Masters in Coaching Podcast- Episode LXVI

Tim Cates talks with Cal State Dominguez Hills Associate Vice President and Athletics Director Eric McCurdy about his first year on the job and his plans for developing and expanding the athletics department. Eric is former D1 soccer player and hs worked in the private and public sector of high school and college athletics for over 30 years. Before taking the job at CSDH, Eric operated his own sports consulting firm, which assisted student athletes and their families through the NCAA recruitment process. He had also recently assisted students in navigating the transfer portal and NIL (name, image and likeness) processes. Eric is a graduate of the MCAA program from Concordia University Irvine.

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
He's a former soccer player and studentathlete at the University of Alabama, Birmingham
to now athletic director at cal StateDimingus Hills. He is Eric mccurty,
and he joins us now on episodesixty six of the Masters in Coaching podcast.
Let's go Well, welcome into episodesixty six of the Masters in Coaching

(00:23):
Podcast here on iHeartRadio and YouTube.Wherever you're downloading and watching and listening.
We appreciate you doing that. Yes, episode sixty six already and so excited
to talk to this week's guest.What a background he has, both in
the private in the public sector.He is now the athletic director and associate
vice president at cal State Dimingus Hillsright here in southern California. He is

(00:44):
Eric mccurty, and he joins usnow here on the podcast. Eric,
thank you so much. How youdoing today, Kim? I'm doing well.
How about yourself? Doing fantastic?I mean you're off and running now
here. You are first full yearat cal State Domingus Hills. You take
over last year in October. Justkind of talk about what the last you
know, eleven twelve months have beenlike getting off the and running well,

(01:06):
it's been exciting. Anytime you're followingyour passion, it's a great opportunity.
That's something you're all almost you know, you'll almost do for free. And
so just getting in there what wecall the chair, sitting in the chair,
learning all the nuances that come withthat, being able to serve our
student athletes, our coaches, ourstaff, our lums, boosters, facuity.

(01:29):
It's just been it's been overwhelming,just from an exciting standpoint. Right.
You just can't imagine what it isto do something you love to do
every day. So you don't havea bad day. Doesn't mean you don't
have challenges, but you wake upevery day and say, man, I'm
doing what I love to do.I believe that if you can't play,
then you should coach. If youcan't coach, you should administrate. If

(01:52):
you love the game, things likethat. That's that's the excitement team that
I have every day. And you'rea former student athlete yourself is a eventually
being an athletic director kind of whereyou wanted to get back to because as
I mentioned, you know you're inbasketball operations at Houston UH Commissioner in Seattle
and in the high schools, andand then in the in the private sector
and helping families out, and andand and a consulting firman, and now

(02:14):
as an athletic director. Is thiskind of where you ended up wanting to
be? I did? I knewin college, and let me make sure
that our name drop, because Ithink it's important when you Uh, no
one gets to the level that I'vebeen able to attain without mentors. You
have to be a mentor, andyou have to have a mentor. And
so uh when I went to UA, b uh and was there and coach

(02:37):
Bardo Jean Barto recruited me, who'sthe winning as coach in UCLA history percentage
wise, gave them for free withno charge. Tim Uh, I didn't
know people got paid to take careof student athletes. I knew you had
a coach. I didn't really understandhow an athletics director worked. And so
he gave me a, you know, kind of a look behind the curtain

(02:59):
of how it worked. And Igraduated. I immediately started working for him
and I started to bottom just starttaking notes and everywhere I went, I
didn't know anything. I would justtake notes and I knew then that's what
I wanted to do, and soI took a different trajectory than most because
I kind of took the trajectory CoachBarto to Coach Barto worked in Parson Recreation.
I worked in Parson Recreation. CouseBarto worked in the interscholastic landscape,

(03:22):
and I did as well. Andso up until he passed away, he
was kind of my mentor and settingthe course for where I wanted to go.
But yes, watching him, that'swhat I knew that that you know,
this is what I want to do. What was it about cal State
Domingus Hills that brought you to southernCalifornia? The opportunity to work with student

