New WSU AD Patrick
Chun says he was drawn to Pullman by infrastructure in place for success, and
Kirk Schulz
Originally
published January 23, 2018 at 4:42 pm
WSU's
new athletic director, Pat Chun, 43, is the first Asian-American Athletic
Director to head a Power Five Athletic Department.
By Stafanie Loh Seattle Times
Patrick
Chun’s first action in his introductory speech as Washington State’s 14th athletic
director was to take a moment to recognize Tyler Hilinski, who died last
Tuesday – the day before Chun was originally scheduled to be introduced as
WSU’s new A.D.
Chun,
formerly the athletic director at Florida Atlantic, comes to WSU at a tough
time, as the Cougars grieve the loss of a popular quarterback who tragically
took his own life.
In his
opening remarks, Chun lauded the WSU community for how it rallied around the
Hilinski family and the football program.
Now,
Chun hopes the WSU community will rally around him. As of Feb. 5, Chun will
start his new job in Pullman hoping to lead WSU into what he called, “the next
chapter of our athletic program’s history.”
Chun,
43, is the first Asian-American Athletic Director at a Power Five school.
“I’m
the son of hardworking and proud immigrants from South Korea,” Chun said
Tuesday during his introductory news conference at Martin Stadium. “My parents
arrived in America almost 50 years ago, armed with a belief in the American
dream. They believed access to this dream was through education and hard work.
Those values were never far from my mind growing up and still resonate with me
today.”
The son
of a taekwondo instructor father and a grocery store clerk mother, Chun, who
holds a black belt in taekwondo, grew up in Ohio and attended Ohio State, where
he met his wife, Natalie, a Buckeyes softball player. Chun’s wife and three
daughters, Vanna, Kennedy and Gretta, all traveled to Pullman for his
introduction.
Chun
worked his way up within the Ohio State athletics department over 15 years,
eventually rising to executive associate athletic director. He left in 2012 to
become athletic director at Florida Atlantic.
Chun
has a reputation as an excellent fundraiser – a quality WSU President Kirk
Schulz stressed in WSU’s search for a successor to replace Bill Moos, who left
for Nebraska in October.
He was
selected as WSU’s athletic director after the search committee interviewed
eight semifinalists, seven of whom were sitting Power Five athletic directors,
Schulz said Tuesday.
Schulz
said Chun was the first of the eight to interview with the search committee and
that Chun was so impressive that, upon his departure, one committee member
stood up and said, “I think we’re done, right there.”
Chun
signed a five-year contract worth $650,000 annually, Schulz said. The contract
contains two main incentives – a $25,000 bonus tied to a specific fundraising
goal that Schulz said he and Chun will devise together, and a $25,000-per-year
accrued retention bonus to be paid out after five years if Chun completes his
initial contract with WSU.
“The
financial part is where we need most of our effort, and that’s what Pat brings
to the table,” Schulz said. “That’s what we wanted to incentivize.”
Chun said
Tuesday that he believes there’s good infrastructure in place for success at
WSU and that Schulz’s presence as president factored into his decision to take
the job.
Schulz’s
“vision and plans for the university and the department of athletics were critical
in piquing my interest,” Chun said.
“The
reputation of this place is incredible,” Chun said. “President Schulz’s
reputation in college athletics is impeccable, and the reality is that for an
athletic director in an athletics program, when you have a transformative
leader as president, you can do some extraordinary things,”
“I
believe everything is in place right now. … We’re in great shape. It’s my job
to make sure this next chapter of our athletic program’s history is the
greatest one ever written.”
In his
introductory speech, Chun thanked senior members of the WSU athletic
department, including interim athletic director John Johnson, for providing
leadership over the last few months.
Chun
also thanked Moos, saying, “his imprint is on this campus in many ways, and he
left us with great momentum to build upon.”
Chun
said he and Moos are “playing a vicious game of phone tag” but that he hopes to
connect with his predecessor in the near future.
The
Cougars’ new athletic director doesn’t plan to initiate any immediate staffing
changes but said he’s “going to come in and just listen.”
“It’s
amazing to see this community rally around what happened last week,” Chun said,
referencing the aftermath of Hilinski’s death. “I’m just trying to learn and
get you guys and the student-athletes to like me. We’re gonna build some trust
and spend some time together, and we’re going to do some great things at WSU.”
Chun
said he’s already met with many WSU athletics staff members and spoken to some
of the coaches, including football coach Mike Leach.
Thus
far, the two appear to have hit it off. Leach said they chatted via phone just
before Chun was hired, then had a lengthy phone conversation after his hire,
followed by a brief meeting.
“He is
great, and has a significant body of work,” Leach said in response to a text
message from The Seattle Times seeking comment on Chun’s hire. “I look forward
to working with Pat.”
Chun
has experience dealing with outspoken football coaches because he hired and
supervised Lane Kiffin at Florida Atlantic.
What
exactly did he learn from working with Kiffin that can be applied to working
with the equally-outspoken Leach?
Chun
laughed.
“Every
coach is different,” Chun said. “I’ve learned a lot from Lane. I think we all
take pride in what he did at FAU. He came in with a vision for our program. I
know from spending time with coach Leach that he has a vision for what he wants
to do. He’s so proud of this place and proud of all the people behind them.
“My
leadership style is adaptive to who the person is. We want to make sure coach
Leach and his assistants have what (they) need to be successful.”
…………..
Patrick
Chun: First objective as Cougars’ new athletic director is to ‘learn Washington
State’
UPDATED:
Tue., Jan. 23, 2018, 7:04 p.m.
By Theo
Lawson Spokane S-R
PULLMAN
– Patrick Chun says he’s stepping into his new athletic director position at
Washington State as an “outsider.” It’s not much of a stretch.
