GARRETT WAIT
Sports Editor
Dr. John Watson, Pepperdine’s athletic director, is the man heading the best non-football athletics program in the nation. He is also in the beginning stages of getting a new events center built for Pepperdine athletics. His five years as athletic director have been some of the best in Pepperdine history. He is this week’s guest on “10 Minutes With …”
Everybody on campus is getting excited about the prospects of a new gym being built. How far along is that process?
Well it’s still in the initial developmental stages. It has not been formally approved by the university. We’ve been working with the university architects as well as outside architects in outing together what they call a programming plan: What do we need for the future, for the next 40 years? And how much space is that going to take? What’s it going to cost? Obviously to come up with a cost estimate and at that point figure out whether or not it’s something the university can move forward with.
If a new gym ends up being built, what would be the plans for Firestone Fieldhouse?
The exciting part about it is that Firestone Fieldhouse would be converted to a student recreational center. It would be expanded and meet the needs of students for indoor recreation. I think there’s a great deal of planning taking place about that conversion as well as the development of an events center. Dr. Mark Davis is the guy that’s kind of leading that effort.
We were recently named the best non-football athletics program by the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics. How does it make you feel coming to work every day knowing that you’re in charge of such a great program?
It’s exciting. You’ve got to give the credit to the coaches and the student athletes. They’re the ones that are out competing and training every day. I attribute it a lot to the fact that we’ve had coaches that have been dedicated for a number of years and so they’ve added stability to our program. They’re able to recruit young people that are able to compete at the highest levels and also compete in the classroom. And they’re proud. They’re proud of doing it, of playing by the rules, having good sportsmanship and representing the university with honor and dignity.
Where do you see Pepperdine’s athletics program in 10 years?
If you want John Watson’s dream, it would be that we would have the ability to better support some of the sports that we’re not supporting as well as others. For example, women’s swimming, the cross country program and the track program. I would also hope that in 10 years, we would be able to have a men’s soccer program. That we would have facilities that could accommodate and meet the needs of our student athletes and our student body. That we would have a soccer stadium, that we would have the events center, that we would have a new aquatics center and that the recreational center and the current pool would be utilized 24 hours a day by students. I think everybody wins in that way.
It’s been a bit of a problem that students don’t always show up for games other than the big televised games. What can you do to help solve the problem of student apathy?
I think there are two areas that deal with student desire. First of all, let me say that when we have the big games and the students show up, you’ve got to understand that you’re talking 25 to 30 percent of our student body is coming to the game. Any institution in this country would love to have that percentage of their students show up to a game. So I’m grateful for those that show up. I’m particularly grateful for those that are loyal and come out to everything. I think we have to better communicate and remind people when games are taking place. I think that the important factor is that our student athletes be well integrated into the campus community so that they know other students because students will come down and support their friends. But if we’re isolated, and we frequently are, because there’s no reason for students to come down to the athletic complex except for convocation, so when we build this new events center, we’ll be in the heart of the living community. Our students, I hope, are in the heart of the academic community and as they develop friends, I think their friends will come out and support them more.
11-17-2005