(03:44):
athletes of different demographics, right,and so when you look at our university,
and I think the numbers have evenchanged, it might be seventy seventy
two percent latinx twelve percent African American. I think we graduate more Black males
than anyone else within the CSU system, a little bit less than ten percent
Asian and the rest other That excitesme to work with students, whether it

(04:06):
be first generation English speaking, firstgeneration college graduates, to help those student
athletes to the next level of lifeand success academically, socially and athletically,
and so Cal State Dominez has allthose things encompassed in one. I'm just
so excited to be you. Ilove hearing you talk, Eric, because

(04:28):
you're an athletic director. But sometimesathletic directors at whatever level, maybe they
get caught up in just the athleticsside of it and running the teams and
managing your coaches and the budget ofyour athletic department. And to hear you
talk about how it's not just aboutthat, it's about pouring into your student
athletes as well and taking making surethey're graduating and taking care of them on

(04:48):
this side, in the classroom andin life. It feels like a lot
of it kind of gets lost now, especially how competitive collegiate athletes athletics are
and high school athletic and the recruitingprocess for that matter too well. I
think that having worked in interscholastic sports, I saw things before they happened.

(05:11):
Coase Bardo blessed me to be ableto work inter scholastally, and what I
saw is that when I went tocollege, let's just say you had a
full rider. You did, andyou kind of went with your parents told
you to go based on money.Now, student athletes look at facilities,
what a parel company you're with,do you have a type of housing or
meal plan? And so I sawthat interscholastally in elementary and middle school students.

(05:33):
And so if you weren't prepared oryou were old school thinking, now,
students have a voice, and that'swhy you have SAC in other areas.
And so being able to forecast andsee that, I understood the landscape
of where we are today, whetherit be NIL, whether it be the
transfer portal, I saw that,and so that gives me a different lens

(05:55):
to look at when it comes tostudents. You can't say that we're going
to everything's about the students, especiallyat the D two level, the student
experience. Everything is about the students, and then make it about everything else
but the students. And so ifyou do, you'll be called out in
front face now based on how studentsjust move in this environment. Absolutely,

(06:15):
and I want to get into thatin a few minutes, because you were
kind of ahead of the curve withyour ferment in the NIL process and helping
families and student athletes in the transferportal. But you mentioned facilities and you
know being a draw and brand apparelas well. I know you guys are
with under Armour now and I heardyou talking about it in a podcast a
couple months ago about how the facilitiesand housing as you just mentioned, are

(06:38):
so important, and they are becauseyou want to be able to draw the
student athletes there, and it's theenvironment around you want to make them feel
comfortable and make them feel good intheir surroundings. Is that something in the
last eleven months almost a year nowyou've been on the job that you've made
an effort to either upgrade or inthe process process of upgrading. Well,

(06:59):
one, thank you for watching thatpodcast. That was our first. Students
put it on and I couldn't hearmyself, so if you heard anything,
I said, I get better,right. So that was our first one.
We just did another one student centeredagain with our interim women's soccer coach,
and that one's out there and that'sgreat. As far as the facilities,

(07:20):
it's an arms race and you dohave to be on top of it.
I want to think here at theuniversity, of course, from a
visionary standpoint, our president, doctorThomas Parham, who has just poured into
athletics to ensure our students have aworld class experience beyond the classroom. But
on this particular question, Deb WallaceVP Deb Wallace, who is over who

(07:42):
is our CFO poor to court helpedus with the quarter million dollars to redo
our softball at our baseball field.That's competitive because in our mind, the
CCAA is one of the best bestconferences in the country D two and so
if you're recruiting against the other schools, what's the advantage you have, whether
it be or just trying to getthose student athletes here. And so they

(08:03):
look at that, They look atrocker room, they look at a baseball
softball field, they look at everythingthat encompasses the student athlete experience, especially
when you're choosing, whether it's PacWest or our conference, whatever it may
be, you're choosing schools, you'relooking at what place makes you the most
excited about going there, beyond justplaying, kicking or throwing the ball.

