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O’Day moves on, addresses challenges for UM
Four months later, Jim O’Day still uses the word “we” when speaking of his association with the University of Montana.
It’s an important detail. It speaks of his sense of accomplishment in seven years as director of athletics. It also hints at how he’s moved on without resentment despite being fired in late March for unspecified reasons by UM President Royce Engstrom.
“A lot of people ask, ‘Are you still going to go to Grizzly games?’ ” O’Day told the Missoulian on Wednesday. “I say, ‘Absolutely.’ I might not necessarily agree with what happened. I’ll always be a Grizzly fan.”
O’Day and football coach Robin Pflugrad were dismissed following an investigation of nine alleged sexual assaults on or near the UM campus in 2010 and 2011, and additional allegations since that investigation concluded. Some of the incidents allegedly involved members of the football team.
Last week O’Day started a new job as business development officer for The Farran Group LLC, based out of Missoula. He is also working as a consultant for a Seattle-based company that has a software development program focusing on social media and its impact on student athletes and school boosters.
“The ability to maintain some of the contacts I’ve had over the years – that was very important to me when I worked with the Grizzly Scholarship Association (GSA) and the UM Foundation,” O’Day said. “This is the same type things. We’re (The Farran Group LLC) working on investments.
“As director of athletics I was working on investing in facilities and helping to improve the athletic programs. Here is the opportunity to work with investors to help them make good business decisions with their money and with an opportunity to make money for them and maybe their corporations.”
O’Day, who will continue to be paid by UM through June, misses the day-to-day interaction and involvement with student athletes and his former staff. He still has some interaction with them and confirmed he talked this summer with the NCAA enforcement staff, which is investigating the Montana football program.
But mostly he has moved on – not counting the impressive clock memento he received in the mail last week. It came courtesy of the NCAA, feting him for four years on the Football Championship Subdivision selection committee and for being chairman from 2010 to 2012.
“It’s obviously a little bittersweet,” he said. “I appreciate they acknowledged the work I did for them.
“We accomplished a lot. We went through some difficult times and times where we expanded the playoffs and changed the location of the championship from Chattanooga to Frisco. We made some real positive inroads and got a lot more exposure for the FCS. I’m proud of the work.”
Asked if he’d ever consider getting back into athletic administration, the 54-year-old said he’d “never say never.” On the other hand, there are aspects of his former job he does not miss.
“It probably took away a lot from my family activities,” he said. “But I was at a point in my life where I could do that. My family was very supportive.
“But it’s not the job for everybody. I don’t think it’s the glamorous job many people think it is. There’s a lot of hours and actually it might be one of the most unique ones in the country, the demands.”
Engstrom and his search committee are still working to find O’Day’s replacement. The president has said he hopes to have one in place by the fall.
Taking the reins won’t be easy. It requires someone willing to put in 60-hour work weeks, not including Saturdays and time spent watching athletic events, which O’Day looked upon as a bonus.
Then there’s the fund-raising demands.
“We’ve created a very unique situation at the University of Montana where we’re able to generate private dollars other schools our size are not able to do,” he said. “To be able to basically run an athletic department with 70 percent of it almost being generated dollars as opposed to institutional contributions ... A goal at this level would be 50-50. I’m not sure anybody else is at 50-50.”
The continued success of Montana’s football program has greatly benefited the UM athletic department and the city of Missoula from a financial standpoint. Maintaining the status quo will be a supreme challenge for the new athletic director.
“To be able to keep that thing going with that stadium full every week is not easy,” confided O’Day. “It adds pressure on the student athletes.
“One of the things that is concerning to me in everything we’ve been through the last four months is the fact that we’ve added one more layer of pressure to that football team that it really doesn’t need. It has more pressure on it than almost any of the top programs in the country. When you look to see how many years we’ve been in the playoffs and what our records have been, it’s almost unheard of across the country.”
O’Day pointed to the widespread frustration after Montana missed the playoffs two years ago under Pflugrad. And to the new challenges ahead, including the addition of four quality football teams in the Big Sky Conference in Cal Poly, UC Davis, North Dakota and Southern Utah.
“You have to look at things have changed a lot,” he said. “Every team out there is working just as hard to win as you are.”
