Getting To Know Fresno State’s New Director of Athletics Garrett Klassy

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
All right, all right, all right, welcome back to pretty News.
We were back at home in.

Speaker 2 (00:05):
The home base, at my childhood bedroom, which before I introduced.

Speaker 1 (00:11):
Mister Garrett Classic game and stuff, we used to have
turf in here.

Speaker 3 (00:14):
Actually, really, what'd you do with it?

Speaker 1 (00:16):
Well, in the old studio we had it. We brought
it here and my mom and dad watched my two
puppies while I was away for like a weekend, and
they thought you could pee on it. So my mom says, hey, Frank,
we gotta throw this chartfully, man, this is not right.

Speaker 2 (00:31):
I'm like, how do you know if there's like ten
dogs that are running in and out of here, how
do you know?

Speaker 1 (00:36):
Why are you pin it on my puppies?

Speaker 2 (00:37):
Right?

Speaker 4 (00:37):
Well, what's the one that's locked up? I'll say, Hey,
that's that's Kujo out there.

Speaker 2 (00:40):
Man, right, yeah, there's every dog has their role here.

Speaker 1 (00:45):
My puppies come, they get a lot of attention. But
I don't know. I don't So there's no turf right now,
every big turf.

Speaker 2 (00:50):
Again, Long story short, I got president State Athletic Cure Garrett, classy.

Speaker 4 (00:55):
Welcome, thanks for having me, Frank. This is outstanding, out
standing childhood home. All these trolls in the air jerseys. Man,
it's special.

Speaker 1 (01:02):
It's like a museum.

Speaker 3 (01:04):
You got all this sports stuff and then a pheasant
out there.

Speaker 1 (01:06):
You know, we're you know, this is the valley, baby,
I love.

Speaker 3 (01:11):
We have sports, we have hunting, we have agriculture.

Speaker 2 (01:13):
Right, I got my kickers on. I try not to
roll around in too many onions today. So a true
valley experience, I want to ask her. You know, in
the sports industry, people see the fantasy football side of things.
They see jerseys, sales, they see fireworks, they see touchdowns.
They don't see very much of the back office. They

(01:33):
don't see the business side of it as much. And
I know you're very experienced different fields, but when, in
particular do you hit a point in your career where you.

Speaker 1 (01:42):
Say, hey, I want to go be an athletic director.

Speaker 4 (01:46):
That's a great question, because when I first got into
college athletics, all I knew was dairy farming and dairy
farm my entire life. I chose to go to University
of Wisconsin because it was half an hour from home.

Speaker 3 (01:56):
I was youngest out of four.

Speaker 4 (01:57):
I could go back, help with the farm, help with
the crops, help with you know, milk, and the cows
all that I had no clue. My freshman year, I
didn't have a job. My grades weren't very good.

Speaker 3 (02:08):
And I was like, you know what, I need to
be better at time management? And so I got a job.

Speaker 4 (02:12):
Came down to either working at the school cafeteria schlepping
food for my college roommates, which I was not going
to do, or work in the ticket office at Wisconsin.

Speaker 3 (02:20):
Can you imagine good them.

Speaker 4 (02:22):
Coming through coming to your cash here and doing like
the blue too Blue tar scheme, putting food underneath their
sweaters and whatnot. So I started working in the ticket
office and I didn't know you could have a career.
I mean back then that would have been nineteen ninety five,
there were no schools. Well, there's probably two schools in
the country at sports management major programs, and University of
Wisconsin was not one of them. And then one day

(02:44):
this gentleman walks in named John Sheffield with a giant
Florida State national championship.

Speaker 1 (02:49):
Bring on.

Speaker 4 (02:50):
I was like, you played football at Florida State as hell?
Hell no, because I worked in administration, And I said,
you want a national championship ring working administration?

Speaker 1 (03:00):
She goes yeah, and.

Speaker 3 (03:01):
The guy wore it all the time.

Speaker 4 (03:02):
And then one day I was helping him in his
office and he's talking to Bobby Bouting on the phone.
This guy became a second father. I idolized this guy,
and he said, you know, you have a you could
have a career in this. I'm like, man, go back
to the dairy farm, which I loved, or go on
and work in sports. I'm like every kid's dream. So
I started working in sports, worked my way up there.

(03:22):
I worked in tickets at Tulane, worked in tickets at Alabama,
and then Oregon is when I got, you know, got
my opportunity. A gentleman named Bill Moose who hired me
at Orgon hired me at Nebraska's like, you know, you're
in the ticket office, but you're not really a computer guy.
You're more of a relationship guy. Let's get you in
the fundraising. Let's get get to you in the more
the administrative side. At that point, I was like, you

(03:42):
know what, this is awesome, Like I love overseeing multiple areas.

Speaker 3 (03:46):
I can do this.

Speaker 4 (03:47):
And then I was on senior staff we called senior
leadership team here and I was like, you know, at
this point, I'm a competitive person. You know, you go
to these conferences and you're like, I think I'm better
than those guys. I'm better in that person. I can
do this, I can make a difference. And that's kind
of turning point for me.

Speaker 1 (04:03):
So sports is a part of it.

Speaker 2 (04:04):
It's not like you just want to be some fundraiser
for a hospital or something like that.

Speaker 1 (04:08):
Necessarily.

Speaker 4 (04:08):
I'll be honest you. I first got into it because
I love sports. I love the lessons that it teaches you. You
played an elite level. I didn't play at elite level,
but I played sports in my entire life. My mom
always tells a story that she knew I was gonna
work in sports because when she came up from the
barn when I was in second grade, I was reading
the box Sports from front to bottom. I was reading
every Sports Illustrated that came to the house. So I

(04:29):
love the aspect of sports a lesson it teaches you.
But then as I got further in and started overseeing sports,
start being a sport administrator, then I was like, man,
these kids are incredible this time management. You know their academics,
their competitiveness, and I was like, I could I get
to be an educator too. I get to make a
difference in young people's lives. And I still keep in

(04:51):
contact with student athletes that went to Oregon, they went
to George.

Speaker 3 (04:54):
Washington to U I see.

Speaker 4 (04:56):
And it's really turned my favorite part of it because
you're not just winning and sort which is our ultimate goal, right,
but you're also pairing these young men and women for
the next forty years of your life. And that's I
like a good challenge. And that's all challenging. And I've
had kids that weren't very good in academics and be
able to make that difference and still call you up,
like Garrett, I'm a lawyer now, or Garrett, my basketball
career is over and now I'm doing this. It's pretty incredible.