(08:24):
You described it as an arms race, and I think that's probably the best
description I've heard of it in collegeathletics, and man, gosh, it's
even in high school athletics now.It's becoming an arms race to get the
facilities and become one of the elitefootball factories or high school basketball factories or
the Trinity League of high school sportshere in southern California. It is absolutely

(08:46):
amazing to see where that's at rightnow. But fundraising, I'm curious how
big is that for you to getto where you want with your department and
your teams facilities. And that's gottabe a big thing for you to go
out into the cal State Domingus Hillscommunity alumni base and start to rally the

(09:07):
troops. Right it is. Wehaven't dug deep as I would like to.
Yet. You walk into the joband your first ninety one hundred days
you have three ls. You look, you're listening and learning. As a
restructuring some of the staff and theexternal side, we're going to really focus
on that coming into my new year. But yes, you're looking at probably

(09:28):
one hundred and ten thousand the lumshere in cal State de Bengez Hills that
probably work or live within a twentytwo mile radius of campus. And so
what does that look like as westart getting out and asking those questions about
you know, what program would youpotentially want to put dollars into or place

(09:48):
dollars into. What does that looklike as far as scholarships, potentially endowing
the coach's chair and so we're lookingat everything going forward. This is going
to be an exciting year to reallytap into our base with some of the
championship programs that we have and tryto feed off some of that success externally
going forward. Are there other sportseventually that maybe you've got on a three

(10:13):
year plan, a five year plan, a ten year plan that you like
to add At cal State Dominica SOUSEright now, as you mentioned, very
competitively, a very competitive conference andthe schools winning championships, and you know,
softball, soccer, basketball, baseballvery competitive and in baseball putting out
young man into professional baseball. Butis there is there more? Is there

(10:35):
something else you're looking to expand inthe athletic department? There is to keep
up. We're going to have toI'll just speak to it kind of from
a holistic standpoint, because I don'twant to say a particular sport and jinks
ourselves and then we don't get thefunding and somebody comes back and uh uses
this podcast to say, Eric liquwhat you said. But we're looking at

(10:56):
adding sports because number one place isthe front porch of any university when it
comes to visibility. There's a sectionin the paper that's dedicated to what we
do. And so the more sportswe can add, there's an opportunity potentially
to add enrollment for the campus.And so that's what we're really looking at,
especially from a Title nine aspect,and so the President nine and also

(11:20):
my direct report, doctor William Franklin, have really been looking at how can
we add sports in the future.And that's with budget cuts and everything else
is going on across not just California, but the entire country when it comes
to higher ed period, and sowe're excited about some things that are kind
of bubbling underneath the surface and we'rehoping to move forward because right now we're

(11:41):
at an NCAA minimum and so wewant to make sure from a sports standpoint
that we have enough to where somethingwent wrong in a particular sport, we
weren't, you you know, behindthe eight ball from that aspect, and
so our president, like I said, Doctor Franklin, everybody's excited about potentially
adding some sports and moving to universityforward in that area. I want to

(12:03):
go back a couple of years.You spent eight years at as the Metro
Commissioner for the Seattle Public Schools.Talk a little bit about that job and
what you took away from it.That's probably one of the most You know,
I didn't know much about Seattle whenI got there, was the Seattle
Public School athletics director at Metro Leaguepresident. It was a hybrid position,

(12:24):
and I think six of the eightyears I was there, we had the
number one basketball league in the country. And when you think about some of
the players that came out of there, Michael Porter, Junior Dejionta, Murray
or Tony rot and Peyton See,but you could go on on, starting
with Jamal Crawford and Brandon Roy,Nate Robinson and going forward in that league,

