Brian Wickstrom, Louisiana Monroe

[Harry]

This guy has a pretty impressive resume and would take this job.  He would be someone I would like to see us interview.  

Brian Wickstrom, Louisiana Monroe

Brian Wickstrom is entering his third year as the director of athletics at ULM. He was introduced as the director of athletics by ULM president Dr. Nick Bruno at a July 2, 2013 press conference.

In Wickstrom’s second year at ULM, the football program finished its fundraising goal for the endzone facility and an official ground breaking ceremony was held on March 2, 2015. Construction of the facility officially began in April of 2015 and the project has an expected completion time of eight to 10 months. This is the first privately funded facility in the history of ULM Athletics.

Men’s basketball had a banner season as the program won a total of 24 games and became the first-ever Sun Belt program to play a game in the month of April. During this run, attendance set all-time highs over the past 20-years. Not only have athletics programs been competitive on the court, but in Wickstrom’s two years at ULM, a total of 285 student athletes have been honored at the annual Maroon and Gold Banquet for posting a 3.0 GPA or higher.

During year one at ULM, Wickstrom has had an impact on athletic facilities as baseball, soccer and tennis all added to their current facility. Wickstrom also secured funding for the expansion of the sand volleyball courts.

In addition to various upgrades at baseball, soccer and tennis, Wickstrom, in a three-month span, raised $2.98 million in major gifts for the football endzone facility project. Wickstrom also has been a part of securing the top 5 gifts in ULM Athletics history. Wickstrom also oversaw the addition of ”Tailgate Terrace” for fans to tailgate during home games. New field turf has been installed thanks to the largest commitment in the history of ULM athletics and going forward, the new home for football will be JPS Field at Malone Stadium.

Men’s and women’s basketball saw the addition of special courtside seating for the 2013-14 season and five different sports set new single-game and season attendance records in 2013-14 (sand volleyball, soccer, softball, tennis and volleyball).

In 2013-14, the athletic department outsourced its ticket sales and management to The Aspire Group, while outsourcing sponsorship sales to Learfield Sports. The department also launched a new official online merchandise store as well as an auction website and a new photo store.

Prior to arriving in Monroe, Wickstrom served as the director of intercollegiate athletics at UC Riverside from 2011-13. During his tenure, Wickstrom established an $80 million dollar multipurpose facility (project on hold as of Sept. 2013), while the athletic department also completed a track facility renovation ($2.8 million) and a basketball practice facility renovation ($1.2 million).

A men’s basketball APR improvement plan was also implemented as the men’s basketball program posted a 989 during the 2011-12 year versus a 887 score the year prior to Wickstrom’s arrival. He also initiated and completed a logo/rebranding effort that involved the community, alumni and students and also increased overall involvement.

Wickstrom spent the previous five years as a member of the UTEP staff where he was involved in all phases of the day-to-day operations of the department including the supervision, hiring, and evaluation of staff and coaches, working with a $20 million athletics operating budget. Wickstrom oversaw all areas of External Relations while serving as the sports administrator for a number of Miners sports including the UTEP men’s basketball program and football operations.

Wickstrom was also heavily involved with the planning, design and fundraising efforts for the state-of-the-art Foster Stevens Basketball Center.

In Wickstrom’s tenure, the Miner Athletic Club produced the top two annual fund incomes in the history of UTEP Athletics and the three highest football season ticket numbers in the history of the program were reached.

Wickstrom was instrumental in securing the 2011 C-USA Men’s and Women’s Basketball tournament for El Paso. The tournament produced close to $1,000,000 net of expenses for the conference.

A native of Overland Park, Kan., Wickstrom arrived at UTEP after spending two years as assistant athletic director for development and business partnerships at the University of Michigan. In his time there, he served as the primary contact for $5.4 million dollars in corporate sponsorships along with cultivating, soliciting and securing $15.6 million in commitments for the Capital Campaign.

Wickstrom was associate athletics director at Santa Clara University from 2001-03. He served as the sports administrator for women’s basketball and directed development efforts that produced $8.2 million in commitments over a one-year period. Wickstrom also oversaw the $42.8 million Athletics Capital Campaign.

He started his career in collegiate athletics at the University of Missouri from 1999-2000. As assistant director of athletic development, Wickstrom’s primary focus was the department’s $100 million capital campaign and facility fundraising projects.

Wickstrom was a track and field athlete at Kansas State University, earning his undergraduate degree in business administration/finance in 1991. He added an MBA masters of business administration/management from K-State in 1992. Wickstrom completed his master’s in sports administration from Ohio University in 1999 and his doctorate in educational leadership from Eastern Michigan University in 2006.

