Maryland AD Jim Smith on the football program, engaging with alumni, what becoming an 'and' athletic department means

Ahmed Ghafir
19 hours ago
5 min read

With fall sports in full swing for Maryland Athletics, new athletic director Jim Smith reviews his first weeks on campus, the state of both revenue and non-revenue programs, engaging with the alumni and more on 105.7:

On the job in the state of college athletics in the NIL era

“Every day is a different day, for sure. It's definitely not a sit back and let's see how it goes job but there are a lot of really good ADs out there throughout the country, and I'm happy to join the group and bring a little different perspective to it and hopefully bring a lot more success to Maryland.”

On having former OSU AD Gene Smith as a consultant

“Gene, both at Ohio State, Arizona State, he did an incredible job. And to have a guy that you can lean on or just bounce some ideas off of in this ever-changing world of collegiate athletics is great. So I'm super excited to have Gene as part of my consulting group and part of my team here at Maryland.”

On engaging with alumni

“It’s really important. It's important to energize your alumni fan base, but the fan base in general. We're the flagship school in Maryland and we need all the support of all everyone who lives in Maryland. And our alumni are a huge important part of that. And so that's part of the job is to create a great fan experience, to continuously engage them through social media, through emails. Just make people feel really connected and honored to be a part of the Maryland family.”

On football preparing for Big Ten play

“Always nice when you can play an in-state school. Obviously, Locks has got some connection to Towson so that that's another nice benefit. Then we're gonna play Towson then we're gonna get ready for Wisconsin. And when you really look at the team, it's been a great first two games. We’ve seen a lot out of the Malik. I think people are really excited about him. I think people are equally excited about our defense. Ted's done a great job as our defensive coordinator on the defense side of the ball. Pep’s been great on offense. We've got a really good coaching staff and I think our players are reflecting how good our coaching staff is right now.”

On competition with ticket sales among pro teams in the area

“No, you're right, but it's great because we have six million people to sell them to. That's the beauty of the market. It really is. I mean, the nice part is, most of the time the Ravens, the Commanders, are playing on Sunday. So if we can own Saturday, then we're going to be in a really good place. And I really do believe that Maryland football program can own Saturday.”

How to fill SECU Stadium during Big Ten play

“We’re really focused on the students on campus. I don’t know if you’ve watched either of the first two games but students turnout has been really good. And I guarantee if the games get a little bit more competitive later into the game, they'll stay the whole time. But we'll continue to focus on campus and making sure that we grow the student body and encourage them to keep coming out because they bring incredible energy. And then the second part is our alumni, just re engaging with them and connecting with them and encouraging them to be here in the stadium. And I think between those two things, we can really start to squeeze out the opposing fans. I would much rather have a student of which - the students get football tickets here as part of being a being at Maryland - I'd much rather have a student in there than a paying fan from another school.”

On $7 tickets vs. NIU

“That's part of it. And so you're going to see, every week, we're going to have an item of the game from a concession perspective, to where we have really family friendly pricing. We're going to keep doing all of these things as we work on our fan experience and encourage people to come out, and when they come out, to have a value option so they don't feel like it's a really expensive outing. So I appreciate you mentioning the $7 tickets. Clearly, we have a ticket offer again this week and hope everybody will take advantage of it and come out and see us play Towson.”

On other fall sports at Maryland

“Well, I've been to a lot of them. One of the great parts about being in Maryland, we have really, really competitive Olympic sports all the way across the year. So there's always a game to come watch on Maryland's campus. Our field hockey team comes back home this weekend, really excited to see them bounce back from two really tough games on the road. Volleyball won last night. It's good. They're going to be home. Both men's and women's soccer are off to a great start. Actually, the men are going to head to Wisconsin today to play tomorrow in their first Big Ten matchup. So no, there's always something going on here at the University of Maryland and athletics.”

On the new basketball performance facility

“Oh, way better than decent. I think that might be the understatement of the day. These facilities are incredible. When you see the basketball, Barry P. Gossett Basketball Performance Center, you saw the reactions of the student athlete. When you talk to coach Buzz, Buzz Williams, he's going to tell you his personal reaction to walking into a facility like that, something he's never seen before. So really, I mean, between football and men's and women's basketball, we've got the best facilities to have for practice. And it's really incredible and really a credit to the folks who were here before me to pull that off because it really sets us up in a way that a lot of other programs do not have right now in this country.”

On the biggest shock since arriving to Maryland

“There are a couple that come to mind, but I say that how welcoming everybody has been to me? No, I'm not a traditional - I don't have the traditional background in college athletics. But yet, everybody - the coaches, the staff, the alumni, the donors - it's been really incredible in welcoming me into the Maryland family. And that's really exciting. And this, in the second part of it is, the coaches we have at Maryland in all our sports, this is a destination. This isn't a place where they're using Maryland to get to somewhere else. Every one of these coaches wants to be successful at Maryland. And many of them have, and the rest of them will be as we get them more resources to be able to compete in the Big Ten.”

On being excited for his new role as Maryland’s AD

“Part of it, because every time I'm out, I see people that match my energy for this place. And everyone wants to see Maryland be successful. And that that is the ultimate goal, is that we are competing in all our sports. I say we're an ‘and’ organization, not an 'or' organization. We're going to win in football and field hockey. We're going to win in basketball and women's soccer, gymnastics and lacrosse. And I'm really excited to be able to pull that off here.”

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