(12:46):
I was just amazed at all thetalent that came out, not just
basketball, but even women's soccer.We had young ladies that were on the
national pool national team, men's soccer, tennis, golf. It's just it's
the largest mixed public private league inthe state. It's a little different than
the CIF but kind of similar tothe Super League and things that are here
in California, and so there's alot of talent there in Washington. They

(13:09):
have great leadership there to Superintendent doctorBrent Jones. And so what I learned
from an interscholastic model is that becauseI've coached high school, I've coached club
sports coach from a college standpoint inmen's basketball. So I watched the difference

(13:31):
between the public and the private schools, the funding, some of the disparity,
but also them coming together the formerleague and to form a group that
was successful for the whole state.And so I was very excited about the
Metro League. And the gentleman isthere now, mister Pat McCarthy. He's
a good friend of mine. He'sleading that Metro League in Seattle Public School

(13:52):
the long and director Tara Davis,and I'm excited. We talk weekly.
I still have lifelong friends there.Anything I can do to help the my
will. They're just great people therein Seattle. Then you spent four years
in the private sector, and asI mentioned earlier, I kind of feel
like you were ahead of the curveand consulting first and foremost at the different

(14:13):
levels of athletics, but also youkind of dabbled in nil right and helping
student athletes and families sort of navigatethrough the beginning of that, and we
talk about it still right now,it's still the wild wild West as far
as the nil and what schools areable to do, and you know school
groups or a fundraising groups or youknow booster groups that are able to do

(14:33):
first for colleges. What made youfirst get into into the private sector and
kind of go down that path likeyou did for four years. Well,
what I realized quickly is that kindof like the external question you asked earlier,
people give to people they like,this is a relationship enterprise. And
so having built so many relationships inHouston and in Washington and Seattle specifically,

(14:58):
I I start seeing quickly how studentathletes would go to a school, not
be happy and look to move on. And so there was a niche of
because schools can't necessarily contact you,but through a certain process for lack of
better terms, the middleman's doing allthe negotiating for that student athlete. And
so the transfer portal was so hugebecause I saw that inter schoolasoally ahead of

(15:22):
time. What could I do towork with families from a trust aspect to
get them to the next university?Where could I use my relationships, whether
it be college soccer at a Done school. Having coached D one basketball
as well under Tom Penders at theUniversity of Houston, it was phenomenal.
How can I take these relationships andhelp these student athletes get to where they

(15:46):
want to be. But also understandit, just because you put yourself in
a transfer portal doesn't mean every schoolis the best fit, even if they're
offering a certain amount of resources,will it be monetary, whatever, And
so you've already made one, youknow, commitment. It didn't work.
Everybody gets one free one, Iguess in today's society athletically, but that

(16:10):
second choice is key because there's questionsabout you. On the reverse right you're
looking at we're talking about why youleft. It could have been academically,
you weren't a fit many times,as you know, playing time and something
that happened within that sport. Butnow you're out there in the portal for
a reason, and so people havequestions about you as well. And so

(16:30):
being able to do the research withthose student athletes and the families on both
ends, talking to the university aswell as talking to the student athlete and
their families and saying These are thequestions that they really have, whether they're
asking or not. These are someof the you know, concerns, the
challenges they may have, and sowe want to make sure it's a fit
on both sides. This is justsort of me ranting and about the whole

(16:53):
transfer portal in IL because it startedoff, you know, the transfer portal
is you mentioned and better situation.Maybe it was a family situation. Maybe
a lot of times, like yousaid, it was playing time and maybe
a disagreement with the coach or acoaching change and you didn't fit into what
that program for whatever reason. Andnow it's interesting, Eric, because you
get cases in which maybe it's nota player's unhappy, but a player wants

(17:15):
more money and the NIL is offeringthese kids more money to go from one
school that they're very successful at asa quarterback or as a point guard or
as a well, you know,baseball player. And I'll just use the
UCLA baseball example. He had threeor four guys transfer out after this year
to go to SEC schools because they'reoffering more NIL money down there. But
again that's just me ranting, Butit is there ever going to get a

(17:37):
point? Do you think because youworked in the private sector before getting to
cal State to make this sills.Do you think there's ever gonna be a
point where the NCAA or a governingbody is going to have to clamp down
on this And however they do it, whatever masures they do, whatever rules
they set up, they've got todo something right because it kind of feels
like it's just the wild, wildWest right now. Well, look at
the questions that you just asked.Other people are asking those same questions.