While at UTEP, Wickstrom was heavily involved in the community, as evidenced by his appointment to the Parks and Recreation Advisory Board by the Mayor of El Paso. He also served on the United Way Resource Allocation Committee.

He and his wife Celina have three sons, Vince, John Christian and David Grant and one daughter, Bricelle Leigh.

 

[UNT90]

Impressive resume. This is the type of candidate UNT should pursue. Now, find someone like him who is a former UNT letterman and grad and you would have the perfect candidate. I really don't want someone loyal to another university running the AD again.

[VideoEagle]

Very impressive background - not just ULM but lot's of work at UTEP as well. MBA from K-State, a masters in sports administration from Ohio U, plus a doctorate in educational leadership so he has the educational background to get the respect of the rest of the university. I especially like his background in community involvement. 

Let's interview him! 

[Cerebus]

This looks like a good fit to me @Harry.  He definitely looks like the type of candidate we want to interview.  

@UNT90 I don't know of any ex-lettermen working in college athletics administration so you may be asking the impossible.  We do have several in coaching, so hopefully one day we can hire a successful letterman to be the head coach.  

[Wag Tag]

10 hours ago, Harry said:

This guy has a pretty impressive resume and would take this job.  He would be someone I would like to see us interview.  

Brian Wickstrom, Louisiana Monroe

Brian Wickstrom is entering his third year as the director of athletics at ULM. He was introduced as the director of athletics by ULM president Dr. Nick Bruno at a July 2, 2013 press conference.

In Wickstrom’s second year at ULM, the football program finished its fundraising goal for the endzone facility and an official ground breaking ceremony was held on March 2, 2015. Construction of the facility officially began in April of 2015 and the project has an expected completion time of eight to 10 months. This is the first privately funded facility in the history of ULM Athletics.

Men’s basketball had a banner season as the program won a total of 24 games and became the first-ever Sun Belt program to play a game in the month of April. During this run, attendance set all-time highs over the past 20-years. Not only have athletics programs been competitive on the court, but in Wickstrom’s two years at ULM, a total of 285 student athletes have been honored at the annual Maroon and Gold Banquet for posting a 3.0 GPA or higher.

During year one at ULM, Wickstrom has had an impact on athletic facilities as baseball, soccer and tennis all added to their current facility. Wickstrom also secured funding for the expansion of the sand volleyball courts.

In addition to various upgrades at baseball, soccer and tennis, Wickstrom, in a three-month span, raised $2.98 million in major gifts for the football endzone facility project. Wickstrom also has been a part of securing the top 5 gifts in ULM Athletics history. Wickstrom also oversaw the addition of ”Tailgate Terrace” for fans to tailgate during home games. New field turf has been installed thanks to the largest commitment in the history of ULM athletics and going forward, the new home for football will be JPS Field at Malone Stadium.

Men’s and women’s basketball saw the addition of special courtside seating for the 2013-14 season and five different sports set new single-game and season attendance records in 2013-14 (sand volleyball, soccer, softball, tennis and volleyball).

In 2013-14, the athletic department outsourced its ticket sales and management to The Aspire Group, while outsourcing sponsorship sales to Learfield Sports. The department also launched a new official online merchandise store as well as an auction website and a new photo store.

Prior to arriving in Monroe, Wickstrom served as the director of intercollegiate athletics at UC Riverside from 2011-13. During his tenure, Wickstrom established an $80 million dollar multipurpose facility (project on hold as of Sept. 2013), while the athletic department also completed a track facility renovation ($2.8 million) and a basketball practice facility renovation ($1.2 million).

A men’s basketball APR improvement plan was also implemented as the men’s basketball program posted a 989 during the 2011-12 year versus a 887 score the year prior to Wickstrom’s arrival. He also initiated and completed a logo/rebranding effort that involved the community, alumni and students and also increased overall involvement.

Wickstrom spent the previous five years as a member of the UTEP staff where he was involved in all phases of the day-to-day operations of the department including the supervision, hiring, and evaluation of staff and coaches, working with a $20 million athletics operating budget. Wickstrom oversaw all areas of External Relations while serving as the sports administrator for a number of Miners sports including the UTEP men’s basketball program and football operations.

Wickstrom was also heavily involved with the planning, design and fundraising efforts for the state-of-the-art Foster Stevens Basketball Center.

In Wickstrom’s tenure, the Miner Athletic Club produced the top two annual fund incomes in the history of UTEP Athletics and the three highest football season ticket numbers in the history of the program were reached.

Wickstrom was instrumental in securing the 2011 C-USA Men’s and Women’s Basketball tournament for El Paso. The tournament produced close to $1,000,000 net of expenses for the conference.