(05:17):
You get chills every time you get those text or
phone calls.

Speaker 1 (05:20):
That's going to be extremely satisfying.

Speaker 3 (05:22):
It is. It is.

Speaker 4 (05:23):
And I was a father later in life. I mean,
I have a four year old and three year old,
so and I'm forty eight, so I got a very
late start in this whole thing. And so for me
to kind of be a parent before I came a parent,
I think it helps me appreciate being a parent more so.
It's really transferred into my personal life as well.

Speaker 2 (05:38):
Well, being an older brother of two student athletes currently
there right now. Definitely, I would appreciate having a man
in charge similar to yourself, where it's like, hey, obviously, yes,
we want to score touchdowns and get wings on the
football field and win our conference championship in our bowl
game and all that good stuff. But you want somebody
who's a role model at end of the day, who

(06:00):
cares about the human being side of that person. And
I've heard you preach in different speeches and talks, which
I definitely admired as a positive of you know, I
want to I want to have a relationship with these
people outside of their sport once they're gone and once
they're done right, because yeah, you know, of course, the
guy who's making the plays at the particular level that's

(06:20):
elevating our athletic program.

Speaker 1 (06:22):
While they're there, everybody loves.

Speaker 2 (06:24):
Them, and I think there's a little bit of and
I appreciate you saying that, because there has been a
little bit of disconnect where some of our alumni in
the past, I don't think they have felt that love
necessarily like Deavante Itams, I'd say, is a prime example
of he I came in right after DeVante and he
didn't get the love I think he deserved from the
magnitude of player he is. He didn't get that invite

(06:46):
back constantly, constantly, constantly. I know he got his jersey
retired recently, but I think he's like, it's just an
easy example for me to say if the right athletic
director at the right time kept that consistent his word
basically of we want to still have a relationship with
our student athletes once they're no longer benefiting the program.

(07:09):
It means something to the growth of the program, because
you never know if Devanta Adams is going to be the.

Speaker 1 (07:14):
Highest paid wide receiver in the NFL or just a
guy in a practice squad for two weeks.

Speaker 4 (07:18):
Right, correct, And we tried really hard to get DeVante
at the game this weekend, and you know we You're
exactly right. I mean, I've had the benefit to speak
with Paul George since I've been here, and Paul was great.
I mean, Paul came back for the benefit that they
had at Clovis North and then happened to be at
the Doghouse Cafe and his manager called and said, Hey,

(07:38):
we heard there's a football.

Speaker 3 (07:39):
Scrimmage going on. Can we go to that?

Speaker 4 (07:41):
And so it's like when they when those guys come back,
I want them to get all the fields. I want
them to like Freslos say is a special place. And
in DeVante's case, you know, Kenny, his agent is I
think it's he's his marketing agent. Has been to a
couple of football games and we've kept in touch and
Davante just had a baby himself and made sure we
sent them, you know, a baby gift. But that's got
to be genuine, right, it can't be transactional. And so

(08:02):
I welcome the opportunity, not just because I'm a Packers fan,
but also you know, I'm the athletic director of Fresno State,
and you know, in my career, I feel like there's
two types of student athletes. There's the ones that were
really really successful but maybe didn't have the athletic ability
to play in professional sports. So they go into business.
They love their alma mater, they really appreciate their own

(08:23):
monitor and they get and they contribute back. Then you
have the ones that do really successful in the professional
sports side of things, and they realize the value they
brought to that university and that's not a Fresno safe
thing gets everywhere, and it's right. They brought a lot
of value. And for those of us that aren't authentic
and want to develop a real relationship. But I first
time I meet DeVante or meet Paul George or Aaron Judge,

(08:44):
you can't go there saying hey, we need help here,
blah blah blah, please give us X million dollars. That's
not authentic, Like it's like any donor they There's got
to be truly authentic relationships, and there's got to be
a plan and a vision to understand how they're going
to elevate and what they're in. Hacker's gonna gift is
gonna make And I think we've had some great ones
here like Logan Mankins make an incredible gift.

Speaker 3 (09:06):
But you know what I don't.

Speaker 4 (09:07):
I'm not sure we do a very good job of
keeping in contact with Logan, and I want to make
sure that we start that, you know, for us to
go where we want to go as a university, as
an athletic to aren't we need everybody's help and from
the people that help on the onion farm to the
professional sports athletes and we're gonna treat everyone the same way.

Speaker 1 (09:25):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (09:26):
I think that's very well said, because there's a lot
of student athletes. We're talking student athlete now, there's a
lot of students in general, but specifically student athletes who like,
as you said, they didn't go on to the league,
right whether it's baseball, football, basketball, whatever might be, but there's.

Speaker 1 (09:41):
A lot of them who are believing or not.

Speaker 2 (09:43):
Business owners here in the valley, maybe business owners up north,
down south, a couple of states over whatever I be.

Speaker 1 (09:49):
And I think that's a.

Speaker 2 (09:52):
Huge untapped market of attention right now because I go
to these alumni events and I look at my school. Who, Hey,
you could go ask our head strength condition to coach
Andy Ward about my little group. Okay, extra work guys,
captain material type dudes, but we like to party when
it was time to party. We established there's a time

(10:13):
to work and there's a time to play. And as
soon as you can tell the difference for those, you're
gonna succeed better in both.

Speaker 1 (10:18):
Right now, With that being said, my group we didn't
do the league.

Speaker 2 (10:23):
We all had our own different avenues, enjoyed our college
career and now but we're in different you know, professions
throughout the valley. But with that being said, when you
go these alumni things, I'm like, hey, there should be
more people here right now. And I think if my
little ten buddies weren't there, there'd be nobody from the
last ten years, which is crazy to say because there's

(10:45):
so many successful people. And I know we have a
club read in place and all that, but at other programs,
do you see the my group of friends level of people.
The guys who played ball didn't go to the league
but are now business owners have more of an impact
on the community or in the program.

Speaker 4 (11:00):
Yeah, I wouldn't say more of an impact. Maybe maybe financially,
but that's not the only impact we're looking for, you know,
like for me, you know, our superstars that have gone
on to become superstars in professional ranks.

Speaker 3 (11:13):
I don't need.

Speaker 4 (11:14):
Them to contribute monetarily right now. I need them to support.

