Nov. 26, 2007

Tim McMurray is in his second year at Northern Illinois University, serving as Senior Associate Athletics Director - Development. Tim has worked in college athletics for 19 years overall and 15 years in a full-time capacity, with 12 years of experience in development and external affairs. He previously worked at Lamar University and Texas State University and has been involved with the NAADD Executive Committee since 2004.

Why/when did you decide to pursue a career in intercollegiate athletics?
During my junior year in college was when the "light came on". From the beginning of my freshman year at Lamar University, my alma mater, I worked in the athletic department (media relations). Originally, my plan was to go to law school. As my undergraduate career unfolded and I began to receive additional responsibilities within the athletic department, I realized that this was absolutely the vocation for me.

What was your path to working in athletics development?
It is a little non-conventional, so please bear with me. After graduating from Lamar in 1992 and completing an internship, I was offered a full-time position as Associate Sports Information Director. Our Sports Information Director at the time was two years from retirement and handed the entire office operation over to me, with him staying on to handle research, archives, records, etc. It was a great opportunity for me to develop my management skills very early in my career and serve as the primary contact for our highest profile sports.

Having the layout and design knowledge for publications is what indirectly got me involved in development. I would layout and assist with the conceptual designs of our annual fund brochure for the Cardinal Club at Lamar. Additionally, having grown up in southeast Texas, I knew a number of the Cardinal Club Advisory Board members and many within the loyal local fan base.

That background set the table for what happened in June of 1996. Mike O'Brien, the current athletics director at the University of Toledo, was Lamar's athletics director at the time. The Assistant Athletics Director for External Affairs position had turned over three people in a 33-month span. Mike was sitting in my office talking about that position and how it never seemed to find the right "institutional fit". From this discussion evolved a series of additional ones, and within a month I was appointed Assistant Athletics Director for External Affairs, with an emphasis on Development and Marketing. What a fantastic opportunity! I will always be grateful to "O'B" for taking a chance on a 25 year-old SID.

In your mind, who in this industry can serve as a good role model?
Tough question, because I think there are a number of "difference-makers" in our profession that have a positive and profound impact. Near the top of that list for me is certainly Bobby Purcell. Many of us who know Bobby would certainly not hesitate in calling him one of the patriarchs of modern day athletic development. Bobby is sincere, genuine, and has a true passion for not only his endeavors at NC State, but also for the evolution and expansion of our profession.

Specifically for me, I have been fortunate to work for two athletics directors whose background was in development prior to ascending to their current positions - Mike O'Brien, who I mentioned previously, and Dr. Jim Phillips, our Associate Vice-President/Director of Athletics at Northern Illinois University.

From Mike, I really learned how to handle and manage different personalities, which we certainly have in this profession, and always maintain perspective about the impact that we can have in our department. From Jim, I have learned many valuable life lessons, including the maintenance of core values and why we are truly in this profession - to benefit the student-athlete. His tremendous focus, attention-to-detail, and reminder to "stay in your lane" relative to your areas of responsibility are just some of the specific characteristics that Jim has instilled in me.

Probably the biggest challenge for me as a lifelong Astros fan is that the two guys mentioned above are among the biggest Cub fans on the planet, but that is for another discussion!

How has your involvement with NAADD influenced your career?
Ross Bjork (Senior Associate Athletics Director at UCLA and NAADD Past-President), Jim Paquette (Associate Athletics Director at Boston College and NAADD Third Vice-President) and I have had this discussion numerous times. When we attended our first NAADD Convention in 1997, we were like sponges. I was barely a year into athletic development and knew that there was much to learn. We had these lists of people - Jack Thompson, Bobby Purcell, Pat Ogle, Lu Merritt, Terry Fossum, and a host of others I am unintentionally leaving out - we wanted to meet and pick their brains. I feel extremely fortunate over the years to be able to have done this. Much like in our fund-raising initiatives, sometimes we have to walk right up and just initiate a conversation. NAADD provides this forum for professional development, both at the annual convention and through communication mechanisms throughout the year.