O’Day moves on, addresses challenges for UM
Four months later, Jim O’Day still uses the word “we” when speaking of his association with the University of Montana.
It’s an important detail. It speaks of his sense of accomplishment in seven years as director of athletics. It also hints at how he’s moved on without resentment despite being fired in late March for unspecified reasons by UM President Royce Engstrom.
“A lot of people ask, ‘Are you still going to go to Grizzly games?’ ” O’Day told the Missoulian on Wednesday. “I say, ‘Absolutely.’ I might not necessarily agree with what happened. I’ll always be a Grizzly fan.”
O’Day and football coach Robin Pflugrad were dismissed following an investigation of nine alleged sexual assaults on or near the UM campus in 2010 and 2011, and additional allegations since that investigation concluded. Some of the incidents allegedly involved members of the football team.
Last week O’Day started a new job as business development officer for The Farran Group LLC, based out of Missoula. He is also working as a consultant for a Seattle-based company that has a software development program focusing on social media and its impact on student athletes and school boosters.
“The ability to maintain some of the contacts I’ve had over the years – that was very important to me when I worked with the Grizzly Scholarship Association (GSA) and the UM Foundation,” O’Day said. “This is the same type things. We’re (The Farran Group LLC) working on investments.
“As director of athletics I was working on investing in facilities and helping to improve the athletic programs. Here is the opportunity to work with investors to help them make good business decisions with their money and with an opportunity to make money for them and maybe their corporations.”
O’Day, who will continue to be paid by UM through June, misses the day-to-day interaction and involvement with student athletes and his former staff. He still has some interaction with them and confirmed he talked this summer with the NCAA enforcement staff, which is investigating the Montana football program.
But mostly he has moved on – not counting the impressive clock memento he received in the mail last week. It came courtesy of the NCAA, feting him for four years on the Football Championship Subdivision selection committee and for being chairman from 2010 to 2012.
“It’s obviously a little bittersweet,” he said. “I appreciate they acknowledged the work I did for them.
“We accomplished a lot. We went through some difficult times and times where we expanded the playoffs and changed the location of the championship from Chattanooga to Frisco. We made some real positive inroads and got a lot more exposure for the FCS. I’m proud of the work.”
Asked if he’d ever consider getting back into athletic administration, the 54-year-old said he’d “never say never.” On the other hand, there are aspects of his former job he does not miss.
“It probably took away a lot from my family activities,” he said. “But I was at a point in my life where I could do that. My family was very supportive.
“But it’s not the job for everybody. I don’t think it’s the glamorous job many people think it is. There’s a lot of hours and actually it might be one of the most unique ones in the country, the demands.”
Engstrom and his search committee are still working to find O’Day’s replacement. The president has said he hopes to have one in place by the fall.
Taking the reins won’t be easy. It requires someone willing to put in 60-hour work weeks, not including Saturdays and time spent watching athletic events, which O’Day looked upon as a bonus.
Then there’s the fund-raising demands.
“We’ve created a very unique situation at the University of Montana where we’re able to generate private dollars other schools our size are not able to do,” he said. “To be able to basically run an athletic department with 70 percent of it almost being generated dollars as opposed to institutional contributions ... A goal at this level would be 50-50. I’m not sure anybody else is at 50-50.”
The continued success of Montana’s football program has greatly benefited the UM athletic department and the city of Missoula from a financial standpoint. Maintaining the status quo will be a supreme challenge for the new athletic director.
“To be able to keep that thing going with that stadium full every week is not easy,” confided O’Day. “It adds pressure on the student athletes.
“One of the things that is concerning to me in everything we’ve been through the last four months is the fact that we’ve added one more layer of pressure to that football team that it really doesn’t need. It has more pressure on it than almost any of the top programs in the country. When you look to see how many years we’ve been in the playoffs and what our records have been, it’s almost unheard of across the country.”
O’Day pointed to the widespread frustration after Montana missed the playoffs two years ago under Pflugrad. And to the new challenges ahead, including the addition of four quality football teams in the Big Sky Conference in Cal Poly, UC Davis, North Dakota and Southern Utah.
“You have to look at things have changed a lot,” he said. “Every team out there is working just as hard to win as you are.”