Speaker 3 (11:17):
Name, image and likeness.

Speaker 4 (11:18):
I need them to reach out the business to say
how important this is the future of athletics. That is
almost more available than anything can they can do out
of their net worth. And I respect that, but you know,
everyone can make some sort of impact, and we have
a lot of work to do. And like I said,
this isn't it's not like I walked in here. I'm like,
what has Fresno State been doing? It's been It's been
a common issue ever i've been And how do you

(11:40):
connect that group? And I'll tell you there's some groups.
Nebraska is a perfect example. I mean, what a storied
history there. You know, people from the forties, fifties to
people that graduated last year. But you have some groups
that are looking to have these parties to bring people
together because they're looking for a free meal prior to game.
And I don't have any problem contributing that cause, but

(12:01):
there's got to be some kind of outreach back where
you're getting other people to come to kind of build
this into a village and a community feel. And you
know you're gonna hear the word bulldog family out of
me a lot as long as I'm here, hopefully forever.
And that's a big part of it. We're all family
here and we all need to realize that. But we
have to do our part right. This isn't me pointing
fingers like we haven't done our part. We need to

(12:22):
do our part to make sure that people feel welcome
and they want to come back. And you know, one
of the complaints I've heard was that maybe some of
the football guys are upset is that it used to
be football only reunions during football season for alumni, and
then they combined.

Speaker 3 (12:35):
It with other sports.

Speaker 4 (12:36):
Well there's a place for both, right, I mean, of course,
you want to be with your teammates, ones you went
to battle with and tell the stories, whether they're true
or not. Right, I mean, always help the older get
There'll be less tricks than there.

Speaker 3 (12:46):
You know, they're all fish stories.

Speaker 1 (12:48):
You were top ten of the country that man.

Speaker 4 (12:50):
I don't want to exclude any groups. I mean, we
want everyone to come back, and so we're part of that.
I mean, what am I starting my ninth week now?
So we're working on that programming right now. But we're
we're gonna get there. We need everyone. You know, everyone
talks about new stadium. Everyone talks, Hey, we're going to
the PAC twelve. We want to accomplish this. Well, we're
just starting, and so we need everyone to do their part, and.

Speaker 3 (13:11):
We have to do our part.

Speaker 2 (13:14):
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Speaker 1 (13:36):
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Speaker 2 (14:00):
One thing I wanted to make a point of is
growing up, you know, not really knowing what the term
athletic director meant. You're not a coach, you're not a trainer,
you're not the weight room guy.

Speaker 1 (14:12):
You're the athletic director. You don't really know what it is.

Speaker 2 (14:14):
And then as I kind of got into college, it
was big on like Title nine.

Speaker 1 (14:19):
Like for US it was they were in debates whether to.

Speaker 2 (14:23):
Bring back the wrestling program, cut the wrestling program, lall
cross blah blah, blahlah blah. You were in an era
where I don't think an athletics director role has been
more intense maybe in the history of college sports.

Speaker 1 (14:35):
Between this crazy conference re.

Speaker 2 (14:37):
Alignment that hasn't happened in I don't know how many
years the world's been shook like this, and then obviously
the politics behind NIL and just had the way the
transfer portal's now working, like you have your hands full
with all of those moving parts. And again, like you mentioned,
I'm not going to put you on the spot for
that one, but there's been talks of an upgrade stadium

(15:00):
in the year's past. It's so you have really the
trifecta of a crap on your plate.

Speaker 3 (15:07):
It's not crap. I love it. It's a challenge.

Speaker 4 (15:09):
Right, if I was stuck somewhere with an apathetic fan base,
it would be crap. I'm gonna idea this place cares,
and but we have to get the point where there's
a vision, there's a strategic plan. And yeah, I have
to tell you, the student athlete side of it drives
me every day to turn these young men and women
into incredible adults and human beings. And the other side
of it is the business side of it, right, I

(15:29):
mean college athletics. If you look at the admin side,
has historically been very much heard mentality a copycat business.
If this idea worked at Alabama means it's going to
work at USC means it's going to work at Wyoming,
means it's going to work at TEXAM. That's not what
business is. You know this, You're in business. You know
if you don't have a different strategy than your competitors,
then you're never going to get ahead.

Speaker 1 (15:49):
Got to sears love that challenge.

Speaker 4 (15:51):
And I have to tell you, throughout my career, I
still plenty of mentors that are athletic directors, but I
think I have more mentors now that are private business
owners because they've allowed me to think differently. I was
really part of my pitch when I was interviewing for
the athletic director. I told doctor him and a Sanevelle, like,
we're going to operate this like a business. Doesn't mean
that We're going to be transaction with their student athlete experience.

(16:12):
But when it comes to revenue expenses, we have to
think differently and we're going to do that. And so
I love that challenge. I don't view it as crap.
I mean, crap would be me still, you know, being
poor and living on that dairy farm, you know, you know,
working ninety hours a week. Now I get to work
ninety hours a week. But I could take my boys
and my wife the sporting events and get the interactive lifestyle.

Speaker 3 (16:32):
Yeah, it's a different line.

Speaker 4 (16:33):
It is, absolutely And I tell you I'm not here
the bash of the dairy farm business because it was
the greatest way to grow up. But man, we don't
We didn't have the nine thousand cow herds you know
like you have here in California. We had one hundred
cows and it was tough living back then. And so
I love it. You know, my dad's still a proud
you know, dairy farmer alum. But this college athletics, if
we're not having fun, you're in the wrong business.

Speaker 2 (16:55):
I will said, you love what you do. You never
work a day in your life. I clearly feel your
passion on it. It's genuine. It's genuine. Let's take a
step back on you know, I don't know where you
were when the news dropped, but when NIL first got
introduced to college athletics, what was the first round table
conversation you had, Like, Holy, what's going on?

Speaker 4 (17:17):
You know, I always have personal opinions and thoughts about things,
and then I have what's best for the enterprise, what's
best for the organization.

Speaker 3 (17:26):
And so.

Speaker 4 (17:28):
I think the date when NIL was first implemented was
July first, twenty twenty. I was at the University of
Nebraska at the time, but there had been talks about
it starting maybe a year prior to that. And so
Blake Lawrence from Open Doors is a close personal friend.
He played football at Nebraska and their headquarters was in Lincoln, Nebraska.
So I got with Blake right away. I was right then.
I was the chief operating officer at Nebraska, and I said, listen,

(17:50):
I don't know if this is ever going to come
to fruition or not, but in the day, brand building
is something and you know this better than anyone, frank, right,
we all have a personal brand. I said, if we
can get our student athletes education on social media and
brand building, this is a skill they can use for.