What is the most important trait to possess for young professionals in athletics development?
Initiative. By definition, you can not teach "initiative" to someone, he or she must develop the quality within their own professional framework. It is always okay to come to your staff meeting, supervisor, or athletics director with fresh ideas and goals to improve a process or project. So many times we hear, "We've always done it that way". Well, that counters the philosophy of doing what needs to be done, not just what you want to do. Every situation is different and needs tweaking sometimes.

What is the best piece of advice you have ever received?
It is hard to narrow it to one single piece of advice, but I think that the advice to never stop learning and always be developing professionally has to be at the top of the list. This applies to both our roles and responsibilities on our individual campuses as well as our own professional development. It is always a priority for me to find out what my boss and some of my close colleagues are reading and doing to improve.

What advice would you give to someone looking to enter the field of intercollegiate athletics development?
Get your foot in the door as quickly as possible, even if it means some initial volunteer time; prove your value by doing your job better than anyone else can through your initiative; and stay the course.

Even more specifically, and, forgive my soapbox, PROOFREAD everything you create. I can not tell you how many times carelessness has gotten someone's resume or proposal filed in the trash can. This speaks to lack of detail and pride, and administrators and decision-makers notice this.

Will you please explain a professional failure/mistake and how you learned from it?
At a previous institution, I made an error in judgment by becoming too close to a major donor. We forged a personal relationship in addition to a professional one, and it ended up being an extremely uncomfortable situation when that person, who was a very emotional person to begin with, did not agree with a department policy that was put in place. He went out of his way to attempt a smear campaign against me and very much personalized it. Thankfully, he was in the minority, but it still cost us both a friendship.

What is an example of great stewardship that you have witnessed at your institution?
During my 12 years in development, I have always attempted to focus on what makes the donor tick. A couple of examples for creative stewardship come to mind. One, we had a couple that we were asking for the largest gift to athletics in the history of NIU, and we created a web page with the domain name of the building that we were asking them to name. It had pictures of the campaign, an up-tempo video tour that accentuated the building, and photographs of the building under construction. We launched it live during the solicitation, and they really enjoyed this. The site got hundreds of hits from their friends very shortly after the solicitation (it was not listed anywhere else publicly), which showed us they really enjoyed that extra touch. The bells and whistles are not for everyone, so this form of stewardship certainly speaks to knowing your donor or prospect.

An additional stewardship tool that has been very effective in my experiences is if you have a major donor or prospect who enjoys golf, then provide a video swing analysis with your men's or women's golf coach. Donors love this stuff! It is something unique, essentially does not have a hard cost other than a DVD, mileage, etc., and truly provides a unique memory for the person or persons. Both of our men's and women's head golf coaches are very open to helping with development opportunities, and it can often end up benefiting their respective programs, even if the donor was not originally engaged with golf.

In your opinion, where is collegiate athletics development headed in the future?
I have heard Jim Phillips often say that development on our campuses has "no ceiling" in terms of what can be generated. I think we are seeing the by-product of that philosophy throughout our profession. We are extremely fortunate to have grown our athletic development staff at Northern Illinois to nine individuals. Across the country, whether it is the growth of NAADD membership or staffs at individual institutions, we are seeing an increase in human resources. In a recent university development meeting on our campus, a statistic was shared that over $2 trillion in wealth and assets will transfer to the next generation. There has to be people to go and ask for it!

How do you maintain balance between your professional and personal life?
If you ask my wife, the answer might be "not very well!" Seriously, it is absolutely a challenge. But, I think having great "teammates" at home makes it a much smoother balance. My fantastic wife not only loves the profession I am in, she loves how much I love the profession. That makes a huge difference! I also have two beautiful stepdaughters, so it is very important to me to schedule be at as many of their activities as possible. Even when I was single, I always attempted to schedule "me time" each week - even if it was a small window to do something I enjoy or just take a break. Proper perspective about the work/life balance is essential.