-lasting damage to either?
A: Throughout the years, I’ve followed a rule of thumb that I know other administrators have used, and that’s five percent of your total budget should be allocated to athletics. They have a responsibility to field competitive teams and get people in the stands to watch the events. We’ve put together a general fund, and the students have stepped up with their fee contribution. We all have to do our part. We’ve done well with the exception of one glitch a few years ago. We had an accounting error that should have never happened and there was a laziness monitoring and adhering to the athletic budget. But I don’t think our athletics have suffered. We’ve had to take reductions, but we’ve done it carefully. You have to be enrollment driven in the classrooms, just as you are driven by the fans on the athletic side. We’ve had them working well together.
Q: What will you miss about the Big Sky Conference, the NCAA and Montana Grizzly athletics?
A: I do enjoy the meetings and talking about the issues. One thing some of the larger conference have that we don’t do in the Big Sky is when the presidents meet, they spend the first day talking about athletics and then have a full day talking about academics. That’s something we’ve never done in the Big Sky, and it would have been nice to talk more about the academics with Big Sky presidents. I will miss the conversations about athletics and student athletes, and discussing how institutions are doing.
Q: I imagine that just because you are retiring as The University of Montana President, it doesn’t mean that Grizzly athletics won’t be part of your life. What plans do you and Jane have?
A: We’re going to stay here. We have a house in Canyon River, a new golf community. We’ll spend January and February in Houston where Rick is the offensive coordinator for the (Houston) Texans. I’m going to be writing a comprehensive history of The University of Montana. I have season tickets for football. We’ll be over on the East side in the new Canyon Club. I just don’t know if I’ll be able to stay inside. I’m a walker.
Dr. George Dennison is set to end his 20-year tenure as the president of The University of Montana on Aug, 15. This week, Dr. Dennison attended his final meeting with the Big Sky Conference presidents in Salt Lake City, Utah. The University of Montana in Missoula has enjoyed unparalleled growth during Dennison’s 20 years. A big part of that growth has been in athletics. During Dennison’s reign, Montana has won 15 Big Sky Conference and two national football championships, seven postseason and four regular-season men’s basketball conference championships, 13 regular-season and 12 postseason women’s basketball championships, four regular-season and three postseason soccer championships, three regular-season and one postseason volleyball championship, one golf championship, and a Sterling Savings Bank Big Sky Conference Presidents’ Cup. On the eve of his final commencement ceremonies, Dr. Dennison spoke with Jon Kasper of the Big Sky Conference about a wide-range of athletic-related issues:
Q: Dr. Dennison, I find it fascinating that you attended The University of Montana during a time when athletics was deemphasized by the administration, and didn’t have much success. Did that experience impact the way you ultimately handled athletics when you took over as president at your alma mater in 1990?
A: No, I don’t think so. The thing to remember is that when I was a student, I was a non-traditional student. I had a wife and a couple of kids. I spent a lot of my time working and studying. Honestly, I didn’t pay much attention to athletics. I knew about it. I knew a couple of people who played. I only attended a couple of games. I went on through graduate school and attended a couple of events. Athletics increased in importance as my boys grew older.
Q: History will define your tenure at The University of Montana as an era of tremendous growth. Under your leadership, enrollment has climbed from just over 9,000 to more than 14,000. Countless new educational buildings have been constructed, millions of dollars have been donated through campaigns, and the athletic department has flourished. Washington-Grizzly Stadium has gone from a 13,000-seat stadium to one that now holds more than 25,000. The renovations of the Adams Center, the addition of the auxiliary gyms and a soccer stadium are other examples of athletic improvements. How do you believe a successful athletic department correlates to the overall success of the institution and vice versa?
A: Most people know that a virtual army of economists have studied this question. They all say there is no relation between the athletic program and what happens with fundraising on the academic side of the enterprise. They just don’t seem to find that connection. Based on the experience here for 20 years and the pattern of giving on the part of the donors, I think no doubt whatsoever that the success of Grizzly athletics has made a world of difference in our capital campaigns. I can look through my donor list and see that those who give to athletics give to other areas of the campus. I have so many examples of that, including locally people like Dennis and Phyllis Washington and the Davidsons (Ian and Nancy), I can go on through the list. It’s helped immensely, and it’s very clear the success of the athletic program has generated millions for other activities and academics, and it’s attracted thousands of students. I think it has sort of disputed the claim of those who study it closely. Maybe The University of Montana is an exception, but the parallel relationship has been very strong here over the years.
