“You’ve only got four years” - An Interview with UOP’s New Athletic Director
Pacific’s new Athletics Director, Adam Tschuor.
Meet Pacific’s new Athletic Director and hear his advice for students and student-athletes!
Personal Introduction:
This past July, Pacific athletics hired a new director in Adam Tschuor, who assumed the role in August. Prior to leading the Tigers’ athletic department, Tschuor worked at the University of Dayton, in Ohio, helping the school achieve impressive rankings in the renowned Atlantic 10 conference. No stranger to hard work and promotions, Tschuor began as the director of ticketing sales and rose through the ranks, eventually serving a tenure of six years as Dayton’s Senior Associate Athletics Director. Highlights of his time at Dayton include selling out their men’s basketball arena numerous times, inspiring recruitment and fundraising efforts, and cultivating both academic and athletic greatness among student-athletes. Dubbing Tschuor’s hiring as “the beginning of a new era for Pacific Athletics,” President Callahan emphasized both the experience and passion that Tschour brings to Stockton.
Authoring this piece, Amaya Leiby sat down with Tschuor asking him the following questions, in hopes of better introducing him to both the general student body population, as well as the Tiger student-athletes.
Did you play sports growing up?
“I played a lot of sports growing up; I was very fortunate. My dad had a background in football. From about when I was born to a year old, my dad was a football scout. But my grandfather owned a pretty successful construction business, so he eventually decided to leave football and go work for him to earn a better living. But, he always regretted leaving sports, which led to him becoming very involved as a donor. We became close to a lot of programs and a lot of coaches, which in turn led to me playing a lot of sports, just about any sport you can think of till I was about 13. At that age, I decided to focus on golf, which I play to this day.”
What is your most impactful sports memory or moment?
“I’d say it would be a mix of two things. I’m from a really small town, Yorktown, Indiana, about 10,000 people. Our high-school only had about 500 people. And my junior and senior year, we were the number one ranked team in the state in golf. That was something unusual for a school so small. Golf was not a class sport, everyone competed against each other; we competed against the biggest schools there are down to the smallest. Those were pretty special times. We had a really good team.
And two, signing my letter of intent to go to Creighton. As I mentioned, I grew up around college sports, even non-traditionally, my dad was a donor, but he was very active with the programs. A lot of athletic directors and coaches were neighbors and friends, and still are to this day. I grew up idolizing student-athletes. I mean I was a bat boy for the baseball team. I was on the sidelines at football games. I was a ball boy for the basketball programs. So I was always around them and I was always working towards that. So when I put pen to paper and signed that letter, it was a pretty special moment.”
What do you hope to contribute to Pacific athletics?
“My hope is to instill a winning culture. I want our programs to compete for titles and championships. Not for me, I want it for our student-athletes. I want it for our fans, who pour a lot into our programs. I want it for our coaches who work so hard for the programs. I want it for this university and this community too. I’ve seen the impact that having championship programs can have on a town, a county, a region. Pacific pride: that’s important. I have every single game ticket and credential from any game that I’ve ever been a part of in my office, but I keep my NCAA one’s visible. That’s what we’re working towards; I want to add to that. It’s a singular experience. There’s nothing I can do that will replace that.
I take student athlete experience very seriously. We asked a question at Dayton when we would sit down with seniors to do exit interviews. The last question we would always ask them was, ‘If you could go back in time and do it all over again, would you still choose to become a Dayton Flyer?’ And, if they answered yes, we knew we did a good job. And if they answered no, we knew we had to dig deep. I want to ask that question of our seniors here: if they got to choose all over again, would they be a Pacific Tiger. A lot of those no’s, which haven’t been many, are rooted in losing, are from the people that spent four years getting kind of knocked around. It’s not fun. The kids want to win too. And when you’re constantly going into competition, feeling like you have an arm tied behind your back because you don’t have the right levels of support, that can have a cumulative effect. I don’t want that. Doesn’t mean we’re going to win everytime, but I want our student-athletes going out there and feeling like they have a chance to contend for a title.”
What is something you specifically want to implement at UOP athletics?
“My background is on the revenue side, in ticket sales, in forging corporate partnerships, in fundraising, in building capital projects, things like that. One very specific thing that I have to do is increase our ticket sales and our corporate partnership revenue. The only way that I’m going to be able to provide that experience and competitive edge that I’ve been talking about is with external dollars. The easiest thing for me to do is put a plan together of how we will compete and how we will spend our resources, and then show that plan to our donors, to demonstrate to them that their money will help accomplish that. We need to travel better. We need to do some of the newer stuff in name, image, and likeness. I know there are donors interested in starting a collective, that all of our student athletes would benefit from, if they so choose. That should be here soon. We have some motivated fans that are looking to get involved on that front too.”