(18:00):
The problem is, from my perspective, unless there's federal regulation, each state
has their own systemic way that youcan deal with nil and so it's unequally
balanced, for lack of better terms, So at some point it has to
be a national bigger than the NCAA, because the NCTATE seems like they're asking

(18:21):
for help every day. They werea phenomenal new president who politically knows the
landscape of just government, you know, and relations. They're asking for help,
so that you know Nebraska doesn't doit. I'm from Oklahoma, different
than Oklahoma, different in Texas.You know, I lived in Houston fourteen
years and always make a joke thatHouston is their own state. And Texas

(18:42):
is their own country when it comesto athletics, specifically football, So what
does that look like for someone inanother state that may emphasize more balance than
just football. And so you're lookingfrom just a fifty foot level down,
you're looking for some regulation from onhigh so that we can have a system
that fits everyone. And that's that'sjust I think. I think that's that's

(19:07):
kind of the analysis I want touse to him on that one. Yeah,
no, it's perfectly said, andand and who knows whenever that uh,
that regulation is going to come intoeffecture? That's right. At the
D two level, how can howcan you as athletic department use the transfer
portal? And are you encouraging yourcoaches to explore the transfer portal and looking

(19:29):
for kids who maybe are at aD one level or D two level aren't
happy want a different uh changes senior, I guess for whatever sports they're seeing,
and even maybe at the D threelevel, a guy who succeeded or
a woman who succeeded and maybe wantsto get to the D two level,
are you talking to your coaches aboutthat at all? Be just completely transparent,

(19:51):
not a lot and I'll tell youwhy, because I believe that from
a staffing standpoint, our job isto give our coaches all the resources necessary
to be successful. And so,you know, depending on the individual sport,
I'm kind of careful about what Isay. I do want balance in

(20:11):
regards to how we bring student athletesin. And I'll tell you what I
mean. Every coach is his orher own CEO of the program, you
know, recruiting academically athletic. Wewant students to graduate, especially the D
two level. We want students tograduate. And that's that first and foremost.
If you look at just how thatD the D two model is set
up, and so you know,a coach may say, and let's just

(20:32):
say baseball, well it's late becausethey're waiting on D one offers in the
draft. For the portal. Weneed to, you know, do things
a little differently. What what ouruniversity has done doctor Debor Brandon here in
enrollment services that has been phenomenal inyou know, helping us from an enrollment
standpoint, look at the particular sportand say, okay, we're gonna work
with you so that your student athleteshave an opportunity to potentially get into the

(20:56):
university. I just gave you onesport, but that is so thin that
the university has been phenomenally doing inmy first year. At the same time,
I don't want to be so transferredportaled out for for you know,
for lack of verbage debt. We'renot that we're forgetting about our four year
high school student athletes, especially theD two level, right, And of

(21:17):
course you're going to get that Done student athlete transfers D two, But
I've also seen us lose, youknow, and I'm not going to name
a sport a couple of phenomenal studentathletes that D one and you're wondering could
they have been a big fish ina small pond here or how successful would
they be there at the next levelwith other people that are getting maybe a

(21:41):
few dollars in those same opportunities.And so when I talk to student athletes,
I always want them to stay,but I also want what's best for
them and their families and their decisions. But you know, I hate to
see the model where we have acoach here who is two or three years
with this student athlete, built heror him up, and now all of
a sudden boom they're gone to aD one school. It deflates the coach

