Rice has always had potential

By Jerome Solomon

Tommy McClelland is not the first athletic director at Rice University who recognized the school's “enormous potential” or thought “the future is bright” for sports at a first-class institution with the highest of academic standards.

He hopes to be the first in some time to see that potential realized.

Not willing to accept that Rice is what it is, school president Reginald DesRoches and McClelland want Rice to be what it can be.

The prevailing theme of McClelland's introductory press conference Tuesday was about galvanizing the school's immense resources to produce the best athletics department.

Rice is moving to the American Athletic Conference after being in Conference USA for the last 18 years. After being left standing with Houston, TCU and SMU when the Southwest Conference disbanded, Rice joined the Western Athletic Conference in 1996.

The AAC is an upgrade for the Owls, but it is just a step. In the wild world of college realignment, Rice is an afterthought.

“We've got to continue to build strategies to put us in position to be successful at the top of that league ― broad-based,” McClelland said. “That'll be the focus in everything we do.

“It's gonna take resources, it's gonna take strategy, but that's the goal. Anything short of that is not success in our minds.”

Setting goals is the easy part.

McClelland's understanding of intercollegiate athletics was shaped by his experience as a student when he was a two-sport walk-on (football and javelin) at Northwestern State in Natchitoches, La. McClelland, who is from Basile, La., which is just north of I-10 between Lake Charles and Lafayette, thought coaching might be in his future until he got a taste of administration.

He became the youngest AD in the country at 26 when he took a job at McNeese State. In 2013, he went to Louisiana Tech for a seven-year run that ranks among the most successful athletic stretches in school history.

The last three years, he was the deputy athletic director for external affairs and revenue generation at Vanderbilt, where he handled a $300 million fundraising campaign, the largest in school history.

McClelland said his strategy and approach to the new position will be to “observe, learn, lead.”

He isn't about to make definitive statements about a place at which he has just arrived. But changes and progress are afoot.

While McClelland was at Vanderbilt, the school chose to renovate 101-year-old FirstBank Stadium. Rice Stadium is only 73 years old, but is in even more dire need of upgrades. Whether the school starts from scratch with a tear-down or decides on a major renovation project, the work is long overdue. The light, cosmetic touches added to the stadium over the years haven't been enough.

Having just gone through the process in Nashville, McClelland views the issue from a unique lens.

“From what I've observed and what I've seen so far, obviously, Rice Stadium has got to be addressed in some way, shape or form, in my opinion, in a drastic way,” McClelland said.

Rice hasn't been a major competitor for the Houston sports fan's entertainment dollar since the 1960s. McClelland, who was in charge of marketing, promotions, fan engagement and hospitality at Vanderbilt, wants to change that.

“We're in a town that's full of entertainment,” he said. “When people go to the (Texans), the Dynamo, the Rockets, they're used to engaging with the product in a certain way. We've got to mirror that experience for the fan.

“Now, our mission is different. We have a different focus. But we can't expect fans to come on a product that is so dissimilar than what they experience when they even go to the opera. We've got to elevate the fan experience, and I think that starts with Rice Stadium.”

Twenty years ago, in the midst of a $10 million budget deficit, Rice seriously considered dropping football or downgrading from Division I sports.

The school's trustees voted against the recommendation.

The hiring of David Bailiff as head football coach in 2007 led the Owls to a winning path, highlighted by a school-record three straight trips to bowls and a 10-win season in 2013.

Rice fell off dramatically in Bailiff's last few seasons. In 2018, Mike Bloomgren took over a program that was coming off a single win and lacking in facilities compared to other schools.

Rice is still lacking. Bloomgren had his best season last year, with a 5-8 record, but is just 16-29 overall.

Coaches who have worked with McClelland gave Bloomgren rave reviews about his approach.

“His passion, his understanding that this thing doesn't exist without the student-athletes are really exciting things,” Bloomgren said. “He wants to lock arms; he wants to be in lockstep so that we can move this program forward. That's exciting.”

A rising name in athletic director circles, McClelland would certainly have had opportunities for other positions at more desirable programs than Rice. But he vows that he isn't just passing through town.

With family, including in-laws, close by ― his high school football coach was at the news conference ― Houston is where he wants to be.

“If we do the things that we believe we can do here, we don't ever have to leave,” McClelland said. “We can make this as best as we can make it. It can be any and everything we desire it to be.

“This is a destination job that does not have to have anything looking over your shoulder.”

This editorial was published in the Houston Chronicle and distributed by Tribune Content Agency.