David Harris seeks efficiency as UNI athletic director

CEDAR FALLS — It didn't take long for the University of Northern Iowa to find its next Director of Athletics.

Less than three months after Troy Dannen departed for Tulane, UNI announced Wednesday that David Harris would be its next AD. Harris doesn't have to travel far from his old job at Iowa State, but he takes a big leap forward in responsibility.

The 44-year-old spoke to funding, department priorities, being an in-state rival to his former employer and being the first black AD in the school's history on Wednesday, while his wife and two kids watched from the front row. He has a lot in mind for what he wants to do at UNI, but said patience will be key to start out.

'I want to move quickly, but not so fast that we're making missteps,' Harris said. 'It can be hard, because you feel like that's your mandate. Your mandate isn't to come in here and sit around for eight or nine months. Your mandate is to get started and look at what you're doing and how you're making it happen.

'Some of those things we'll be able to make happen quickly. There will be some decisions we can make quickly that will take us in a great direction. There will be others we need to be very intentional and somewhat deliberate about. We're not going to go any faster than we need to, but we're also not going to go slower than we need to.'

When Dannen first came into the position, one of the first major decisions he had to make was to cut baseball as a Division I sport — a decision that still brings about hard feelings among many UNI supporters.

What Harris faces may or may not be the same, but as he said, the care he takes with those big decisions will be paramount. There obviously were no specifics on Wednesday, but he said his first move will be to sit with and listen to as many people as possible so he can have the best plan possible to make decisions.

'I also want to begin to look at our core values as a department. I think those will help us figure out how we're going to make decisions,' Harris said. 'I want to connect with our donors. Finances are critical for us, and we have to begin to build those relationships within the community. And then, obviously, strategically, what our plans are going to be and how we're going to implement those things so we have a plan we can give our donors so they can see and understand what we want to do and how they can help us.'

UNI President Bill Ruud introduced Harris, and was most excited about how Harris and his visions of how the department would increase both its funding and revenue aligned.

Ruud was recently front and center of the debate in the state legislature over appropriations for the three state schools, and whether or not Iowa and Iowa State should play a role in how UNI's athletic department is funded.

Both Harris and Ruud used some variation of 'efficient' or 'efficiency' repeatedly throughout and after the announcement and news conference as the ultimate goal of the department going forward.

'We're going to figure out how to be efficient, we're going to figure out the funding, we're going to be sure we can partner with the Board of Regents and get the governor to make sure the appropriations that should come here are recognized,' Ruud said. 'I think what (Harris is) saying is he understands Iowa. I think it's important for him to understand Iowa. Any time we can attract talent like David Harris … we're going to go after it. He's going to build a structure that's going to be efficient, effective and successful.'

Harris also had his now former boss, Iowa State AD Jamie Pollard, in attendance, and when asked if he had a new perspective on the debate having changed sides of the table, Harris joked that he was hoping for a deal from Pollard.

He was part of the Wisconsin staff Pollard was on, then went with to Iowa State in 2006.

'Jamie and I have worked together for 14 years. And I'm sure if he's willing to do me this one solid, that I would get off to a fantastic start as the athletic director at UNI,' Harris said, to laughter.

Joking aside, Harris knows he and Ruud have a fight ahead of them to work through those appropriations. Pollard said after the news conference Harris is well-prepared to be part of that process. He added, 'none of us ever have exactly what we want, but David is equipped to figure out how to strategically put this program in a position to have its best chance to get what it most rightly needs.'

In addition to efficiency, Harris talked a lot Wednesday about self-sufficiency. He said he doesn't think UNI can be totally self-sufficient, but that it should be the goal to be as self-sufficient as possible so the athletic department can be less dependent on the general fund.

'I believe as an athletics department and a university, we want to receive the appropriate appropriations to run our programs. That's what's most important,' Harris said. 'If you're getting what our president and others who are putting together our budgets are asking for, I think, to me, that's the main thing. I believe all of our people want to be given a chance to receive the resources necessary, and then given the chance to go out and do the very best they can with those resources.

'Give us a chance, then hold us accountable for the result.'

One of the more poignant parts of his opening statements as the UNI AD was when Harris addressed being the school's first black AD.

It's a factor no one could ignore, and Harris takes great pride in. But that is not and will not be what defines his role at UNI — something both he and Ruud spoke to Wednesday. Harris said he wants to be held accountable for his decisions, and hopes what he does can help anyone else of color through that example.

'I know there's not very many people who look like me who get to do jobs like this. So I accept that awesome responsibility of representing that, and I take it very personally,' Harris said. 'I will step back for a second and say that in my job, my biggest concern is doing my job well. They hired someone to be the athletics director and to do the job. I'm going to do that to the best of my ability, and I imagine whether I were African-American or white or Hispanic or Asian, the expectation would be the same.

'It's significant, it's important; it's something I think about. It's something that's a part of who I am. But I also understand I want to help all young people, all of our coaches; all of our programs to have success.'

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