Speaker 3 (18:04):
The rest of their life.

Speaker 4 (18:06):
And so Open Doors provided that support, and so I
felt like, hey, when July twentieth, July first, twenty twenty happened,
I was interim athletic director the University of Nebraska. Not
only were all our kids ready to open up their
own businesses, not only were we ready. We had curriculum
created within the Business School at the University of Nebraska
that was financial literacy based building your brand, social media,

(18:30):
you know, how to monetize YouTube. But we also had
the first collective that I think, you know, I don't
know if I can officially know that, but we had
a collective created day one because we knew this was
heading and so personal opinion, I felt like, hey, this
is something that all student athletes should be able to
do because it's an opportunity every student's had access to
monetizing their name, image and links that besides student athletes forever,

(18:52):
So why shouldn't they have the same opportunities. So, you know,
whether you think it ruins the educational enterprise and the
values of scholarships, that's not for me to debate. I'm
here and I'm in business because you know, I want
to see our student athletes succeed, and I want to
make sure that we don't fall behind our competition. And
in fact, let me rephrase it, I don't want to
say fall behind our competition. I want to make sure
we crush our competition, be ahead of them.

Speaker 2 (19:14):
That mean that curriculum is that's Is that something you're
considering bringing to the present state as well for our
student athletes.

Speaker 3 (19:20):
We've had discussion.

Speaker 4 (19:21):
Yeah, We've definitely had discussion because I think you know
where we are financially right now. We have long ways
to go budgetarily, especially as we you know, try to
gear up for the PAC twelve. But we need to
really look into all of our resources that we already
have on campus. Instead of reinventing the wheel, let's partner
with campus and let's get some strong curriculum going for
our student athletes.

Speaker 1 (19:41):
I've asked. I mean, that's awesome because I feel like,
even as a young man I am right now, like you're.

Speaker 2 (19:47):
Still learning how the world works, right and crazy enough,
in high school they don't teach you.

Speaker 1 (19:52):
There wasn't a class that I took you.

Speaker 2 (19:53):
Least of you know how to pay taxes, how to
go about buying a house, or opening a bank account
or writing a check.

Speaker 1 (20:00):
And you know some stuff.

Speaker 2 (20:02):
If if your mom and dad sit at the kitchen
table and they show you, hey, this is how you,
you know, write a letter or something like that, you
catch on, but you don't really know until. Just like
anything in life, you got to do it yourself to
really get a grasp on things. And I had to
do it, you know, as an adult, but to be
a student athlete. Maybe I'm eighteen years old as a freshman,

(20:23):
all of a sudden, I got a decent sized.

Speaker 1 (20:26):
Check coming in. Well, I better be prepared on Am
I paying taxes on this?

Speaker 2 (20:30):
How do I budget this? Can I be wise about
my investment or.

Speaker 1 (20:34):
This, that and the other.

Speaker 2 (20:35):
So it's it's really refreshing to you know, see that
you're taking the bull by the horns on that one.

Speaker 4 (20:39):
Well, I mean, heck, I have amazing parents, right, I
was raised the right way. But if someone was given
me a couple million bucks or you know, or one
hundred thousand bucks.

Speaker 3 (20:47):
Or here's your.

Speaker 1 (20:50):
Don't be in a month, I'm like, man, I would
have blone that different.

Speaker 4 (20:53):
I would oh, yes, absolutely, So I don't even want
to say on this podcast where I would have spent it.
But I mean yeah then, I mean, yeah, you need
that good tequila. There's no doubt, not plastic bought out tequila.

Speaker 1 (21:04):
I can promise you exactly right. Yeah, I did do
my research.

Speaker 2 (21:09):
In one fun fact, I saw that you you implemented.
Along with all the awesome things that i've your list
goes on, I saw in Nebraska you brought a Garth
Books concert correct to Memorials Stadium. Yes, for the first
time since nineteen eighty seven, there was a concert there.

Speaker 1 (21:24):
Yep. And I know we've we've chopped up about this.

Speaker 2 (21:28):
Is that something that we could eventually poke the barrel
on about the Children's Stadium?

Speaker 3 (21:32):
Absolutely?

Speaker 4 (21:32):
Now, I know that there's some sensitivity based on the
neighborhood and the noise and things like that, but I
there is no doubt. I mean I've said this from
day one. We have to monetize every single area we
have and if there is an ability to bring concert
to valid children's stadium, and it's not just concerts, right,
I mean we could do Monster Jam there, which of

(21:52):
course my boys Kiden and Brody would be you know
front all for that.

Speaker 3 (21:55):
They love that stuff.

Speaker 4 (21:56):
But there's I won't even get to the point where
we can do some postgame concert. It's like, we have
to do a better job creating better experience for our
student body. And I think that's part of it. And
I don't care if it's someone that is a cover
band that's popular in Fresno. Like, we need to do
more fan experiential type stuff and we've explored it.

Speaker 3 (22:13):
I tell you, the Save Art.

Speaker 4 (22:14):
Center general manager has been a good partner in this,
and we've been reaching out and collaborating on opportunities and
we're going to look into it deeper. And we don't
have anything said in stone yet, but yes, there needs
to be a.

Speaker 3 (22:25):
Strategy for that.

Speaker 4 (22:26):
And part of that too is reevaluating all of our assets. Right,
we want to bring more value to that stadium, and
how do you bring more value? More events six seven
times a year is great and it's a special experience.
But if we can give the fans, our customers fifteen
twenty events a year, that moves the needle for us,
both from a fan experience standpoint as well as financially.

Speaker 2 (22:46):
Absolutely, I got to introduce you. You met Josemers yet, boxer?

Speaker 1 (22:49):
Yes?

Speaker 3 (22:50):
I actually no, I haven't. He's reached out though.

Speaker 2 (22:53):
Okay, so I have not physical definitely have to make
you guys link up.

Speaker 1 (22:56):
Jose Big bring the juice, dude, great dude.

Speaker 2 (23:00):
Yeah, he's I mean world champ, yep, world champ, and
he brings the valley like with him when he fights,
and I we've chopped it up and like Jose Ramirez fighting,
there's enough guys here that are world champ Olympic caliber
where you could create a valley card.

