Ryan ChartrandAlison Cone began to serve as Cal Poly’s interim athletics director in February 2004 before becoming full-fledged athletics director in January 2005. She sat down with the Mustang Daily on Jan. 30 for a question-and-answer session.
Q: Tell me about your day-to-day activities in the athletics department.
A: You know, the fun thing about athletics is that every day is different. Some days you are spending a lot of time with coaches and trying to help them with whatever it is they need. It might be dealing with (a) facility issue, it might be a financial issue or it might be recruiting.
Other days you are dealing primarily with external folks, some of your supporters and boosters or alumni. Other days, you are dealing with student-athletes on issues that come up. So, it really varies.
Some days you are pushing papers and working on schedules. It’s really a varied job, which makes it fun. You have the opportunity to work with all the people on campus and you just get to work with a lot of energetic and fun people.
Q: Can you tell me a little bit about how Cal Poly’s teams have been doing throughout the fall and winter quarters?
A: Sure! We started out the fall very successfully. We had two champions in women’s volleyball and men’s cross country, which is exceptional. Both of those teams finished nationally ranked. Men’s cross country I think finished 13th in the country, which is really high.
Men and women’s soccer competed well. They had some great contests. They didn’t advance to postseason play, although the women’s soccer team was in the final game in the Big West Tournament. The winner advanced to the NCAA Tournament. So they came close, and the men’s team had great improvement over the previous year. So, the fall teams really had good success.
Our football team was nationally ranked all year. They just missed the playoffs, so they had a really good year. We had a player named the Buck Buchanan Award winner. So, they have really established themselves.
Additionally, the academic pieces we all measure. Cal Poly measured very well in those too. So, those are all good things. In winter sports – men’s/women’s basketball, wrestling, men’s/women’s swimming, and tennis are competing really well and have had a great, competitive year.
The basketball teams are winning some and losing some. Both teams appear to be kind of in the conference race. Not quite sure how they will finish but they’re certainly competitive.
In men’s/women’s swimming we have a new coach named Tom Milich, who is really a quality coach and the team has set some school records already, and head-to-head competition has been tough, but they’re going to proceed nicely.
Q: How are things going with Milich? What have you seen from his so far and what do you think you are going to see from him in the future?
A: That program is really exciting. He works constantly and he’s training the current athletes well. I have heard athletes say that they’re doing more than they thought they ever could. So, that is really exciting. He’s also recruiting some great people to come in.
So, students that are in the program now are having the success that they have wanted to have, and he is continuing to bring in some talented students. So, I see that program being very successful.
Q: Are there any goals that Milich has set for himself this year, or that the athletic department has set for him?
A: His goals are probably so far ahead of where mine are. He is a really competitive guy and I think he will ramp up his goals. We want him and the student-athletes to have some success and have a great experience and excel academically.
We also want them to be competitive, but you know all that is intertwined. I think his goals probably will have him get competitive a little quicker than I would, but he’ll get there.
Q: Are there any other coaches that have stood out this school year?
A: Jon Stevenson in volleyball. That program did so well. Mark Conover with the men’s cross country program. Those programs just really had tremendous years. The football program in every way that you can measure has shown success. We have an exciting group of coaches. We have a new men’s tennis coach named Justin McGrath and I think he is going to do exciting things. We just have a really quality group of coaches.
Q: Construction at Alex G. Spanos Stadium is about wrapped up. What kind of changes will we see?
A: I think it will affect more than just the football team, interestingly enough. I think it will affect the football team in that you can show them where they play now and we’ll have pictures on our Web site and every time anyone is interested in Cal Poly they will see it, and that makes a big difference. It’s impressive.
But it really, I think, will help all of our programs because we are a team within Cal Poly and we are only as good as our teammates, and so all of our programs will probably show their recruits our stadium, because it says who we are as an athletic department. It says who we are as (a) university – that we have kind of a showpiece.
Students generally will go through commencement often at the stadium. I think there will be opportunities for that stadium to become a big part of campus.
Both of our soccer programs will be playing in the stadium, so they are immediately affected by it, but I think also if you are taking campus tours with your recruits there is not an athlete that is going to miss that stadium. And it says a lot about the athletics program at Cal Poly.
And there are likely to be some other intramural games and other things that go on in that stadium. There will be a lot of folks who will be able to play in there. It will be fun.
Q: What kinds of changes will we see with equipment manager Dick McMath’s retirement, and what has he brought to the athletic department in his time here?
A: Well, Dick brought great dedication, you know he has been here a very long time. He has really committed his life to Cal Poly athletics. I am not sure what changes will be made. We’ll obviously go out and recruit the position and somebody else will bring their own spin on that area. But Dick really represents somebody who loves Cal Poly and he has dedicated his life to it, so we sure appreciate him.