In
Strongsville, Ohio – a suburb of the Cleveland metropolitan area – he was
raised by two South Korean immigrants who came to the United States five
decades ago in pursuit of the American dream. Chun’s schooling was exclusively
done in the state of Ohio, first at Cleveland’s Holy Name High and then at Ohio
State, which gave Chun his undergraduate degree and his first full-time job in
collegiate athletics. An AD vacancy on the sun-kissed shores of Boca Raton,
Florida, at Florida Atlantic University, prompted Chun to leave the 150-mile
belt of Ohio where he’d spent more than 30 years of his life.
And six
years later, a can’t-miss opportunity to lead an athletic department at the
Power Five level presented itself to Chun. WSU’s new athletic director brings
an expertise in fundraising with him to Pullman, but phase one will largely be
learning about the university he’s trying to sell.
“I am
an outsider here and I recognize that,” Chun said Tuesday during a formal press
conference to announce WSU’s new athletic director – the school’s 14th AD and,
more notably, the first-ever Asian-American AD at the Power Five level. “So I’m
going to have to learn the lay of the land, learn the people, learn the
customs, understand Washington State.”
For
someone who’s spent less than a week on the Palouse, he’s off to a good start.
Chun
spoke Tuesday at the Greg Rankich Club Room on the second level of Martin
Stadium, outlining his vision for WSU athletics underneath a large mural
depicting Shawn Landrum’s signature blocked punt in the 1988 Apple Cup.
“After
meeting with the (search) committee, it was evident to me that this group was
filled with people of integrity, people who love Washington State and people
who have a disgust of the color purple,” Chun said, drawing chuckles from the
crowd of approximately 100 that filled the club room for Tuesday’s
introduction.
In his
first interaction with Jason Gesser, the ex-WSU quarterback who now works at
the school as an Assistant Athletics Director of Development, Chun recalled the
2002 football game against his alma mater, Ohio State, that would’ve pushed
Gesser’s Cougars into the national championship picture had they won.
The
Buckeyes, Chun reminded, were victorious 25-7.
“He
quickly threw a jab at me,” Gesser laughed. “… So a very relatable guy. Funny
right off the get-go. Going to be a guy that I think that can get along with
everybody.”
WSU
President Kirk Schulz said Chun was one of eight finalists for the position,
and one of seven sitting athletic directors being considered. All eight got
interviews, but Chun, batting leadoff, wowed the seven-person search committee
to such an extent that one committee member suggested, “I think we’re done.”
“Pat’s
experience, his vision, his passion, his work ethic will certainly lead us to
the next level of success,” Schulz said.
On
Tuesday, Chun and WSU were expected to finalize a five-year contract worth
$650,000 annually. The deal also include a $25,000 fundraising incentive plan
that Schulz and Chun will mutually agree upon, in addition to a $25,000
retention bonus that Chun can collect if he completes his five-year contract.
Chun’s
fundraising credentials, both at FAU and Ohio State, were perhaps the largest
draw for Schulz and the leadership team that was tasked with scouring the
country for WSU’s next AD. The credentials include raising the single largest
gift in FAU athletics history – a $16 million donation from the Schmidt Family
Foundation – and setting fundraising records for three consecutive years at
OSU, which amounted to $42 million by the time Chun left Columbus in 2012.
Regarding
WSU’s current $8 million yearly athletic deficit, Chun said “we’re not
different than a lot of athletic departments around the country so we’ll take a
look at it and we’ll have a plan to manage it and make sure that we’re moving forward.”
Chun
also said he plans to connect with his predecessor, Bill Moos, who left WSU in
October to become the AD at the University of Nebraska. The two are currently
locked in a “vicious game of phone tag,” Chun said, but “I know he invested his
heart and soul into this place and the good thing about our industry is people
want to help, so I look forward to connecting with Bill.”
In Boca
Raton, Chun was charged with resurrecting the Owls’ football program – one that
had won nine games between 2013-16 – and his hire of former Tennessee coach
Lane Kiffin was initially seen as controversial, though FAU followed by posting
an 11-3 record and Kiffin’s polarizing personality gave the program a new level
of exposure.
Many
predict that Chun’s experience with Kiffin will help him relate to WSU’s Mike
Leach, who’s also established a reputation as one of college football’s most
candid and quirky coaches.
“Every
coach is different,” Chun said. “I’ve worked with a vast array of coaches
throughout my career. … My leadership style is more adaptive to who the person
is and we just make sure coach Leach and the assistant coaches have what they
need to be successful.”
Leach,
who repeatedly stated his admiration for Moos, said Chun was “a tremendous
candidate and brought a lot to the table and had worked with a lot of great
people.” Added Leach: “I was excited he was the guy that was selected.”
The
sixth-year WSU coach recently spoke with both Kiffin and OSU coach Urban Meyer
about Chun – each of whom, according to Leach, said the Cougars’ new AD was “a
good, steady guy that paid his dues throughout his career.”
Chun
has spoken with Leach briefly and intends on meeting with each of WSU’s coaches
in the coming weeks. Asked if he planned to make any “immediate changes within
the athletic department” Chun responded, “No, I’m going to come in and just
listen and learn.”
Tuesday’s
press conference was originally supposed to be held last Wednesday, but WSU
postponed Chun’s announcement after learning of Tyler Hilinski’s death. Chun
opened his portion of the press conference with a statement on the WSU
quarterback, who tragically took his own life last Tuesday.
“I did
not know Tyler,” Chun said, “but I witnessed the enormous impact that he had on
his teammates, this university and all of Cougar nation. The love shown by this
tight-knit Washington State community is a great reflection of not only the
love that Tyler showered on everyone that he touched, but also displays the
incredible amount of kindness, compassion and resolve of this (WSU) community.”