A native of Overland Park, Kan., Wickstrom arrived at UTEP after spending two years as assistant athletic director for development and business partnerships at the University of Michigan. In his time there, he served as the primary contact for $5.4 million dollars in corporate sponsorships along with cultivating, soliciting and securing $15.6 million in commitments for the Capital Campaign.

Wickstrom was associate athletics director at Santa Clara University from 2001-03. He served as the sports administrator for women’s basketball and directed development efforts that produced $8.2 million in commitments over a one-year period. Wickstrom also oversaw the $42.8 million Athletics Capital Campaign.

He started his career in collegiate athletics at the University of Missouri from 1999-2000. As assistant director of athletic development, Wickstrom’s primary focus was the department’s $100 million capital campaign and facility fundraising projects.

Wickstrom was a track and field athlete at Kansas State University, earning his undergraduate degree in business administration/finance in 1991. He added an MBA masters of business administration/management from K-State in 1992. Wickstrom completed his master’s in sports administration from Ohio University in 1999 and his doctorate in educational leadership from Eastern Michigan University in 2006.

While at UTEP, Wickstrom was heavily involved in the community, as evidenced by his appointment to the Parks and Recreation Advisory Board by the Mayor of El Paso. He also served on the United Way Resource Allocation Committee.

He and his wife Celina have three sons, Vince, John Christian and David Grant and one daughter, Bricelle Leigh.

 

Looks great! I like the guys that have very limited resources, but make it work! I also like the La Tech AD. 

[DallasGreen]

Yes the biggest criteria at North Texas will always be that they come cheap and expect little help from the students, administration, or community. He would fit the criteria until he can find a real athletics oriented university to run. He and Seth should be here about the same amount of time---3 years max.

[UNT90]

1 hour ago, Cerebus said:

This looks like a good fit to me @Harry.  He definitely looks like the type of candidate we want to interview.  

@UNT90 I don't know of any ex-lettermen working in college athletics administration so you may be asking the impossible.  We do have several in coaching, so hopefully one day we can hire a successful letterman to be the head coach.  

Ya, that was my fear. Oh to be Arkansas St...

[Wag Tag]

14 minutes ago, DallasGreen said:

Yes the biggest criteria at North Texas will always be that they come cheap and expect little help from the students, administration, or community. He would fit the criteria until he can find a real athletics oriented university to run. He and Seth should be here about the same amount of time---3 years max.

Geeez! RV pay was ranked 77 out of all Div 1 AD. He's ranked 2nd in comp in G5 Texas schools at 300k behind UH at 500k!  The money and opportunity is there. If they leave in 3 yrs because of success great! Haters hate!

[Army of Dad]

1 minute ago, Wag Tag said:

If they leave in 3 yrs because of success great!

This should be looked at as a feature and not a bug. After a few cycles of successful hires then it could well be time for that to end, but not yet.

[EagleMBA]

Great list of accomplishments and the (IMO) proper academic background for a good AD. He has hands-on experience in all of the critical job requirements. Interview this man ASAP, Smatty!!

[Harry]

Well, I guess sometimes resume's can be misleading.  I found this disturbing info from a La. Tech fan:

 

 

[EagleMBA]

Gulp!!

[Stix]

 

Quote

 

LaTechReport ‎@LaTechReport

@gomeangreen BTW this is final year of BW's contract, and it's not being renewed. NLU already hired his replacement as special asst to prez.

1:12 AM - 24 May 2016

 

Which is what I thought would happen with RV.

So... time to move on to the next potential candidate.

Edited May 24, 2016 by Stix
correct formatting

[Harry]

Sorry guys...  I missed on this one badly!  Definitely need to vet some of the prospective candidates better.

[outoftown]

2 hours ago, Harry said:

Sorry guys...  I missed on this one badly!  Definitely need to vet some of the prospective candidates better.

That is ok. You were looking at a number of people, saw someone who had a decent CV at first look and started to take a deeper look. Then you looked deeper into the person and got information that made the CV a lot more questionable and changed your mind. No shame in getting and using more information to refine your opinion.

The process needs to be that way where the real decision makers are too: Throw in a lot of names, that have decent CVs and then -instead of getting blinded- start actively looking around what is wrong with those CVs and change your mind when something comes up that looks too bad. Don't get blinded. But DO look at a lot of people.

[EagleMBA]

2 hours ago, Harry said:

Sorry guys...  I missed on this one badly!  Definitely need to vet some of the prospective candidates better.

Shake it off, Big Guy! I jumped on that resume too...it touches all the right buttons. Apparently, the man behind the paper doesn't quite measure up. You wouldn't know until you did the due diligence.

[Wag Tag]

7 hours ago, Harry said:

Well, I guess sometimes resume's can be misleading.  I found this disturbing info from a La. Tech fan:

 

 

Harry you need to do a better job vetting the posts on here for facts and do more background checks of the originators! Uh uh wait! Never mind!

