azcentral sports' Doug Haller talks with Ray Anderson about the state of Sun Devil Athletics.


This article was originally published May 21, 2014.

Ray Anderson has great timing.

In February, he ditched the NFL and joined Arizona State as Vice President of Athletics. His honeymoon on the job lasted a few hours.

This is an important time not only for ASU, but for college sports as a whole. While Anderson oversees a new vision for Sun Devil Stadium, he also will have a hand in reshaping college athletics. Pac-12 presidents, including ASU's Michael Crow, recently asked the four other major conferences to support sweeping changes to the NCAA model.

More: Latest from ASU insider Doug Haller

"Actually, Dr. Crow and others are teasing me a little,'' Anderson said. "They're like, "So, OK, you stepped in. You have a new stadium, a new facilities district. You're moving the baseball stadium, you're about to move the golf course and oh, by the way, there's NCAA governance issues and the Northwestern (union) case. And as part of the stadium renovation, you have to go out and fund-raise a whole bunch of money.'''

Anderson laughs.

He insists this is why he wanted the job.

"It's just been a tremendous time to come into this environment simply because all those challenges are all the things that make it so much more than a normal athletic-director's position,'' he said. "It's pretty cool, actually."

During a recent 30-minute interview, Anderson shared his thoughts on ASU athletics and college sports.

Question: The biggest change the Pac-12 is pushing is for scholarships to cover the full cost of attendance. How would this work?

Answer: We have to first find out what defines "cost of attendance," because it differs. We have to work hard at getting to, "What is the formula?" -- the components that you have to factor in to determine and define a reasonable cost of attendance. You take an expensive area like the Bay Area. If cost of lodging there is factored in vs. cost of lodging here, there's going to be a difference. So you have to figure out what the various components are so the formula is then applied correctly and hopefully fairly in each geographic area so that there isn't some big discrepancy and all of a sudden some university says, "Well, if you come here, the cost of attendance is $3,000-$4,000 more a year than if you go to Arizona State." We've got to define what those components are, and we need to come up with a formula everyone's comfortable with or else the concerns about schools using this as a competitive advantage could become problematic.

Q: This money will have to come from somewhere. Have you guys started to think about the resources behind this?

A: That's part of the challenge, and, very frankly, some of the consternation, because depending on how you apply it, it could be a significant additional cost to athletic departments and fund-raising pressures. We recently had the athletic director's summit out in Santa Monica, Calif., and about half of the Division I athletic directors were there. The consternation about the (potential) cost increases was real. For instance, you have programs like Stanford or UCLA that have all the varsity sports. Instead of the 500-plus student-athletes we have here, there are some programs that have 800-plus student-athletes. So that number could be all over the board, and you had some people saying, "In my program this could be an extra $2 million a year." There's a lot of wondering about where you go to fund that.

Q: Are you to the point where you're meeting internally to discuss this?

A: It's still at the conference level. In terms of the "cost of attendance" change, I think most people don't think that could be accomplished until the 2015-16 season.

Q: You think this can be done while still protecting the amateurism of college sports?

A: I do. The thing you worry about is, "What does this kind of thing do to the mid-majors or the lower divisions?" because very frankly, they just don't drive the revenues to pop up and try to compete with the Ohio States, the Michigans, the USCs, the Arizona States when it comes to being able to provide (everything). If you talk about full cost of attendance, will the mid-majors be able to compete? I really worry that they will not, and you don't want to end up with a significant gap between the haves and have nots. That would be unhealthy.

Q: The NCAA recently approved a rule that will provide student-athletes unlimited meals and snacks. How will this work?

A: Right now we're waiting on guidance from the conference commissioners, who will have to get together and present to the presidents when that will kick in. … We need to find out what's the definition of "unlimited?" Is that a full-service deli bar? A steak and lobster bar? Juicers all over campus? What's 'unlimited' mean? To come out with those concepts, it sounds good, but when you have to put parameters around it, you can see how difficult it can be.

Q: Where are you guys with the fund-raising for the new Sun Devil Stadium?

A: We're making progress. We can't say publicly where we are because a lot of it comes in the form of pledges and people buying into the vision. But given the vision we have without a lot of hard renderings, without a lot of hard drawings and flat-boards, we have to be very encouraged. We fully intend to be able to meet our fund-raising goals. We'll come out with more on this in a few weeks.

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Q: How much has the football team's recent success helped?

A: There's no question momentum has been built up by Coach (Todd) Graham and his staff and what they've done on the field. There's nothing that builds momentum more than winning. It's really not very scientific. When you win, they come. When you win, the (season-ticket) renewals happen faster. The waiting lists grow quicker. The ability, as needed, to invest more in your facilities becomes more of a priority. You're able to recruit better. You're able to attract sponsor and alumni donations. It just happens, man. Todd has gotten a lot of credit, but probably not as much as he deserves, because what he also has done is re-brand that football team as a role-model group, and people respond to that.

Q: Are you happy with the direction of the men's basketball program?

A: I've said it before and I'll say it again: I like Herb Sendek. I think he's a tremendous role model for our young men. We're going to work very carefully and closely together. I think we are going to really get better. I believe in Herb, but at the end of the day we all know you got to recruit effectively and you got to coach and put them in position to win. That's what (everyone) wants. At the end of the day, you still got to win. We're going to be focused on winning and winning the right way.

Related: Progess for ASU basketball despite quick ending

Q: Wells Fargo Arena is showing its age. How close is it to getting a face lift?

A: That's down the road, but you can be sure that it's clearly in our focus, because to be an elite program your facilities have to be top notch. And Wells Fargo is an arena that very frankly needs some upgrading. We need to work on that.

Q: Every athletic director wants to win championships and excel academically. What else is on your wish list?

A: I'd like to drive our fund-raising and donor efforts where, like Stanford and UCLA, we can provide whatever varsity sports people want to compete in. An institution of this size should be able to have all the offerings in terms of varsity sports that you have at all the other big schools. For instance, I'd love to add men's and women's lacrosse. I'd love to see hockey and rugby elevated to varsity status. I'd love to see men's and women's rowing. I'd love to see us add men's tennis and men's soccer. Just equal number of men and women sports in anything you want to play – anything that is sanctioned by the NCAA. Some people may say you're nuts because of the financial commitment it takes to do that, but you know what? Others are doing it. Let us figure out how to do it.

Contact Doug Haller at or at 602-444-4949. Follow him on Twitter.