Crimson and Gold Connection; Jim Johnson

Welcome to Crimson and Gold Connection. My name is Dustin Triber, and today's guest is Pittsburgh State University's Director of Intercollegiate Athletics, Jim Johnson. Welcome to the show today, Jim. Thanks, Dustin. It's good to be here. You're a very busy man, and we were just talking beforehand. You've got your hands in so many things. You've been in so many committees over the years, and now you have a new position, which you've already been on this committee, the NCAA Championships Committee, and now you're going to be the new chair of this committee. Yeah. So congratulations. Well, thank you. Really, a lot of those things come down to the fact that nobody else wants it. If you get up and leave the room to maybe go to the restroom or take a phone call, then you come back and you're the chair or you haven't. Yeah, so that's kind of what it works. But no, it'll be exciting. It's a position that can make a committee that can make a lot of difference in what we do on a daily basis with student athletes and how we can provide on championship experiences and memories. And so it's a great group to be a part of.

And being the chair is just kind of getting you through two days of meetings three times a year. It's really the only difference. But we have a great group right now around the table. So it's some looking forward to the next few months. So it'll be fun. Yeah, that'd be neat. Now, you said you actually do meet face-to-face on these committees. Is there other like Skype and that type of thing? No, the NCAA as much as much as they use technology for a lot of things, we've never, we have not gone to anything like Skype or anything like that for meetings. We do a lot of conference calls, but you don't see anybody on the other end. We, all the meetings are in Indianapolis at the NCAA National Office at the headquarters. There was a time back in the day where you got to travel and go some pretty nice places and that ended and they're all there in Indy. So some of us, Dr. Scott for one, myself, we sometimes feel like maybe we should have an apartment in Indianapolis, but it's no Skype or nothing like that. We meet three times in person a year for about two

and a half days. Some of those meetings are shorter just depending on what's in front of us agenda wise. And then a monthly conference call that kind of take care of business kind of between meetings. But it's a committee keeps pretty busy. And this committee kind of goes over all the rules. These are the championships of all the NCAA Division II sports. And there are several sports that we don't even think about here at Pitt State. You know, we have obviously football, basketball, baseball, volleyball, but there are so many more that you have a hand in now. And you really, do you actually plan out the actual championship or is it more about going over the rules and regulations or a little bit of everything? A little bit of everything. But playing rules is totally separate. There's the playing rules, rules of the game. And those are handled by committees that do just playing rules. So we don't get into that with our committee. Our committee's more policies, procedures, how teams are selected, how teams qualify, how championships are paid for, how they're funded. And then we really have oversight of what

we call sport committees. So there's a committee for each sport. So there's a Division II football committee. And that's eight guys from around the country who administer the championship for the sport of football. They're really the grassroots come up with what they want to do as a sport. Then that flows up to this bigger group, the championship's committee that really has oversight of all of those. And you're right, we have, when you divide up track and field here at Pitt State, we have 12 sports. And that's less than half of the number of championships that we sponsor in Division II. I think we're up to 25 or 26 now. So oftentimes I'm sitting around the table and we're having a conversation about field hockey or lacrosse. And I'm not worth much when that happens. But that's the great thing about the committee is there's a broad representation geographically from a diversity standpoint and from a sports sponsorship standpoint that we do have those lacrosse experts around the table. So it's not only is it fun and interesting, it's educational. Now what takes at most of your time on this,

I would think maybe track and field would be a big part because there's so many events. And obviously, Pitt State just hosted the 2016 NCAA Division to endure track championships at the plaster center. So I would imagine that is probably a big part of, there's gonna be a lot of work just doing that. While in football, you have a game a week. Right, yeah, but we're not involved in any of the really administration of those events. That flows down to that lower level, I call it lower level committee. That's probably done sound real positive. But it's the committee of experts in that sport. So they'll spend a lot of time on a lot of that grassroots discussions and issues. So by the time it gets up to our group, it's, I mean, if you had to pick out one issue, one task that maybe you spend more time on than others, it's really the financial aspects of how the championships are funded, how reimbursements to participating teams are handled. What's the cost of putting on a championship? So every three years, we're getting ready to do this.

This coming year is go through a trial budget process and we have a pot of money set aside in the division to budget to enhance championships. So really our job over the next nine to 15 months is deciding how to spend that money. So really, as you would suspect a lot of times, everything comes back to money. And that's no different with this group. Almost anything we do related to selecting where championships will be held, how they'll be funded. A lot of it's just a financial side of how that's, how all that happens. Gotcha. And we will actually be hosting the 2018 indoor championships for the track and field. That's exciting. And the one just a couple of, just a few weeks ago was a big success. It was. Yeah, we had a great time. We actually met this morning as a matter of fact, wrapping up a few things and then getting our bid ready for the next bid cycle, which will be 18, 19, and 19, 20 and 22.

That's the next bid cycle. And those bids are due here August 12th, I believe. And so we work with our convention visgers bureau to submit that. And that's why we built the facility was to host those events. So we'll bid every opportunity we have. And so hopefully there'll be some news here in the not too distant future that not only are we going to host in 18, but maybe some future years. I'd be very exciting. At Pittsburgh State, we really, in our athletic program and as a university, we really try to represent Pitt State at the national level. It's all maybe it's all fun to go to India a few times a year and be around colleagues from across the country. You don't see very often. Dr. Scott, myself, and others really get involved in these opportunities to represent Pittsburgh State. And with Dr. Scott chairing the Division to Presence Council this calendar year, my role on championships and others in our department are involved in those professional development and committee

activities. And while we all enjoy that and we do it to try to make a difference for student athletes at the end of the day, we really also try to do it to represent Pittsburgh State and appreciate you having an interest in it. Oh, and you guys are doing a great job. Jim Johnson, thank you so much for coming in. And good luck on the new position as chair of the NCAA Division to Championships Committee. Thank you so much. OK, thanks a bunch.