Feb. 1, 2010

UCSB Walk of Champions

Steve O'Brien, associate athletics director for development, University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB), presents this month's Capital Campaigns in Focus.

Establishing our Vision

In April 2009, at the direction of our athletics director, Mark Massari, we unveiled UCSB Athletics' Dare to Be Great initiative, illustrating the role that we would play in our university's broader $500 million Campaign for Santa Barbara and providing the blueprint by which we would elevate all aspects of our intercollegiate athletics program.

Addressing Key Challenges

As a relatively young campus with a new athletics director and a geographically diffuse alumni population, prior to addressing the capital components of our initiative, we needed to construct a framework to solidify annual support, reconnect with athletics alumni en masse, and establish a program to identify our major giving prospects.

Building a Foundation

First, we developed The Gaucho Fund to secure annual support for all 20 of our intercollegiate athletics programs. It launched July 1, 2009, at the beginning of our fiscal year. Roughly halfway through our fiscal calendar, we are eclipsing our original projections and anticipate finishing the year at 125 percent of pace. Second, we introduced The Gaucho Order (a letter-winners association) as a way to connect all former UCSB student-athletes with our current athletics programs. As an organization, The Gaucho Order will be instrumental in helping us to chart the athletics department's future course and bring these facility enhancements to fruition. Finally, as the major giving piece of The Gaucho Fund, we introduced the Living Scholar program as a vehicle for strengthening the relationship that exists between our major donors and the student-athletes and programs they support. Among this collection of Living Scholar donors, we have identified a number of prospective capital campaign contributors; including three who have already made such commitments.

Realizing our Goals: The Walk of Champions Athletics Facilities Enhancement Project

With these critical foundations in place, we have now turned our attention to the nearly $60 million worth of capital improvements that are associated with our Dare to Be Great initiative. Making improvements to nearly all of our intercollegiate athletics facilities and constructing a new, state-of-the-art intercollegiate aquatics center, we are demonstrating our commitment to providing our student-athletes and coaches with the facilities they need to compete and succeed at the highest level. Connecting our new and upgraded athletics venues with a common pathway that celebrates and depicts UCSB's rich athletics history, our facilities enhancement project will be appropriately named the "Walk of Champions."

Already completed through private funding and a student fee referendum, UCSB constructed a 51,400-square-foot, $16 million administrative building to serve as the nerve center for its department of intercollegiate athletics. Opened in March 2005, the ICA Building is home to the department's sports medicine/training room, strength and conditioning facilities, academic resource center, coaches'/administrators' offices, ticket office, conference rooms and classrooms. The facility's Reitnouer Auditorium boasts the latest in audio-visual technologies and its Phil Womble Hall of Champions celebrates many of the Gauchos' greatest athletics achievements.

Having won the bid to host the 2010 NCAA Men's Soccer College Cup, the most time sensitive portion of this project involves a significant renovation of Meredith Field and Harder Stadium. Led by a generous matching gift, we have secured funds to install a new scoreboard with video capability. Additional contributions have been made to overhaul the field's turf, sprinkler and drainage system, upgrade concessions, and construct an entry plaza that celebrates the facility's dynamic history as a football stadium, concert venue and host site of the 2010 College Cup. We are still working to identify donors to address locker room and press box upgrades, a donor reception/hospitality area and a variety of cosmetic enhancements.

The most substantial component of the Walk of Champions will be the construction of a state-of-the-art intercollegiate aquatics center, featuring a 65m competition pool, benefiting our nationally recognized men's and women's swimming and water polo programs. Though we have not yet entered the active phase of our fundraising plan, we have already begun receiving contributions and we have assembled an Aquatics Center Building Committee to guide us throughout the entire process. We have hired architects that are producing a series of renderings for our marketing and solicitation materials and a graphic design team that will be producing related web-based materials. Internally, we are finalizing site plans and establishing a naming rights system to address all marketable pieces of the project. We anticipate publically launching our fundraising efforts in spring 2010, with a goal of raising $7 million in gifts and pledges by spring 2011.