Q: How do you believe a university president impacts the success or failure of an athletic department?
A: I think they set a tone and insist that we have rules. You make it clear to the coaches and others that those are rules you live by. You put the emphasis on the student part of student-athletes. We want them to do very well in the classroom. We’ve made that very important in terms of graduation rates and now the APR (Academic Progress Rate). It’s like the NCAA commercials show; most of them will be professional in something else. You have to help them with that, and they will if they know what the rules are. Experience has shown that you can’t be right in every prediction you are making when recruiting student-athletes. There will be some exceptions. But, I think for the most part our coaches have been right, and I applaud them for that. I don’t think as far as presidents go, you can go much beyond setting the tone and letting it be known what the expectations are.
Q: You mentioned the APR, something the late Dr. Myles Brand championed in his role as NCAA President. APR has become a very important aspect of all athletic departments. Do you believe APR has changed the way athletic departments recruit student-athletes. Overall, what impact do you think Dr. Brand, himself a former University President, had on college athletics?
A: My response is we’ve always believed in the APR at The University of Montana. We have not had much trouble in any sports. I think we lost .20 in a grant-in-aid in track, and that’s because the coach wasn’t paying attention. You have to pay attention to those issues. They are students first and athletes second. If you recruit for academic success, APR shouldn’t be a problem, and it hasn’t been a problem. This approach with the APR is the important culmination of several years of reform at the national level, and I’m very supportive of keeping it going and enforcing it.
Q: Athletics, fitness and education all seem to be very important to the Dennison family. You begin every day at 3:30 a.m. with a four-mile run. Your brother Tim was a long-time high school coach and administrator in Missoula. Your son Rick played professional football and is an NFL assistant coach with the Houston Texans. Your other son Robert is a high school teacher and coach in Kansas. Did you and your wife Jane feel that athletics and fitness were as crucial to a well-rounded life as education?
A: Well, I admit that I’m an addict. I go out running every day. It’s a habit, and it helps get my day started. I need to do that. It’s very helpful. It’s the only time of the day no one wants to see me, and I don’t have to worry about getting interrupted. I’ve always believed there is a very good relationship with physical and mental condition. Our boys were involved in athletics from the time they were old enough to do it all the way through college. They’ve also got me involved in the lifetime sport of golf. They were very good golfers and they shamed me into at least being respectable at the game. Jane and I like to play as frequently as we can get on the course, and we plan to do it a lot more now.
Q: During your presidency, you’ve traveled around the globe, meeting with countless dignitaries. You’ve also traveled to all parts of the nation to watch Montana athletic teams. Where do the 1995 and 2001 football championships rank as far as memorable events, and since you are a graduate of UM, can you share with us the source of pride those victories brought?
A: I think the first one was just an overwhelming experience. We played Marshall in Huntington, West Virginia, and the last few minutes were something really special. We had a huge crowd; all these planes of people went. It was the first time in modern history that one of The University of Montana teams was involved in a national game like that. Everyone wanted to be there. The following national championship games were equally as much fun, but a little different. Win or lose, I think it’s just a wonderful thing for the campus and student-athletes. I still see a lot of the student-athletes from the 1995 team and the 2001 team. They remember those experiences very well. I had a son (Rick) play in Super Bowls. I went to watch those. He didn’t win any of them, but just being there made all the difference. It’s an amazing thing for the campus and it is part of the mystique of Grizzlies. Everyone wants to talk about it. We have a target on our backs. It’s represented us very well. People come out of the woodwork and want to talk about it everywhere I go. We have alumni show up at television parties, and are always quite willing and quite happy to get together for games. I don’t want to say it’s just a Grizzly thing, because I think it’s the same for Montana State. Montanans really identify with their schools.
Q: Are there other athletic events other than the football championships that stand out?
A: Well, both our men’s and women’s basketball teams have been very competitive. I’ve enjoyed that too, and that does attract students. I’ve watched our soccer teams, volleyball teams and golf teams. I try to get to as many events as possible. We’re doing well again in track, and that’s great. We’re competing for the Presidents’ Cup this year, and that’s what I like to see, pushing hard on all fronts. We’ve got 60 to 70 percent of our athletes from Montana on our teams, so we’re using Montanans, and I think they are doing very well for us.
Q: The University of Montana is a charter member of the Big Sky Conference, helping to form the league in 1963. After almost 50 years in the Big Sky, why do you believe the conference and The University of Montana have been such a good fit?
