New Idaho AD building department, brick by brick

When Terry Gawlik began working in the athletic department at the University of Wisconsin in 1994, there were roughly 130 employees in the department.

“And I knew every one of them,” she said.

When she left Madison this summer, after 25 years, to take over as athletic director at the University of Idaho, that number had swelled to over 400.

At Idaho, 85 people work in the athletic department.

The disparity in number of employees in the two athletic departments is somewhat skewed, as some of the duties performed by people outside the athletic department at Idaho are done in-house at Wisconsin. But you get the drift.

“This is the one person I miss,” Gawlik said of her time at Wisconsin. “We had a guy that, all he dealt with was your phones. If you have problems, you call him up.”

He also helped people who had problems with their iPads, but you get the drift.

At Wisconsin, they had in-house travel agents to help with travel by teams, coaches and administrators. At Idaho, coaches work with an outside travel agent.

At Wisconsin, the athletic department owns the sports facilities. At Idaho, the school owns them, meaning one more layer to go through if improvements are sought.

And on and on.

That said, however, Gawlik, who started her new job at Idaho on Sept. 1, might be more wired for the smaller athletic department than the bigger one.

“I’ve always been hands-on,” said Gawlik, in an interview with The Press last week, prior to an athletic department function at The Coeur d’Alene Resort. “I love a challenge; I love trying to figure things out. ... I come from a set of parents that said don’t make others do something you can’t do yourself.”

GAWLIK STARTED at Wisconsin as event coordinator for men’s and women’s basketball and volleyball (1994-97), was an assistant athletic director (1997-2005), and associate athletic director (2005-11) and, prior to coming to Idaho, was senior associate athletic director (2011-19).

Gawlik also touched on several other topics, including:

- Being one of five female athletic directors in the Big Sky, which consists of 13 schools for football and 11 for basketball.

“It’s unfortunate that it’s taken so long for women to get athletic director jobs,” she said. “I think it’s about your experience, and if you’re prepared to step into the position. We finally, as women, have been given that opportunity. I played collegiately (basketball and volleyball at NCAA Division III Southwestern University in Georgetown, Texas), I coached collegiately for 13 years (basketball, volleyball, tennis and track and field at Mary Hardin-Baylor, St. Mary’s University and Austin College), I worked at an athletic department that wasn’t on the radar as much in the early 90s, and we built that, so that was fun. You go through issues and you correct things and you make policies and you make decisions ... I hope that’s what I bring to the table, regardless of my gender.

“When I run into Vandal fans I had a lot of them say to me, ‘I’m so glad you’re here, and I’m so glad we hired a woman.’ I think that a lot had to do, quite frankly, was we had a Title IX situation (at Idaho) ... now, I’ve also had experience in that ... everybody across the country is not only sensitive, but educated and making sure their campus was safe with Title IX.”

- On Paul Petrino, beginning his eighth season as Idaho football coach. The only one who has coached football longer in Moscow is Skip Stahley (1954-61), who coached Jerry Kramer. Petrino guided Idaho to a Famous Idaho Potato Bowl victory in 2016. He’s 28-55 at Idaho, 13-22 since that bowl win. After the Vandals dropped from FBS to FCS in 2018, Idaho went 9-16 in its first two seasons back in the Big Sky.

“In my opinion, any football coach that is sitting at a school that was FBS and is now FCS, that’s a tough position,” Gawlik said. “So I commend him and his staff for staying, because that’s not what you signed up for. I know that was not their decision.

“I am impressed with how Paul operates his program, the culture — young men, yes ma’am, no ma’am, look me in the eye, open the door for me, talk to me,” she said. “I’ve been in the locker room when he’s had to speak to them when they may not have played well. I’ve been in the locker room when he’s had to speak to them about some ‘kid stuff’ that they did, that got them in trouble. I appreciate the way he handles them. I know that he is an educator at heart. I grew up in the state of Texas, my dad played for the Longhorns, so I am an old-school football girl. And I like the way he runs his football program, and coaches.”

Gawlik said Petrino is doing all the right things a head coach should do, “and now the wins will come. You talk about building it, brick by brick, so you bring in good kids. ... at the end of the day it’s two things — it’s culture, and two, you’ve got to get the recruits.”