Speaker 4 (23:20):
I'm ready it would go give on my cell phone
to anyone because well, well.

Speaker 1 (23:24):
I almost brought it up in that BDF ME.

Speaker 2 (23:26):
I was like, dude, you need Jose Ramirez, Richard Torres,
and Mark Castro on one card in that place.

Speaker 1 (23:33):
You might sell out the whole stadium. Yeah, it's that crazy.
I love you, man.

Speaker 4 (23:36):
I mean, we're not going to turn on any opportunity,
Like there might be logistical reasons we can't do him,
but we're gonna listen and we're gonna engage in every
single conversation.

Speaker 3 (23:43):
That wasn't easy.

Speaker 4 (23:44):
I mean, this is Garth Brooks coming in Memorial Stadium,
an iconic venue.

Speaker 3 (23:48):
That wasn't easy.

Speaker 4 (23:49):
And that isn't me patting myself in the back that.
You know, Memorial Stadium's never sold alcohol. That was part
of the piece. You know, we were in the middle
of COVID that that was not easy, going through the
bureaucracy of higher education, getting deals in place, and working
with different ticket and provider, going to the city council meetings.

(24:10):
But just because it's difficult, it doesn't mean we're not
going to in fore those things. And it was one
of the most rewarding experiences ever had. I mean, my
picture with Garth is still sitting on my desk. Man,
he is the best dude do you ever want to meet.
He's sitting there on the on sale on the zoom,
telling his staff when we should release certain sections, how
is the on sale going. He has his hand on

(24:31):
and not in a micromanager way, but he has his
hand on every piece of that concert. Pretty incredible beause
he cares so much about the fan experience.

Speaker 2 (24:38):
I have a close friend. This is a small Garth
Brooks story. I have a close friend who his grandparents
were getting married. Parents are grandparents getting married, and they
are country folk, and they wanted to have a live
band at their wedding. They want to have somebody sing, so
they had auditions for people to do this and and

(25:00):
basically see who they wanted to sing, and it's down
to two and they ended up choosing someone to sing
at their wedding and the other one was Garth Brooks.

Speaker 3 (25:11):
Really, they did.

Speaker 1 (25:12):
Not choose Garth Brooks to sing at their wedding.

Speaker 4 (25:15):
Talk about how did that he just showed up?

Speaker 3 (25:18):
Or how does that work?

Speaker 2 (25:19):
No, no, no, there was They had an audition, who hey,
who do we want to sing at a wedding?

Speaker 1 (25:24):
Sample a few songs. I guess this used.

Speaker 3 (25:25):
To be a thing.

Speaker 2 (25:26):
I have no idea. Yeah, well you know now it's
like what DJ do you want? But they they went
with the other guy, and the other guy ended up
to be Garth Brooks and have this this I have
no idea.

Speaker 3 (25:38):
That's crazy.

Speaker 1 (25:40):
I have no idea. I mean I've been told that
story like ten times. And anyways, that's.

Speaker 3 (25:45):
He is an incredible human legend. I mean, just the best.

Speaker 4 (25:49):
And man, I can't say I have a personal relationship
with the guy, but still his staff, his staff has.

Speaker 3 (25:55):
Been with him since he started touring.

Speaker 4 (25:57):
I get in a president and he is I mean,
he's that type of person that would do something like that.
I'm not making any promises, there's no guarantees on the
Brinker News podcast. But he is that type of person
that he is very much relationship based. Yeah, he's all sixty.

Speaker 1 (26:12):
He's sell out here in a heartbeat with no doubt. Yeah.

Speaker 4 (26:15):
I mean we went to Laney Wilson. There was an
open right, that was the night we were together.

Speaker 1 (26:19):
Then Wilson, there was.

Speaker 3 (26:20):
An open seat in the place. I mean this the
valley loves the centry music.

Speaker 1 (26:23):
But it's a mixing pot here too.

Speaker 2 (26:25):
And that's one thing I was getting into, like it
is such a mixing pot here. I haven't been very
many places in my life, but I just see my
life itself. Okay, you got your country folks, you got
your farmers, right, you got your different.

Speaker 1 (26:39):
Cultures over here, you got your cultures over there. Yeah,
there are people.

Speaker 2 (26:43):
Well, they'll have a they'll have a guy from Mexico
come and seeing and you'll be like, what's going on
to the same art center.

Speaker 1 (26:48):
You have no idea who he is.

Speaker 2 (26:49):
And it sold out three nights in a row. You're like, Yes,
what is going on here?

Speaker 1 (26:53):
Right?

Speaker 3 (26:53):
Love that? Yes?

Speaker 2 (26:54):
And I I don't know, maybe it's maybe it's growing
up on a farm and also playing football to where
I've gotten to know every ethnicity and culture and way
of living and race and whatever it might be.

Speaker 1 (27:06):
And I'm like, Fresno.

Speaker 2 (27:07):
Really doesn't care because you're most likely you grew up
with these guys. You went to school and cross paths
with these guys. And you know, like I went to
school in Utah. I didn't go to school you tab
I trained in Utah for two years, so I lived
out there exactly.

Speaker 1 (27:20):
Very different like there, it is very very different. But
being that mixing pot, how can you being the.

Speaker 2 (27:29):
Athletic director who's got to come with a fundraising plan,
how can you say, hey, okay, we we were spread
out across the board of different incomes, different dedication levels
to giving back to the to our to our athletic department,
to our school.

Speaker 1 (27:46):
How do you attack that knowing we have such a
mixing pot here in the valley.

Speaker 4 (27:49):
I mean, to me, that's always been the great thing
about sports from our fan perspective. I mean, whether it's
a football Saturday and NFL Sunday, whatever, that is the
one time that is the one player where race, gender, religion,
nothing matters. Right, It's the great unifier in this country.
And I didn't realize that until I was working in
sports when nine to eleven occurred. I mean, it's the

(28:11):
first attack on US soil since what Pearl Harbor. And
of course the biggest deal was the World Trade Center.
But what was the biggest story after that?

Speaker 1 (28:21):
Oh?

Speaker 4 (28:21):
Boy, college football gonna be played on Saturday. It's the
NFL is gonna be played on Sunday. And I'm just like,
how many people just died? And this is what we're
worried about. And then I had this moment like wow,
I work in a special industry because this is the
great distraction.

Speaker 3 (28:35):
This is the great unifier. People really care.