In addition to these projects, we are simultaneously planning numerous upgrades to our baseball stadium (Caesar Uyesaka Stadium), basketball and volleyball arena (The Thunderdome), softball facility (Campus Diamond), track venue (Pauley Track) and tennis complex (Robertson Tennis Courts). Our private fundraising efforts will be supplemented by student support, demonstrating the potential effectiveness of such a partnership for large scale capital campaigns.

Engaging our Donors

By no means unique to UCSB, planned giving and naming rights have been and will continue to be highly effective tools as we pursue our capital campaign goals. Perhaps more interesting, has been our ability to utilize attributes and characteristics that are unique to UCSB. First, though our alumni base may not be concentrated in the Santa Barbara area, there is a strong connection between the community and our campus, including considerable public use of many of our athletics venues. Second, the closest professional franchises are approximately 100 miles away, enabling us to be the "biggest game in town." Finally, with many of our coaches being actively involved with youth sports in the Santa Barbara area, the community has recognized the value of maintaining and supporting strong athletics programs at the intercollegiate level. All of these elements have contributed to our fundraising success, most recently as they relate to our efforts to raise funds to install lights and resurface the field of our baseball diamond. Scheduled for Feb. 5, 2010, legendary Los Angeles Dodgers' Manager, Tommy Lasorda, will be the keynote speaker for an event that will bring community supporters and former Gauchos now in professional baseball together for this important project. We fully expect the evening to be a tremendous success.

Leading the Charge

Among the many instances where our donors' passion and generosity have met a critical need, it has been the lead gift by the MFI Foundation to the Meredith Field at Harder Stadium renovation that best illustrates our donors' desire to not only address existing needs, but to position our programs and our department to be able to better address future needs. The MFI Foundation first became involved with the UCSB men's soccer program about ten years ago when the son of one of their board members joined the men's soccer team. They initially provided scholarship support for the program, which only offered 2.9 scholarships at the time. Next, they made a substantial gift to re-sod the field's surface. These gifts were instrumental to the program's meteoric rise from being a virtually unknown program to becoming the 2006 Division I National Champions. Most recently, they committed to provide the funds, under a matching arrangement, to install a new video scoreboard. With its advertising potential and ability to increase attendance by offering a superior fan experience, our new video scoreboard achieves that goal. We are extremely fortunate to have donors with such forethought.

Conclusion

Once completed, the Walk of Champions will transform the face of our intercollegiate athletics facilities and literally pave the way for the future of Gaucho Athletics. Recognized academically as one of only 62 members of the prestigious American Association of Universities and located along California's scenic central coast, UCSB already offers its students a highly regarded education in a picturesque setting overlooking the Pacific Ocean. Combine the quality of the education and the desirability of its location with our new athletics facilities, and UCSB will be able to offer its students and student-athletes a comprehensive educational experience that few, if any, other institutions will be able to rival.

Steve O'Brien will be entering his second year at UCSB as its associate athletics director for development. In that role, O'Brien is responsible for overseeing The Gaucho Fund and its Living Scholar program, as well as managing the Department's Walk of Champions capital campaign to secure major gifts in support of the department's facilities, scholarship and endowment needs. He also serves as the sport administrator for the men's and women's track, cross-country and swimming programs.

O'Brien came to UCSB from Santa Clara University (SCU) where, as an assistant athletics director, he managed the day-to-day operations of the Bronco Bench Foundation. While at SCU, O'Brien also served as the department's academic support manager and liaison to the office of admissions.

Prior to working at SCU, O'Brien spent three and a half years as a transactional finance and real estate attorney in California, where he still maintains a license to practice law. O'Brien completed his BA in history and economics at Santa Clara University, where he was a member of the men's cross country program. He went on to earn his juris doctorate at the University of Southern California.

For more information about UCSB's Dare to Be Great initiative or Walk of Champions project, please contact Steve O'Brien, associate athletics director for development at (805) 893-4960 or steve.obrien@athletics.ucsb.edu.