- On interim men’s basketball coach Zac Claus, who was promoted when head coach Don Verlin was fired, but saw a mass exodus from Moscow. This year, entering Saturday night’s game, Idaho was 6-16, 2-9 in the Big Sky — though five of those conference losses were by a combined 13 points.

Gawlik said the Vandals are keeping an eye out for potential coaches for next season, and that Claus will be considered.

“Zac stepped into a difficult situation; we lost seven kids,” Gawlik said. “You lose seven kids in basketball ... I’m proud of our young people that came in and stepped up. It’s unfortunate, we’ve had a lot of injuries to start the year. But Zac is doing the culture changes that needed to take place. Yeah, he’s a young coach, but he’s smart. He is a student of the game. ... he’s made so many strides, in my opinion, from where we were, with a group of young men that had never been together and jelled, it’s been amazing to watch.”

- On women’s basketball coach Jon Newlee, who despite losing two of the greatest players in the program’s history last season, still has the Vandals near the top of the conference at 13-8, 8-4 Big Sky.

“Just watching Jon, he’s not frustrated, but he’s tense, because we have so many young kids, and he’s trying to make it work,” Gawlik said. “He’s a little angst when things aren’t right. ... (but) they’re grinders, they don’t give up. It’s been fun watching his team.”

- On cost cutting. Gawlik said the university has been asked by the state board of education to cut “significant numbers” next year across the board — not just in athletics.

“I told the president when I took the job, and now that I’ve been in it, we’re not doing things that we can find ways to cut,” she said. “We’re so frugal right now. ... there’s only so much you can find (to save money), without really impacting the kind of experience we want our student-athletes to have. We have to be creative, and we also have to hope people want to help us succeed, and donate dollars.”

Gawlik said she was told by one of the assistant football coach that when the Vandals play at nearby Washington State in football this fall, “the kids get in their uniforms (at the Kibbie Dome), get on the bus, go play and come back.”

She also said the Vandal football team, like many college football teams, used to stay in a hotel the night before a home game. The Vandals no longer do that.

As for adding sports at Idaho, she replied, “no, we’re trying to fund the sports we have. We’re not adding.”

- On compensating athletes in one form or another. Many of the bigger schools are giving their athletes a “cost of attendance” stipend. California’s governor signed a bill that will make it easier for college athletes in the state to profit from their own name, image and likeness, beginning in 2023.

“I’m not so much worried about pay-for-play, because I don’t think that should ever happen and I don’t think states will ever let institutions do that,” Gawlik said. “I’m worried now about cost of attendance, because now some schools in our league are talking about it. And you’re talking to me about how do we save money, or not spend as much? Well, how are we going to keep up? I worry about name, image and likeness, and where that’s going, because again that’s a money thing ... then you have your facility wars and your one-upmanship. As some point, as (enrollment is dropping), where is this money coming from to keep us going?”

There hasn’t been much talk recently of conference realignment.

“I think a lot of people are sitting here, waiting to see the answers to all these questions,” she said.

- On her “wish list,” which includes continuing to receive money to pay for the ICCU Arena, scheduled to open in fall 2021.

“My ultimate goal would be to endow every scholarship, and we operate off the interest,” Gawlik said. “That’s a long way off. We only have a few endowments now.”

The outdoor practice field, which is also used by the women’s soccer team for practice as well as the student body, needs to be replaced, she said. Ditto the floor in ancient Memorial Gym, where volleyball plays, and some men’s and women’s basketball games are played (at least until the ICCU Arena is ready).

The Vandals recently found out their outdoor tennis courts have been deemed unplayable, due to cracks and moisture in the surface.

Still, Gawlik is looking forward to shaping her new athletic department, “trying to build it brick by brick, and doing things the right way.”

“We have very loyal Vandal fans,” Gawlik said. “I’m still meeting people and greeting people across the state. It’s been enjoyable to meet all the people, and I am lucky and blessed to have this opportunity.”

Mark Nelke is sports editor of The Press. He can be reached at 664-8176, Ext. 2019, or via email at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter@CdAPressSports.