Speaker 4 (28:38):
And I always knew they cared, but at that level,
And so I say that the diversity is a great thing,
Like I view that as a benefit, like we have
to cater our fan experience everyone, Like that's why we
have Fiesta Night, That's why we're gonna have Native American Night.
I want to do more with the Armenian culture in
this community, obviously the agriculture, you know. And to me,
diversity is not just race, it's not just gender. It's

(28:59):
not just like yeah, well everything right. And I'm excited
to raise the different than Wisconsin too. I'm excited to
raise my kids in environment like this. The first night
I'm in town by myself, I go to Pismo's sit
at the bar and the group of three people randomly
talk to me, and it's a lady from Hispanic descent,
another lady Laotian descent, and a gentleman that is from

(29:20):
Indian descent, and I'm just thinking, this is incredible.

Speaker 3 (29:24):
I love this, like this is where I'm supposed to be.

Speaker 4 (29:27):
And I didn't really understand the power of diversity until
I actually lived at moving to Washingt d C. And
it's it's it's amazing, it's it's incredible how sports can
do that and how does that impact the valley. You know,
We're gonna always have a fan experience model to where
everyone's going to feel welcomed at all of our sporting events.
And I think that's important because, like I said earlier,

(29:48):
I'm going to preach this, the community owns the Bulldogs,
like the or the valley owns the Bulldogs, like the
community owns the Green Bay Packers. That's the feel that
we need to have here in the valley. You know,
for Fresno State, we have a long ways to go ourselves.
You know, we're we're partnering with some pretty impressive brands
right now, and we have a long way to go

(30:09):
in some areas. And that's not just financially, which is
a big part of it, but it's facilities.

Speaker 3 (30:13):
It's how we.

Speaker 4 (30:14):
Support our student athletes here nutrition wise, strength and conditioning,
and we're going to work in all those areas. But
we're the ideal situation. I mean, like I said, we're
not going for participation trophies. We're going there to win
championships and that's going to take a lot of hard work.
What I want to remind the Red Wave is that
we're just starting this journey. We're not sitting there patting
ourselves in the backs, you know, saying, Holly Loujiah, we

(30:36):
made it the PAC twelve. This is just starting. I
view this as really a five year audition to really
build ourselves to state the case that we should be
a Power five Power five school, right And so that's
a short timeframe in college athletics, it's a short time
in higher ed work. Change is hard to implement, and
so you're going to see us grinding. Because I've said

(30:56):
this from day one, I'm not going to be an
athletic director that sits here. At least it is all
these shiny bright plans, fundraise for five percent of it
and gets the next train out of the town. We're
building this for the long term here to stay. We're
gonna put us in the best position to succeed. And
that's PAC twelve right now. And it's an honor to
be invited. But that isn't a Garrett Classy. That's not
a president him and Estaneville, even though that guy was

(31:19):
nails for this whole thing. Like, we have an amazing
leadership here and that goes without saying. But this is
on the red wave, this is on the coaches, this
is on what's happened here historically. That's why we're there.
It's not for Garrett Classy.

Speaker 1 (31:31):
I know that.

Speaker 3 (31:32):
No.

Speaker 2 (31:33):
I cap off to you for clarifying that too, because
that's that's very humble.

Speaker 1 (31:39):
You mentioned the clamor way towards the Power Five.

Speaker 2 (31:43):
I know we kind of brushed on this at one
point the twelve team playoffs. It's there's not five Power
five conferences anymore, right, there's four, but in the language
it says the top five correct conferences get an automatic
playoff bid.

Speaker 1 (32:02):
Sure, where do you think we'll follow that in the
next few years? Or is that something we need.

Speaker 3 (32:05):
To with a PAC twelve yeah doubt five?

Speaker 2 (32:08):
Yeah, yeah, that is that once we're in it officially
with the logo on our patch or does that need
to be earned? Is there an official you know? Well,
it's not in the PA, you're in the powerful it's
just the.

Speaker 4 (32:18):
Five highest rated conferences when the college Football Playoff selection happens,
and so that can change every year, right, So, I
mean not likely, but the Big ten and SEC if
they have all you know, they're gonna be up there. Well,
they always are. I use that being facetious. But at
the same time, like if you look at every metric

(32:39):
with the teams that are currently in the PAC twelve
for the last I don't know how many years, the
winner of that league is getting an invite in the
CFP and that's important. That's where we want to stay
and that's where you know, but you can't be in
a top four conference or you can't become a top
four conference until you become top five. Right, So we're
all going to work together, all seven schools. We're gonna

(33:02):
work together and make sure we keep building something strong
and we're going to be innovative.

Speaker 3 (33:05):
That's the cool thing.

Speaker 4 (33:06):
Can't really get into details, but you're gonna see us
look at some unique time slots. You're gonna see us
play some unique games and maybe some you know, maybe
some neutral site games.

Speaker 3 (33:15):
Like we're doing this thing.

Speaker 1 (33:17):
Going to Mexico. Where are we going?

Speaker 3 (33:18):
I would love that.

Speaker 4 (33:19):
I talked about a market that would be amazing for
Fresco State, both from a student body standpoint.

Speaker 3 (33:25):
Nothing's been discussed, so just bring the juice. I would
I tell you what.

Speaker 4 (33:29):
I would love to play a football game in Mexico City.
I would love to play a basketball game in Mexico City.
In fact, when I was at Houston, we were scheduled
to play Kansas in Mexico City and basketball, and that
would have been huge for the University of Houston.

Speaker 3 (33:42):
COVID, No, it just was well, no, I don't think
it was COVID.

Speaker 4 (33:47):
I think just because of the conference reinlignment and things
happening so fast that the logistics weren't really happening. But
if I can get our teams in New Mexico, which
is a strong market for us, we'll take our teams
in Mexican.

Speaker 1 (33:59):
You mentioned Timesloughts.

Speaker 2 (34:00):
What do you think of what MAC does with maction
playing throughout the week and stuff like that.

Speaker 4 (34:05):
Yeah, I mean I hate it for the fans, I
really do. I hate it for the fans. What it
would do for our tailgating. I don't even want to approach.

Speaker 1 (34:14):
It, right.

Speaker 4 (34:14):
Yeah, But we also, like I said, we have to
be thoughtful for this process. We have to you know,
when I can promise the fan base we're not going
to play you know, seven Wednesday night State, we can't
do that, right.