(22:07):
because we're holding them accountable right foracademic success. We're holding them accountable for
a world class experience. And ifwe're going to compete, it's sitting parts
of the recreation. You don't getan orange at halftime in a gator Rade
and fruit roll up at the endof the game. We need to be
competing for championships in our area,you know, the CCA championships. If
you're competing at that level and you'rein the top three or four, is
a good chance to get to theNCAA tournament. And so the reason that

(22:30):
that's why Tim, I'm careful aboutwhat I say to him, knowing that
we've you know, committed to ayou know, a standard. Yeah,
get the student athletes in, makesure they can graduate one. We want
to be able to compete, ButI want you to kind of run your
own program. And I want tobe more of a coach's ad than kind
of uh, you know, bossingtunnel how they should do it. I

(22:51):
love it. I love it.Eric. You graduated from the University of
Alabama, Birmingham with your degree,you get into working and then you've decided
to go and get your master's degreefrom Concordia University, Irvine. Sir,
Why what what ultimately led you togo and pursue the master's degree? And
why Concordia University, Irvine. Butwhen I was at University of Houston and

(23:15):
I, you know, I wastrying to decide administrative did I want to
coach? Once I got left thereand I went to Seattle, which is
one of the most educated cities inAmerica for two parent incomes, I started
learning quickly, if I'm going tobe an administrator, I need a master's
And I was kind of shamed.You know, my dad, my dad

(23:37):
and grandfather went to Tuskegee. Theywere with doctor and they were doctor of
the veterinary medicine at a time thatAfrican Americans couldn't go to some of the
schools we can go to now.And my dad valued education and so before
he passed away in two thousand andfour, he had told me that an
undergraduate, you know, a degreecenter is almost going to be like a
high school diploma. And I startseeing job postings, you know, requirements,

(24:02):
and there was leniency for a master'sversus you know, a BA and
then I started looking at the colleaguesaround me within the system of the NFHS
system at that time inter scholastic,and I started seeing everyone has a master's
and most some of them have doctors, right, And so I reached out
to Miss Sheila Hannah. I wantto give her a shout out, and

(24:23):
man did she take care of me. She was an adviser at the time,
and she doctor Sheelahanna let me backup to him h and she was
awesome. And what separated Concorded fromother universities with the Master's program was that
they cared I was going through somepersonal and professional challenges during that time where
I started school, I quit andI came back, and they always had

(24:48):
godly love for me, and theywere faith filled. They were always trying
to figure out how they could helpme instead of why you couldn't get in
and why this couldn't happen. Andso Miss Hannah was just wan one of
them, but so many people inthat program that I tell everyone, I
became an ambassador. I started whenI got my degree there in Washington.
I was on the state board theWI a kind of similar to the CIF,

(25:11):
and I was telling everyone across thestate and they would come in to
the our to our state conference inWashington, UH, and I would make
sure that I was an ambassador andI was telling people about the Masters.
And I've even done it here inCalifornia, but way more in Washington.
When I first got it, Iwas so excited because that is the best
Master you can get. The programis so rigorous and challenging, but empathetic

(25:37):
to your needs, whether you havea family or whatever your schedule is.
I've not seen anything like it,and so I'm excited to have it.
I'm proud to have the graduate degree, you know, from from CONCORDA And
just man, thank you, thankyou for asking that question. When we
wrap things up on my kind goback full circle to cal State Domingo s
Hills. And now that you're ayear into a job, and as you

(26:00):
said, the first night, youdo one hundred days the three l's,
and you had a chance to dothat, and now we're, you know,
getting into that first full year foryou, what are you excited about
most in what you can see maybeshort term coming with the athletic department and
kind of where you want to putyour hands into changing or bringing something to

(26:22):
athletic department. Certainly, you've gotlong term goals, five ten year goals
that you want to set up,as we talked about adding sports potentially down
the line, but right in frontof you kind of short term. Is
there one or two things that you'rereally excited about that you can potentially bring
in or looking to bring in.Yes, Number one is stat staffing.
The biggest asset of any organization arethe people, and so if we're restructing

