New AD brings big goals, experience to Hilltop (Photo By Austin Kilgore, The Daily Campus)
A month and a half of uncertainty came to a close Friday when SMU President R. Gerald Turner introduced Steve Orsini to take over as athletic director, effective June 1.
Orsini, who has been AD at conference rival University of Central Florida since 2002, brings high goals to the Hilltop.
“My goal is to return the glory to SMU — get SMU and all its supporters excited again,” Orsini said. “It’s about creating the spark and maintaining the flame.”
Orsini knows about glorious programs. He was one of four captains on the Notre Dame national championship team of 1977 and has a Super Bowl ring from his days with the Dallas Cowboys.
His experience at UCF also hints at a skill in creating a spark. During his tenure, the UCF athletic budget has increased 60 percent, and the university is current building its first-ever on campus football stadium — a plan Orsini oversaw. He also had success at Georgia Tech, which he helped obtain two NCAA Final Fours at the Georgia Dome.
This kind of success brought Orsini attention from other schools and made UCF loathe to let him go. Orsini, who had been in stalled contract negotiations when first contacted by SMU, received a last-minute counter-offer from UCF to remain.
“What SMU is getting is something people want,” said Orsini, who signed a five-year deal with SMU. Financial terms were not available, but The Dallas Morning News reports that Orsini’s base salary at UCF had been $175,000. Outgoing SMU AD Jim Copeland has a base salary of $368,050.
Goals and Challenges
Orsini, who could hardly sit still for much of Friday’s press conference, is clearly excited to begin work at SMU. His excitement will be needed to reach the goals he set out Friday.
“We should be top 25 in the nation in everything we do,” Orsini said. He added that for teams already in their sport’s national top 25, he hoped to see even better rankings.
The new AD also said that he would like to see SMU athletes leave with a great degree, be good role models in the community and most importantly, have the best four years of their lives as athletes at SMU.
“My philosophy for how to have fun in athletics is spelled W-I-N,” Orsini said.
To reach his winning goals, Orsini will have to overcome several challenges. The men’s basketball team and its coach Jimmy Tubbs are currently under investigation by the NCAA; their facilities need work. The football program consistently struggles to fill Ford Stadium.
At UCF, Orsini said he faced similar pressure to fill the stadium, particularly when the Golden Knights struggled through a 0-11 2004 campaign, much like SMU’s own winless 2003 effort.
As for Moody Coliseum, Orsini admitted, “It’s not top 25.”
“We’ve got to have something to work on,” President Turner said of Moody, drawing laughs.
It may also fall to Orsini to deal with coach Tubbs’ contract, which has two years remaining and has been under consideration for renewal.
With these issues in mind, Orsini remained doggedly optimistic.
“We will keep getting more competitive and more competitive and more competitive until we are champions in all we do,” he said.
