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Call it surprising, unconventional or just plain strange.
Carolina, known for familiarity in its athletic program, has thrown a giant curveball at alumni, students, fans and, especially, coaches and athletes.
Must be the best-kept secret that Steve Newmark is the athletic director in waiting after he spends a year as an executive associate to AD Bubba Cunningham, who will work for chancellor Lee Roberts from revenue sharing that began Tuesday to developing a long-range plan of 20-30 years? Newmark is reportedly here to sell stuff, which he did for NASCAR for 15 years.
Has anyone around UNC ever heard of him? Did anyone know he was on an “advisory committee” in hiring Bill Belichick? And while he’s from Chapel Hill, he has zero association with UNC other than being a “passionate fan” while attending William & Mary and Virginia law school.
He will take over the 300-plus employee athletic department, with 28 sports, hundreds of assistants and support staff and nearly a thousand athletes. He has never worked on a college campus, only as an agent for athletes and a lawyer for conferences 20 years ago.
And, again, how did this happen without a peep in the media, especially you, social media, that is supposed to know everything?
Who does he know here besides Cunningham, who said he met Newmark through NASCAR. “I look forward to working with Bubba and the entire Tar Heel Nation,” Newmark said. Nation? Let’s start with a few athletes.
Who made this decision? Who did he know? What was the process of hiring him (apparently no formal search or search committee).
Newmark will assist in hiring the successor to uber-successful Rams Club executive director John Montgomery, who will tell you how hard it was for him to come here with almost no connections.
Who makes the major changes of say head coaches during Bubba’s lame-duck period? Not Cunningham, who had to deal with Roy Williams and the Board of Trustees in the hiring of Hubert and Belichick.
We deserve to know the answers to these questions and dozens more.
I’ll be back with some next time.
Featured image via UNC-Chapel Hill/Jon Gardiner
Art Chansky is a veteran journalist who has written ten books, including best-sellers “Game Changers,” “Blue Bloods,” and “The Dean’s List.” He has contributed to WCHL for decades, having made his first appearance as a student in 1971. His “Sports Notebook” commentary airs daily on the 97.9 The Hill WCHL and his “Art’s Angle” opinion column runs weekly on Chapelboro.Chapelboro.com does not charge subscription fees, and you can directly support our efforts in local journalism here. Want more of what you see on Chapelboro? Let us bring free local news and community information to you by signing up for our newsletter.
Does anyone remember when you tried to shadow run the athletic department and got fired?
Sounds like someone is not as plugged in to the athletic department as they thought or once were.
Sounds like, this new guy is coming in and going to fire after Hubert has another crappy season.
Did Jordon hire Steve?
I agree with Art on this issue
Art’s old and out of touch. I know because I’m older. We’re usually the last to know what everyone else realized long ago.
Bubba needed to go after he gave Hubert a contract extension and didn’t manage the Belichick transition, smoothly. Maybe staying “in the family” isn’t always a good idea…
Speaking of paradigms … Art appears to be stuck in one from 20-30 years ago. As Hubert insists on selling “The Carolina Family” that he (and Art) so worship … the “pay for play” recruits and transfers aren’t impressed with “jerseys in the rafters” … more about $$$$ in my hand.
Steve Newmark comes from 15 years in THE most sponsor-centric sport in America … where the players /”drivers” are billboards for sponsors …. he knows how to cut sponsor deals that generate the level of $$$ needed now to survive in Big Time College Football and MBB. … Will Kenan Stadium soon be Kenan Bojangles CheerWine Stadium … probably or something similar. …. Unless Art and MJ and the other deep pocket Rams want to fork up $20,000,000 or so EVERY year to be competitive. … OldMan “Usta” is dead, Art.
It’s a new era. Example. The University of Kentucky intends to move beyond areas that have complicated athletic departments – including the albatross of search committees and other traditional speed bumps- by creating a new LLC to manage athletics which will be headed by a new board of governors, including the UK President. UK “discovered that this could give it the best chance of keeping up with an ever-changing environment that has left others frustrated and hamstrung in their abilities to pivot. Specifically, they hope it will allow them to tap into new revenue streams that aren’t the usual standbys — fundraising, TV and multimedia rights, apparel deals, etc. — and don’t require raising ticket prices to pay for the new $20.5 million revenue sharing costs as other peer institutions have done.” Look for other new opportunities to move past what has been inefficient and laborious processes instituted past eras. William Friday’s way is long in the rearview mirror. Nimble organizations, by-passing extinct processes will be ones that thrive.
Haven’t you seen the new logo introduction of UNC football? Players are standing in front of a UNC race car!!!