(26:45):
the department, I'm excited about thepeople that we brought in. We brought
in a new budget person, TrentonWilliams, Raymond Castillo. I've just hired
two students just recently graduated into ourapartment, Rayming fie On Savannah Sanchez.
And so what excites me is thatwe're putting our mouth where we're putting things

(27:07):
behind what we say in regards toour students. Our students graduate, we
say, oh, we want youto have these opportunities. We're hiring those
students. That's what I'm most excitedabout. One Two, I'm just excited
about the potential. I'm excited aboutthis university again, the demographics and the
students that we're serving and the factthat our leadership from the president down really

(27:30):
believe that athletics is the extracurricular activityoutside the classroom that can really build a
university. And so they're allowing usto do our thing. And to have
that type of leadership is huge becauseyou have to have the backing when you're
in an athletics department of senior leadership. If not, you're going to have
challenges and situations. If they're notbacking you, it can be a pushing

(27:53):
Quarter's pretty tough. And so thissecond year we really want to dig in
harder. We have our apparel deal, we're under armed that you mentioned,
we're excited about that. We're buildingout our staff. We're excited to get
more entrance from external marketing and relationsprocess going forward. And so I just
see sky to Linn. We havea brand new commissioner, Alan Hardison and

(28:15):
the CCA. He has great ideas, he's very innovative. Everybody's excited about
him. He just started and sohim moving the conference forward and us being
a member of the CCA just hugeforce in the future. Well, I
enjoyed our conversation. I mentally,Eric, I love talking I love hearing
your passion about what you have planned, what you're excited to do. You

(28:37):
know, there's a lot of timesathletic directors in college sports oversee like a
CEO role and maybe a little businesssee, but you know, talking to
you, I talked to Martin Jarmanat UCLA where I graduated from and work
for doing stuff there and the energythat you guys have, and it's that
way in several of the athletic directorswe've talked at the ANAIA level and the

(29:00):
level throughout the Masters and Coaching podcast. I just love the energy and the
fact that you guys are fired upabout pouring back into the departments and the
student athletes and have that fire stillI guess in your belly to go out
and just tackle everything that's out infront of you. So you got me
fired up. I'm so excited tosee about what you're doing. I know
we're going to keep an eye onwhat you're doing with your sports programs and

(29:22):
continue to have success there and takehim to it even a higher level.
So thank you so much for sharingyour story talking about you know, the
different aspects in the private and publicsector that you've worked to get to cal
State. Tomigus Hills. I knowI love talking to you and hearing your
story, and hopefully our listeners andviewers did as well. So thank you
so much. Well, thank youso much, Tim, and have a
great day, and for everyone that'slistening, have a blessed day. And

(29:45):
just we appreciate you allowed us tocome on and share with you. All
Right, Well, there he goesEric mccurtey, Associate vice president athletic director
at cal State Dimingus Hills right herein southern California. Love his energy,
love his passion. I know he'sgonna take that athletic department to the next
level. Certainly already distinguished Division twoschool as far as championships in conference titles,

(30:06):
so no doubt doing big things alreadynow one year in to his reign
there at cal State Domingus. Soit's great to hear the talk about what
he did in the private sector aswell with NIL and the transfer portal even
before it blew up the last fewyears in college athletics. So hope you
enjoyed the conversation. Of course,he went to Concordia University, Irvine and

(30:26):
got that Masters in Coaching at AthleticsAdministration degree you can to find out more
at CUI dot edu slash Coaching.CUI dot edu slash coaching. There are
different start times throughout the year,and if you're a first time student a
one thousand dollars scholarship towards the startof the program CUI dot edu slash Coaching
find out if it's a right fitfor you. No doubt they'll work with

(30:48):
you in your schedule if you're lookingto take that next step or that leap
in your profession. Again, thanksto Eric mccurty. Thanks to you for
listening and watching episode sixty six ofthe Sting Coaching podcasts Now in the books.
Until next time, Tim Kate's saying, so long, everybody,