New AD Jim Smith looking to "develop a championship culture" at Maryland

Ahmed Ghafir
Aug 23
7 min read

It’s been six weeks since Jim Smith made the move to College Park as the University of Maryland’s new athletic director, an arrival that energized a fanbase desperate for competent leadership. With fall sports already kicked off and football season days away from kicking off year seven of the Mike Locksley era, Smith hasn’t wasted any time making his impact felt on the athletic department with new senior deputy AD Diana Sabau and deputy AD/chief revenue officer Joe LaBue all together now in College Park.

“It's great to have everybody together. We're now getting really focused on making sure we provide great fan experience, the most revenue we can for our coaches, and continue to keep our student athlete experience at a really high level. So it's nice to have everybody working together.”

Smith also brought a familiar face through his career to College Park with longtime Ohio State AD Gene Smith now serving as a consultant for the athletic department on a short-term basis.

“Gene has an incredible wealth of knowledge of how college athletics has operated. He also built a pretty successful athletic program,” Jim Smith said. “And so when you have someone like that to be able to call, when you have a question or just talk through what idea I might have to move us forward and be able to bounce off someone with his experiences is very, very valuable. So I enjoy being surrounded by really smart people. And, adding Gene to the mix for however long it's going to be is a fantastic addition for us.”

As Maryland looks to mirror the success that both Jim and Gene saw come to fruition at Ohio State, Maryland has prioritized its community outreach efforts ahead of the 2025 athletic calendar with increased revenue a byproduct of a buzzing College Park.

“In order to make sure everybody is committed to driving the revenue, you have to have a culture and a belief that you can have a championship culture. And that’s what I want people to understand, is that we’re really trying to develop a championship culture. I’ve been in a few of them so I know what it looks like, what it feels like. That doesn’t mean being in a championship culture means you’re always going to win championships – it means you’re ready and that you believe you’re going to win championships and when it happens, you’re ready to capitalize on it,” Smith said.

“How do we stay connected with all our fans? How do we make sure we're messaging out all the great things that are happening, both from an experience standpoint, but also within the program? And I think that's all that all builds community. When you when you have a great fan experience, both at the facilities, at the events and at home, you're building a community. And I think that's our job, is to continue to build a really strong Maryland athletics community with our fans.”

Emphasizing the community and fan experience gives the athletic department a chance to focus on revenue, which has developed into the million dollar question in the NIL era. Smith saw a 10% growth in annual revenue over two years and 15% increase in alumni participation during time as the president and CEO of Ohio State’s Alumni Association, but he isn’t the only new addition who has proven to grow revenue. While at Utah State, Diana Sabau, launched a $125 million ‘Reach and Rise’ fundraising campaign while overseeing $29 million raised. Joe LaBue, an ’01 grad, led Charlotte FC to a top-five gross and net revenue position while serving as the president of Charlotte FC.

“Part of the job is for us to provide the revenue so all of our programs can be successful. I take that very seriously. That doesn’t mean it’s going to happen in the first five or six weeks but the plan has got to be put in place so we can be as competitive with all our programs in the Big Ten.”

Though just weeks removed from officially arriving in College Park, Maryland has already shown a renewed commitment to improving its short-term fan experience. Days after announcing the debut of Terpsville Fan Fest, an all-age pregame event inside Jones-Hill House available to fans ahead of every home game, Maryland announced several improved measures ahead of the 2025 season including widened seats through the lower bowl, two Grab & Go concessions and a pair of new game themes, including ‘Oktoberfest’ for the Nebraska game on Oct. 11.

“I can say we're going to continue to look at the overall fan experience and how we can improve that every year. Not everything can happen at once. These are works in progress, but the commitment to making an excellent game day experience leads us to all the revenue opportunities,” Smith said. “You don't just automatically have revenue opportunities. You have to create a really good, engaging fan experience - both when you are at the stadium, but then also when you're at home.”

The emphasis on building the “community” in College Park in year one will give Maryland’s new leadership a chance to “benchmark ourselves” against other Power Four institutions to build on the long-term vision.

“You might be able to tweak things as we go in the season, but we'll definitely be able to have a really good review of the year on the things that work. We can benchmark ourselves to other peer institutions as well as other professional experiences that are out there and say, let's take the best of all of it and bring it to Maryland for Maryland and make it specific to Maryland fans.”

Maryland will look to build on the renewed energy with Smith intent on remaining a familiar face around College Park.

“I don't think that's going to change in my time at Maryland. I think you'll see during the good times and the bad times, you'll see me out there. That's how I've always operated. So I don't think that - this isn't just an introduction. This is kind of what you're going to see going forward, just the accessibility. I'm going to be accessible. It's how I believe the program has to move forward.”

More from Smith

On Jim Smith’s assessment of the current gameday experience

“In order to be genuine in my answer, I have to experience it at least once. So it's really hard to - I can read a script and I can say, ‘okay, that looks really good’ and then you watch the crowd reaction, you say, okay, that doesn't work, or it worked way better and we need to do more. So it would be unfair to give you an assessment now, without it, at least seeing one.”

On supporting the current head coaches of revenue programs

“I think the first thing is that we, whether it's Locks or Buzz or Brenda or any of our coaches, 100% support for them and their success. Every piece of our organization has to support our coaches and our student athletes. So that's the that's the number one thing. Make sure every coach knows they're going to get the commitment of the department and the university for their success. That's part one. Then we have to provide the services. And I say services first because we have to provide outstanding student athlete services in all our areas - health and wellness, academic facilities, all those things have to be built for all our programs. And then resources come. And I mentioned this specifically at the press conference to say, hey, look, you can't ask coaches to compete at the highest level and don't resource them appropriately. And so that's where I've clearly made that an important point that everyone understand that this is a shared responsibility for success and the shared responsibility is coaches, administrators, fans, donors, campus community. All of us have to work together for success. It's not just any one person because if that's the case, it's going to be unfair at times.”

On the hires of Diana Sabau, Joe LaBue

“One thing I think this staff did an exceptional job, before I got here, was continuing to operate at a high level with the unknown coming. New AD, we had a new senior deputy AD, new deputy AD coming in and I think they did an exceptional job. So they made the transition for us easy. So it's great to have everybody together. We're now getting really focused on making sure we provide great fan experience, the most revenue we can for our coaches, and continue to keep our student athlete experience at a really high level. So it's nice to have everybody working together.”

On something Jim Smith learned after arriving at Maryland

“I had no idea how good a university the University of Maryland is. This is a prestigious public higher ed institution. It's really good and an incredible value for our sports teams to be able to recruit it, way better than what I thought. Two, the coaches here are very successful in a punch above their weight as it relates to resources and what they've had and they want to be at Maryland. And so when you start getting those things, that's why I was so excited about the opportunity, because when you learn about those things, and see the opportunity and believe that you can add to what's already been done here, it's a really exciting chance.”

On the early pulse of the fanbase

“The people I meet have been incredibly receptive and warm and welcoming. And that's, that's great. And look, I know all it's gonna take is one loss, and everything I get it. I love passion and I love passionate people, but the reception has been great. You know, I love hearing people's opinions. I love hearing the feedback I've gotten already, plenty of emails. I have no problem. I like reading. You know, I may not agree with everything that's being sent to me or the ideas that come, but they're good to hear, right? And it gives me a little perspective into the mind of the Maryland athletic fan. So I, I welcome it.”

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