A: Well, because we’ve had good competition. People want to come and see knowing full well that we could get knocked off anytime in the sports. That’s what athletics ought to be about. We can make some pretty good money selling out our football stadium, and we need to do that. As long as you’ve got good teams in the Big Sky, why would we even think about anything else? If you go to a different level, you have different headaches. We’re doing very well where we are. As long as that competition stays there and the competition increases, I think we are just fine.
Q: During your 20 years, the Big Sky has certainly undergone change. Nevada, Idaho and Boise State all left the league in the early to-mid 1990s. Schools such as Sacramento State, Portland State and Northern Colorado have been added. How do you feel the league has fared since those changes in the mid-1990s?
A: I thought we lost something when Nevada, Idaho and Boise State left, but schools are going to make those decisions on their own. I think schools like Sacramento State, Portland State and Northern Colorado have done relatively well. Some are still reaching their stride, one might say. As long as the conference maintains the rule that a member has to be a member in all of the required sports, it will be strong. If the conference loses that, I think something will happen. I’m pretty much a firm believer in continuing that rule.
Q: What challenges do you believe the Big Sky Conference and its institutions face in the coming years?
A: Well, I think challenges will probably come up within the next year, and that challenge is related to lifting the moratorium on level and division changes. Some changes may be occurring in the conference. Some of what the big conferences do will create challenges for others and decimate some. Secondly, I don’t think the continued effects of the funding problems are going to ease up for at least five years, maybe a little longer. We’re not going to come out of a meltdown as quickly as we have in the past. Minnesota President Bob Bruininks has called this, “The new normal.’’ We need to start thinking differently with how we are going to fund things. There is pressure on schools and athletics to cut expenditures. But if you cut and stop being competitive and go into a downward spiral, that would create more problems. We have to remain competitive. If some of the conferences are affected by restructuring, it might create a situation where we look.
Q: As you mentioned, there is a lot of talk about conference realignment. Talk is rampant throughout the country right now. The entire landscape of college athletics could change in the next 12 to 24 months. How do you think The University of Montana will eventually factor into these discussions?
A: Everyone is speculating around Montana in regards to that. As long as we maintain a competitive level, why would we want to incur more expense? That’s something many don’t realize about the move to the next level. You sit at the bottom rung and hope you don’t get exposed. If we’re doing well, I can’t see much reason to move. We look at factor analysis all the time to know where we stand. We’ve done it all along. When we expand the stadium, we don’t just expand. We have a rule. If we have the seats sold before we put it in, I’ll get the bonds. It’s been a good recipe for success. You have to spend money to be competitive. If you cut too far, you destroy the reason fans watch. If they see something they don’t like, and you don’t deliver and make it an event, they aren’t going to be there.
Q: The past couple of years have been some of the most challenging for institutions of higher education. With the current financial situation and the multitude of cuts that have to be made, how difficult has it been to try to balance academics and athletics without causing long-lasting damage to either?
A: Throughout the years, I’ve followed a rule of thumb that I know other administrators have used, and that’s five percent of your total budget should be allocated to athletics. They have a responsibility to field competitive teams and get people in the stands to watch the events. We’ve put together a general fund, and the students have stepped up with their fee contribution. We all have to do our part. We’ve done well with the exception of one glitch a few years ago. We had an accounting error that should have never happened and there was a laziness monitoring and adhering to the athletic budget. But I don’t think our athletics have suffered. We’ve had to take reductions, but we’ve done it carefully. You have to be enrollment driven in the classrooms, just as you are driven by the fans on the athletic side. We’ve had them working well together.
Q: What will you miss about the Big Sky Conference, the NCAA and Montana Grizzly athletics?
A: I do enjoy the meetings and talking about the issues. One thing some of the larger conference have that we don’t do in the Big Sky is when the presidents meet, they spend the first day talking about athletics and then have a full day talking about academics. That’s something we’ve never done in the Big Sky, and it would have been nice to talk more about the academics with Big Sky presidents. I will miss the conversations about athletics and student athletes, and discussing how institutions are doing.
Q: I imagine that just because you are retiring as The University of Montana President, it doesn’t mean that Grizzly athletics won’t be part of your life. What plans do you and Jane have?
A: We’re going to stay here. We have a house in Canyon River, a new golf community. We’ll spend January and February in Houston where Rick is the offensive coordinator for the (Houston) Texans. I’m going to be writing a comprehensive history of The University of Montana. I have season tickets for football. We’ll be over on the East side in the new Canyon Club. I just don’t know if I’ll be able to stay inside. I’m a walker.