On Aug. 17, USF held an introductory conference at the War Memorial Gym for the newly hired Athletic Director Brent Blaylock. The University hired Blaylock on June 9 after the tragic passing of the previous athletic director Larry Williams.
Blaylock joins the Hilltop with over 20 years of experience and brings in a major focus on the student-athlete as a whole, along with a sense of strategic leadership. When it comes to Division I programs, he’s been in a variety of leadership positions including Senior Associate Athletic Director for Administration and Institutional Control at the University of Arizona and most recently Executive Deputy Athletic Director and Chief Operating Officer at Oregon State University.
Blaylock grew up in Durham, North Carolina where he was a star quarterback for his high school’s football team. At Jordan High School Blaylock had become the winningest quarterback and the all time leading passer in his school’s history. Eventually he would go to the University of North Carolina and would get a Bachelor of Arts management degree. Two years later he would then graduate with a Masters degree in sports management from the University of Texas in 2007.
President Salvador D. Aceves welcomed the new athletic director saying, “I look forward to working with Brent [Blaylock] to accelerate USF’s national reputation as one of the top Jesuit powerhouses… together, we will elevate USF Athletics… by providing outstanding experiences for student-athletes, staff, donors and fans.”
Looking towards the future of Don’s athletics, Blaylock emphasized the need to create an environment where the student-athlete experience goes beyond their respective sport: “Our responsibility is to provide student-athletes with a transformational experience that empowers them to reach their full potential.” Student athletes are judged largely based on how they perform in their sport, however with this new vision Blaylock has in mind, he hopes that the other aspects of a student-athlete, like their academic presence along with their personal lives, will be developed just as much. Blaylock wants to “care for the whole person” or cura personalis which is something that is a major part of the identity here at USF: “For us, that means developing leaders, pursuing championships and building a unified environment where people feel connected to something bigger than themselves.” To show his commitment to the University, Blaylock was able to facilitate a $1.25 million anonymous donation to USF that aims to enhance the competitiveness for both basketball programs.
Regarding the wide variety of sports programs here at USF, which includes eight for the women and six for the men, lifelong USF basketball fan Marty Becker asked how Blaylock plans to bring more attention to women’s sports here on campus. Becker highlighted inequalities in fan attendance at women’s basketball games. Blaylock responded, “I want people to know that during the fall, during the winter, that they can just show up to War Memorial Gym to come watch good basketball. It’s not just on the men’s side or the women’s side. They know when they get on that court that good basketball is going to be played.” Blaylock wants it to be known that a team’s overall identity is not a matter of gender, but a matter of the quality of the sport.
Blaylock summarizes his statements with, “Our ultimate goal is simple, we want to become the very best version of USF Athletics that we can be. We are not trying to become somebody else [as] there is tremendous history here, a special identity and an enormous opportunity for us… Just know we’re committed [and] we’re going to do the work.”