What drew you to UOP?
“Most of my career has been at student centric, private, comprehensive universities: Dayton and Creigthon. When I was doing my research on the place, it felt very similar; the missions, the values, the offerings of sports and academic programs, the community, the similarities of the conferences, and then when I came on my visit, it just confirmed it. Creighton and Pacific are eerily similar; almost the identical student populations, but we definitely have a leg up on the diversity front. That was a draw too. I was really enamored with how diverse and inclusive this campus is. I feel that in this day and age it is a tremendous asset that a lot of schools are struggling with. For us to be able to demonstrate that we have a foothold as a national leader on that front, it certainly is something to take advantage of in recruiting, and not just with student-athletes, but students, and staff and administrators too.
President Callahan was a big part of my decision too. He’s such a dynamic person, with a very bold and clear vision for what he wants to do with this university and with what he wants to accomplish. If I have an idea and I think it’s a good idea, I want to act on that and he is very much of that opinion too. If he knows that something is the right thing to do and we need to get it done, he acts upon it. And that’s a rare find in our industry. He has an infectious personality and an enthusiasm to him that I really loved.”
Do you have a favorite UOP tradition yet?
“Two things come to mind. My very first week on the job was the week of welcome. It really was a tremendous benefit for me in terms of getting to know campus and people, interacting with students, learning what’s important, and the Miracle Mile event was amazing. That was so well-done. Both the student welcomes, the one on the lawn and the dinner at the President and First Lady’s house, were really fun. It was something that if I hadn’t been a part of, I feel I would have been at a tremendous disadvantage compared to where I am now. The day of service was incredible, and it was honestly a spark plug for us in athletics. Prior to the pandemic, community service was a big deal in athletics; every team would consistently help out in the community. On the day of service, we had a lot of people from athletics involved, and it really rekindled that.
The other thing that I would say is water polo. I had never been to a water polo game before. I had watched it on TV and I had watched Pacific a number of times, but in-person it’s just so different. The Eberhardt facility is great and it’s such a great fan environment, from tailgating and the weather and the pool. It’s such an inviting pool too. It’s so exciting in person. Our environment, the students, the fans, the quality of the facility just add to it and make it that much better. It was every bit I had hoped it would be.”
What is the best way for students to get involved with athletics? And the best way for student-athletes to get involved with athletics decisions?
“As for students, that’s something we’re trying to figure out right now. We have to put a value proposition in front of our students that makes them understand that the full college experience includes athletic events. So, finding ways to incentivise our students to come is a big deal to us and I’m working closely with student life to prioritize that. The easiest thing a student can do is come. Come to our events. Support your fellow students. Have a good time. Part of that’s on us. It’s our job to focus on the fan experience. If we can put an experience, on the court, and in the pool, and on the field that is a fun and enjoyable time, regardless of what’s going on competitively, then those people will keep coming back. We’ve got to do some stuff to make it a better experience for our fans and to reward our students that are attending with stuff that they find value in too.
I’ve had a really good relationship with Pacific Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (PSAAC) so far and I’m excited to keep working with them. Student-athletes shouldn’t feel shy to bring their questions, comments, and concerns. Their first stop should always be their coaches but that doesn't mean that us as administrators aren’t accessible to our student-athletes too. Obviously we have our drop box by the academic learning center. We have a mechanism through PSAAC, who I meet with monthly. I also want to be respectful of our students, and there will be things that I won’t be in a position to share for a variety of reasons, but when they come and say they want to do something and it’s maybe something that’s just not feasible, if I’m able to, I’ll share why that is. It’s easy for admins in our business to say yes or no to something and just leave it at that, but I think it’s important to share why with our student-athletes too.”
If you could give one piece of advice to UOP’s students/student-athletes, what would it be?
“Being a student-athlete is tough. They are full, full days. When you’re in it, it just seems tough. But when you get older in life and get in the real world and start working and have a family and you’re faced with full days and the challenges of life and things like a 9 to 5 job, things just don’t seem so tough. I would tell our student-athletes to know that what they’re dealing with now, the rigors of being a Division I student-athlete, is worth it. The benefit of having that full day is going to pay off for them in the long term. There is great value in the long run.
Students, I would challenge, to fill their day up. There are challenging academic programs for sure, but as a campus, we have broad offerings. Take advantage of tutoring. Take advantage of our arts, culture, and activities. We have one of the most profound conservatories of music on the West Coast and they put great programming up. Go to the Lair; that’s a fun time. That is very unique. Go to athletic events. Get involved in Greek life. Whatever your interests, your desires for your career, for your future, your background, there is an organization out there that you can get involved in. You’ve only got four years. By the time you get done, you don’t want to look back on that with regret.”