[UNT90]

Y'all remember that bio on MGS for RV? 

Looks like the same deal. 

[you bet]

Folks as an avid ULM fan and a friend to both Dr. Brian Wickstrom and the "already hired" replacement I want to share a few words with you.  Brian Wickstrom is a tireless AD, and he is probably the best fundraiser in our history.  His replacement is an up and coming AD having previously worked at Georgia and then as AD at a smaller college in Mississippi.  Dr. Wickstrom and President Bruno have had issues from day one.  Not all of these are Brian's fault.  We have a difficult situation at ULM and Brian, not being from our area has not been the "sweetheart" to the die hards.  Josh Brooks, the heir apparent is one of the nicest guys you will ever meet, very young and energetic.

Please do not listen to the naysayers from La. Tech, they hate everything ULM.  Coming from a school that just experienced a terribly embarrassing event with Tyler Summit you would think they would know better than to point fingers.

So to sum it up, Brian Wickstrom would be a great AD for North Texas. 

 

 

[TreeFiddy]

Thanks Brian.

[MeanGreenTexan]

19 hours ago, Harry said:

Well, I guess sometimes resume's can be misleading.  I found this disturbing info from a La. Tech fan:

 

 

Can we trust those dastardly bulldogs?   They're our conference rivals.   They would say anything to torpedo a great hire for UNT.

[MGNation92]

1 hour ago, you bet said:

Folks as an avid ULM fan and a friend to both Dr. Brian Wickstrom and the "already hired" replacement I want to share a few words with you.  Brian Wickstrom is a tireless AD, and he is probably the best fundraiser in our history.  His replacement is an up and coming AD having previously worked at Georgia and then as AD at a smaller college in Mississippi.  Dr. Wickstrom and President Bruno have had issues from day one.  Not all of these are Brian's fault.  We have a difficult situation at ULM and Brian, not being from our area has not been the "sweetheart" to the die hards.  Josh Brooks, the heir apparent is one of the nicest guys you will ever meet, very young and energetic.

Please do not listen to the naysayers from La. Tech, they hate everything ULM.  Coming from a school that just experienced a terribly embarrassing event with Tyler Summit you would think they would know better than to point fingers.

So to sum it up, Brian Wickstrom would be a great AD for North Texas. 

 

 

I'm sure friends of RV have similar things to say about him. Maybe Wickstrom is the answer. Maybe not. Hopefully Smatresk picks the right man

[VideoEagle]

I still don't see any reason not to talk to the guy. Random messages from unnamed folks on the Internet shouldn't exclude someone. And don't forget the La Tech folks hate anything and everything with ULM. They still call it Northeast Louisiana. How much stock would we put in information from someone referring to us as North Texas State? 

Never, EVER forget there are no "sure things" in hiring. EVER! Situations vary and someone can be successful in one place and fail in another. If you've never hired the wrong person for a particular job, you haven't done much hiring. 

[EagleMBA]

9 minutes ago, VideoEagle said:

I still don't see any reason not to talk to the guy. Random messages from unnamed folks on the Internet shouldn't exclude someone. And don't forget the La Tech folks hate anything and everything with ULM. They still call it Northeast Louisiana. How much stock would we put in information from someone referring to us as North Texas State? 

Never, EVER forget there are no "sure things" in hiring. EVER! Situations vary and someone can be successful in one place and fail in another. If you've never hired the wrong person for a particular job, you haven't done much hiring. 

Agree. He looks great on paper. There is a good chance he has just gotten caught up in petty internal politics at ULM. I would urge Smatty to at least interview the man and see how he comes off.

[Wag Tag]

3 hours ago, you bet said:

Folks as an avid ULM fan and a friend to both Dr. Brian Wickstrom and the "already hired" replacement I want to share a few words with you.  Brian Wickstrom is a tireless AD, and he is probably the best fundraiser in our history.  His replacement is an up and coming AD having previously worked at Georgia and then as AD at a smaller college in Mississippi.  Dr. Wickstrom and President Bruno have had issues from day one.  Not all of these are Brian's fault.  We have a difficult situation at ULM and Brian, not being from our area has not been the "sweetheart" to the die hards.  Josh Brooks, the heir apparent is one of the nicest guys you will ever meet, very young and energetic.

Please do not listen to the naysayers from La. Tech, they hate everything ULM.  Coming from a school that just experienced a terribly embarrassing event with Tyler Summit you would think they would know better than to point fingers.

So to sum it up, Brian Wickstrom would be a great AD for North Texas. 

 

 

Thanks for the info. I would think with the success he has had at one of the most under funded D1's he deserves a sit down! ULM raised almost $3m, wow!