I was able to sit down with Long Beach State Athletic Director Vic Cegles last week to talk about his first year as the top man in the athletic department.
Here is an excerpt from that interview:
Patrick Creaven: How has it been for you, in your first year, pushing new ideas?
Vig Cegles: I think I told you when I first got here that there were a few things that could be done right away, but that it would take a full year to look at staff, look at coaches, and I am in the process of starting to do that. We haven’t made a lot of changes because we have a lot of good coaches, and I made a very difficult decision in basketball, and it was complicated. We had the NCAA violations…
PC: Was the [possible NCAA violation] the deciding factor in that decision?
VC: I think it was a huge factor. A lot of things come into play, but that was a huge factor. But, going back to my point, next month will be a year, and we will put together a three- to five-year plan for the future of the athletic program.
PC: Was that the most difficult decision for you so far, letting go Larry Reynolds?
VC: No question. Anytime you have to make a change like that it is very, very difficult. You are dealing with someone livelihood, with someone’s family, and it’s never easy. But again, you have to do what is in the best interest of the university, and that is what we did.
PC: And then you hired Dan Monson. What was it about his qualities and made him stand out?
VC: I don’t think there was any question about his integrity and his ethics, but for the most part, with the coaches you don’t question that. [He won] at Gonzaga, but the only thing I questioned was the decision to go to Minnesota, and that is no better than the sixth or seventh-best job in that conference. Plus, they were on super double super probation, so I was like, “Damn, what were you thinking?”
But it’s ironic how he came back, and I think he is’a genuine person and that he told me in the interview that it is not about the money. [He said], “I want to coach. I love coaching.” And I needed someone that understood the West Coast, and he does. He has also coached in the Big Ten and built Gonzaga. Finding someone like that is a rarity. Not very many guys out there have that kind of experience, so I know we hired a great coach.
PC:How good can he be? He did build Gonzaga once. Could this be the next Gonzaga?
VC: If you look at the other schools in the Big West, and where we are located in Southern California, and The Pyramid, and the new weight room, and the academic center, and the coaches that we have – we can build it. The philosophy is, once you get a foundation of players, you can improve your schedule, and when you do that you are nationally respected. We need to do that.
Is it easy? No. You have to get the right breaks, you have to get lucky with a recruit, but we are going to get it done.
PC: How about fundraising? That’s something you have been successful at in the past. How has that gone the first year?
VC: Well, again, you can’t come in here and change things. But we have a committee now that is working at fundraising, looking at what we have done, what we could do differently, how to get better raising money. Staffing: Do we have enough people doing it the right way? Are we getting enough major gifts? What projects do we need to highlight? From locker rooms to a new track to getting a soccer stadium, those are the things we are trying to get together, so hopefully we can cultivate people and find perspective donors so we can build those facilities.
PC: Lastly, about the baseball team, they have been doing really well this year, they did have a set back last week (two weeks ago now), but how excited are you about the team?
VC: I love college baseball. My son plays at Rutgers. Hopefully we don’t play them in the playoffs. You know, we won 13 in a row, and then we lost three games in a row. That last one was tough, up 6-3 in the ninth and losing. But I still think we will host [the Regionals], but are we a No. 1 seed? It’s going to be close. But Mike Weathers [baseball coach] and his coaches do a great job.