Speaker 3 (34:28):
But we also you know, there will be things.

Speaker 4 (34:32):
There will be some tough decisions made by the administration,
you know, which is I throw me, I could say myself,
but it's administration that helps better position us. And sometimes
the fans won't understand that. But my commitment to them
is We're always going to be transparent. We're going to
tell you the reason why, and I don't always expect
people to agree with the reasoning, but there's going to

(34:53):
be a method to that madness.

Speaker 1 (34:55):
Always No, It's it's interesting. I mean, the game's changing.

Speaker 2 (34:58):
So much in the last a couple of years, right
to where anything is possible of this at this entire
landscape of the game.

Speaker 4 (35:08):
Well, we know that we have fans traveling from four
or five hours away for each home game, of course,
and so we have.

Speaker 3 (35:13):
To be thoughtful about that.

Speaker 4 (35:15):
And they're already doing night games so I which I
know is tough on a lot of people, right, And
so that's why it's exciting to have some four pm
games coming up because hopefully they'll stay to the end,
and and they're gonna be good games, so they will
stay to the end, knowing the passion or fan base.
But yeah, we have to think differently. Like I said,
I college athletics does not think differently, and so I
don't really know what that means.

Speaker 3 (35:35):
But I think that's the.

Speaker 4 (35:36):
Big push for the PAC twelve is that we're not
gonna be or your father's Pack twelve.

Speaker 3 (35:41):
We're gonna view things differently.

Speaker 1 (35:43):
Yeah, it would be a little shiny. I like that.

Speaker 3 (35:45):
Yeah, absolutely.

Speaker 1 (35:46):
When you go in and gear, I appreciate your time today.
When you go about just setting goals in general, what's
your process?

Speaker 2 (35:54):
Like I like to ask guys on the pod this
because they're they're clearly wired differently. When you say I
got to go to presno state. Okay, I need x
x amount of dollars or x amount of fans in
the stands. The best way to eat an elephant is
one bite at a time. Yeah, how do you go
about things?

Speaker 4 (36:10):
You know, it's a process I called my first I
don't even people use one hundred days. I don't even
know how many days I have been here, so eight weeks
times to fifty six. I haven't been here hundred days yet,
but I would call that the look listen, A learned
to her. There's so many great things that this place
has accomplished. I'm not coming in with all the answers. Sure,
I have a historical perspective. I've seen how the best
of the best have done things. Doesn't mean it's going

(36:32):
to correlate here. So you have to set goals that
are lofty but realistic at the same time. And that's
why I'm so big. You hear me talk about in
every interview the strategic plan, Right, of course, the strategic
plan is going to be something that shows our staff,
our coaches, our student athletes, the red Wave donors where

(36:53):
we're going. And it's not just some shiny object that
you just brush away and say here's our five this
is what we're doing next years.

Speaker 3 (37:00):
It's to hold us accountable. It's the review.

Speaker 4 (37:03):
We had an all staff meeting today and we talked
about the strategic plan. We want to put things in
there that hold all of us accountable. And I want
to go back and show the fan base the red
Wave things that were accomplished every year and things we
don't accomplish, right, but the things we don't accomplish, we're
going to state the reason why, we're going to talk
about and put a plan in place, how we're going
to achieve those in the next year, and it's going

(37:25):
to hold ourselves to come. I think that's better for everyone.
You know, if people know there's a plan, and that's
not just the fan base, that's staff, that student athlete,
they know they're a plan. They know that you're following
the plan. Doesn't mean you have to stick to it.
You can you know, adjust, adapt and adjust like we're
doing now. But there's got to be quantifiable goals and
not this thing like well we want to raise the

(37:46):
fun reason by twenty two percent or you know that's
that's fake. Like I want to put quantifiable goals out
there and achieve those and you know, obviously our goals
from my chair obviously going to be student athlete experiential base.
It's going to be fan experiential base. It's going to
be revenue base, it's going to be facility base, it's

(38:07):
gonna be things, community service base. How do we get
back to this great community as well?

Speaker 1 (38:12):
It don't make money, It don't make sense sometimes, man,
but it's good to know.

Speaker 2 (38:17):
And I the reason I asked that question, especially in
your role, is because you know, we don't have like
a Phil Knight here, if we don't have our friends,
no Phil Knight who just could say, hey, do whatever
you want to.

Speaker 1 (38:27):
Do, right, It's it's you got to have the strength
of numbers, strike us with it.

Speaker 2 (38:32):
And you know, I think another thing I could ask
is as the red wave, as the outsider, as me
twenty seven year old old dog now Franklin, what what
can I do?

Speaker 1 (38:44):
How can I do? You call it on the football field?
Do your one eleventh right? You do your job?

Speaker 2 (38:50):
What can a guy do if they're just graduated college
and they're working on the dairy farm or you know, hey,
I've owned my business for twenty years and I'm making
six six upper six figures, Like what what what's.

Speaker 1 (39:04):
The best foot forward? Especially with the different.

Speaker 2 (39:08):
Avenues on how to get involved of donating towards our
student athletes today, I.

Speaker 4 (39:13):
Can assure you that there's always gonna be affordable options
for the people that can't afford to buy suites or
buy season tickets or contribute financially.

Speaker 3 (39:25):
Right, yeah, but people.

Speaker 4 (39:27):
Can contribute, right, They always say time, treasure, talent, right,
you know, just buying a ten dollars ticket, you know
we don't always have ten dollar tickets, Buying a twenty
dollars ticket coming to one game, buying a five dollar ticket,
come into a volleyball game, like those all help. And
you know, engaging in our official social media counts, watching
games on television, those things all move the needle. Those

(39:48):
things all helped us get into the Pac twelve and
so you can help on that level. But also, you know,
you say we don't have a Phil Night here. You're right,
we don't, But we have a lot of really success
people in the valley. Then we have passion for the
Fresno State Bulldogs. It's my job, it's our job to
make sure they know the plan, they know that their

(40:10):
gift is making an impact. You know, I would say
in the past, as I go out in my Look, Listen,
and Learn tour, there's a lot of people that have
have maybe given a lot of money, but they haven't
seen results with what they're given because there's been some
lofty goals and they haven't seen a shovel on the ground.
They haven't seen the impact of what they're doing. Our
goal is to put some more realistic goals out there,

(40:30):
get some things done, show that we can get things done,
and then go on to the bigger lofty goals. But
there's going to be a process, and like I said,
we're building this for the long term. So you're right,
we don't have a fill Night here. We have a
lot of really successful people that if we engage them
the right way, we show them they're making an impact.
Why they should invest in Fresno State Athletics, Why we're
investing in their well being, Why our student athletes are

(40:52):
the best employees for them to hire. Why namage and
likeness is getting the best talent to Freslo State. Those
things are going to move the you know. So we
don't need one philm Night because I think we have
five thousand people that could be that next level.

Speaker 1 (41:05):
I agree.

Speaker 2 (41:05):
I've always said that I could not agree more on
something like that.

Speaker 1 (41:10):
Care that's all I got. I appreciate your time. Yeah,
you've been awesome. Definitely, you know everything you've heard here today.
I support you.

Speaker 2 (41:18):
I love that you say you know explus y QLZ
and it's something where you're you're hitting it right on
the head when it's there's been lofty goals, which is
not a bad thing, right, But I've.

Speaker 1 (41:31):
Told you this example before.

Speaker 2 (41:33):
One thing in the stadium before I wrap this up,
guys want a new stadium. Okay, great, I have I
could probably find a picture or I have a fridge
magnet from twenty fifteen when I was a freshman. They
gave us on our first day and they said, congratulations
playing football at President State. You got handed an iPad
for being a student athlete to watch film on, you

(41:54):
got your classes, you got a backpack full of Nichi
crap at the time, and it was a magnet of
you're gonna play in that stadium when you're uh and
it I was a junior. Yeah, well now my second
brother is playing in.

Speaker 1 (42:08):
His fifth season.

Speaker 2 (42:08):
It's the Santa Stadium and I'm not holding you accountable
to it or anybody else.

Speaker 1 (42:17):
But I've always brought up the red seats, the red
seats with the red wave. Go look on, they're pink
right now?

Speaker 4 (42:25):
Yeah, right, And I've said red's a bad color put
in any stadium with this heat, in this sunshine. Hey,
we learned that the hard way at Houston too.

Speaker 1 (42:33):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (42:34):
Would you say, you know, okay, maybe we don't have
this spaceship sofi looking stadium. I like the grit of
our stadium personally, but let's get the red seats red.
And you say, okay, we're gonna go out and raise
eight hundred thousand dollars a million dollars forever the hell
it is.

Speaker 1 (42:50):
To go have a campaign, get that done, and then go, actually, hey.

Speaker 2 (42:55):
Guys, look look at how bulldog cherry red those red
seats are.

Speaker 1 (42:59):
Ye.

Speaker 2 (43:00):
I think that's something that gets the valley fired up
because you want to see results. And as a guy
who's and I'm sure the same like as a guy
who wants to donate. If I give you one hundred bucks,
a thousand bucks, whatever might be, and I'm just get away.

Speaker 3 (43:16):
Or yeah you have to or I gotta trust you.

Speaker 2 (43:19):
But as soon as I see something next time again again,
exactly right.

Speaker 1 (43:25):
Again, That's that's the reality of things.

Speaker 4 (43:27):
Yeah, and there's an interesting data point out there that
shows that in college football, seventy percent of the ticket
revenue comes from thirty percent of the seats and that's
across spoord So what does that tell you? People will
pay for premium experiences, and so we have to do
more than just red seats, right, There's got to be
a clubroom, there's got to be reasons for people to

(43:47):
give and so that's the ways down the road. But
this is my commitment to the Red Wave. If I
release a plan for stadium upgrades, it's going to be
a realistic plan and we're going to achieve that plan.
I'm not putting out false plans unless I know we
can get it done, and so that's going to be important.
But part of that comes with building the trust. As
you mentioned, we got to be able to make sure

(44:09):
that our fan base, our donors, our student athletes, everyone
the Fresno State faithful the Red Wave understand that we
can get projects done here.

Speaker 3 (44:18):
And we're going to do that. I mean, I tell
you it's a great honor to be here. I love
this place.

Speaker 4 (44:23):
It's been eight weeks and I don't I can't believe
that it's taken me this long to come here.

Speaker 3 (44:28):
To live it.

Speaker 4 (44:29):
And I'm excited. My wife and are excited to raise
our kids here. But with it comes a lot of responsibility, right,
I mean, knowing.

Speaker 3 (44:36):
How important Fresno State.

Speaker 4 (44:39):
Is to this valley, it's a great responsibility and it's
a challenge I look forward to. But man, it's it
is the thing, it is the place, and I don't
take that responsibility lightly. So we're gonna If we don't
get it done here, it's not going to be for
lack of effort. But we will get it done. There's
no doubt in my mind because we have the right
leadership here. We have the absolutely right leadership here at

(44:59):
Fresno State. So the Red wave should be excited for
the future.

Speaker 2 (45:03):
Hungry dog always runs fast.

Speaker 1 (45:06):
You got you got the people fired up again.

Speaker 3 (45:08):
I appreciate your time.

Speaker 1 (45:10):
I'm fired up.

Speaker 3 (45:10):
I'm ready to.

Speaker 2 (45:11):
Contribute any way shape or form I can.

Speaker 1 (45:13):
And uh, you need something you call bring the juice.
Sub will make it done. You need to go take
someone out. You let us know what.

Speaker 2 (45:20):
But Garret classic laders, gentleman, Presso State's athletic director.

Speaker 1 (45:23):
The man in charge, the man with the plan. Go
out to your next Prezo State game. Boots and buckles
coming up. I got my cowboy hat ready to go.
You get a cowboy hat ready to go.

Speaker 3 (45:31):
I do have a cowboy hat. I do, and I
have boots all right, so we'll see. So you know,
I think I have a buckle. I do have a buckle,
American flag belt buckle.

Speaker 1 (45:39):
Better bring it out.

Speaker 3 (45:40):
And I need a V belt buckle. I'll need to
find a.

Speaker 1 (45:43):
Make sure you find me during Boots and Buckles. You'll
see my cowboy hat. You drive, damn it. Frank has the.

Speaker 2 (45:48):
Best cowboy hat.

Speaker 4 (45:49):
I bet you do.

Speaker 3 (45:50):
I'll come out to the show that day. I'll check
out the have it on the show, right, Oh yeah,
oh yeah, absolutely.

Speaker 2 (45:54):
Can get routy gryk klass lazers, gentlemen, get your to
stay fired up.

Speaker 1 (45:59):
We will see you next week.