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Thursday, Mar 28, 2024

Getting in Game

Brandon Martin, director of intercollegiate athletics at Cal State Northridge, sees a lot of potential in the school’s athletic programs for students, athletes and local companies. He wants the rest of Los Angeles, and the world, to get that message. “With the right leadership and the right vision, it could be a top 100 program nationally,” said the 41-year-old Martin of the 19-team sports program he has led for nearly three years. A USC graduate, Martin knows the road traveled by student-athletes. He played four years of basketball at his alma mater before embarking on an overseas playing career. He then returned to USC for graduate studies. It was then, he said, that he learned athletic administration was his strong suit and decided to make it his career. He served as senior associate director of athletics at USC and then in a similar position at the University of Oklahoma before returning to the San Fernando Valley to become athletic director at Cal State Northridge. During his tenure, the school has made improvements to its athletic facilities, including adding seats and a floor at the Matadome, boosting attendance and significantly increasing the revenue brought in from partnerships with area businesses. Fifteen new corporate partners were added during the 2014-15 school year. On the court and field, the school’s athletes have also been successful. Last year, for example, the women’s basketball, track and field and softball teams all won Big West Conference championships. The women’s basketball team has appeared for two years in a row in the NCAA tournament. Having an impact on the lives of the athletes is a priority of the school’s athletic department, Martin said. “Our primary goal is to make sure they have the best experience possible while at CSUN,” he said. Martin took time to talk with the Business Journal to discuss his future plans for athletics, what he likes about his job and whether football will return to the university’s campus. Title: Director of Intercollegiate Athletics, Cal State Northridge Born: Los Angeles; 1974. Education: Bachelor’s degree in primary education and general studies, master’s in postsecondary administration and student affairs, doctorate in higher education administration, all from USC. Career Turning Point: Returning to USC to pursue graduate studies and receiving his doctorate. Personal: Wife, Rosemary; three children. Hobbies: Spending time with his children, golf and travel. Question: What attracted you to the position at Cal State Northridge? Answer: Being a Los Angeles native, it was a chance to come back home. Not only come back home but to rally around the vision of Dianne Harrison, the president at CSUN. She has a very ambitious vision for athletics and that was something that attracted me. What was Harrison’s vision? She wanted athletics to be one of her priorities for the university. She wanted athletics to be used as a tool for engagement for the San Fernando Valley community. That was attractive to me having gone to Cleveland High School for two and a half years and being familiar with the Valley. I felt that CSUN was a sleeping giant with a wealth of potential. What is CSUN’s reputation out in the wider world? I can say this: CSUN has a rich history of athletics that has been relatively unknown to folks nationally. I feel we’ve changed that in the last three years. People know who we are. They know we are in pursuit of excellence. They know we have one of the best coaching staffs in the country. We won’t stop until we are a top 100 program nationally. Does it take some momentum to get settled into a position such as the one you have? I think it’s more than momentum. It takes courage. You have to make a lot of unpopular decisions. You have to be in tune with the culture. You have to make sure you hire the right staff, the right coaches that buy into your vision and are passionate about excellence. Up to this point it’s been a fun ride. What motivates you? Every day I have to be better in my position, whether it be marketing or in fundraising, sponsorships or some other administrative duty. I have to be better. That’s what gets me up in the morning, the fact that I have to be better and I have to be excellent in order to gain momentum for the athletic department. What do you like best about your job? I like the people I work with. I like my coaches. I work with some very intelligent people – people who love the university, who are natives of the San Fernando Valley community and who want to support me in my vision of comprehensive excellence. The flip side to that question is what do you like least? (Laughs.) Well, I would say every athletic department has its challenges, whether they be budgetary or anything that’s resource oriented. One of the things I like to do is not take a deficit perspective and focus on what we don’t have and instead focus on what we do have. We will work hard to acquire the resources and the people to reach the goals we have for the athletic department. You played basketball at USC. How did being a player prepare you for administrative roles? Being a student-athlete teaches you about discipline, teaches you about planning, teaches you about teamwork and collaboration. Most importantly, it teaches you about adversity. At USC, I went through a level of adversity of playing for three coaches in four years, of having to adapt to different playing styles, playing systems. That was tough. I learned as much on the floor as I did in the classroom. That prepared me for this position. How have you built enthusiasm for sports at CSUN? One of the first things I talked about with the staff and coaches was a pursuit of comprehensive excellence. In every staff meeting, every one-on-one meeting with the coaches and in my conversations with student athletes, I would talk about comprehensive excellence. That really gave the department something to rally around and set the bar for who we wanted to be. It also contributed to the identity of our department. We wanted to be excellent at everything we do and everything counts. Is it challenging building enthusiasm with students considering that CSUN is for the most part a commuter school in a city that has both USC and UCLA? Going back to my first 100 days on the job, I talked about how we wanted to be that third household name that is talked about in the L.A. region behind USC and UCLA. We’ve gotten close to that. The student body has been tremendous at our games. We host different events for students in the dorms and at the student rec center. I hosted an athletic director three-on-three tournament for the last two years to build enthusiasm around basketball and to have a richer connection. We had a town hall meeting in the dorms to talk about the accomplishments of the last three years in the athletic department. Has attendance grown at the games? Overall, the attendance at all our sporting events has increased. It increased to the point where we added 800 seats to the Matadome. It’s not all about attendance; it’s about engagement. Our fans, particularly the students, get engaged at the game activities. (They) have a high level of pride about being a Matador. And that pride is a huge part of (the engagement). In addition to the new seats, what other changes have you overseen at the Matadome? We added a soccer plaza on the concourse, which was a $2.2 million project. We added a sand volleyball facility, which was over $400,000 for the construction. We renovated the Matadome; we have 30 VIP seats right on the floor. We redesigned the Matador image on the (playing) floor. We’ve done two phases in the lobby to showcase our coaches and student-athlete accomplishments. We have renovated the men’s and women’s basketball locker rooms. We received (funding) last year to renovate the volleyball locker room, which should be completed by summer. We’ve done renovations to the intercollegiate athletics building, particularly the conference room, which is more of a multipurpose room. Is football ever going to come back to CSUN? I knew that was coming. Well, when you think about the history of CSUN, you definitely have to think about football. I would never rule out football coming back. Right now we have other priorities that are at the top of the list. Football will always be in consideration but at this time it is not one of our top priorities. You have done some marketing deals with Sports Chalet and the Airtel Plaza Hotel. Why are those important to the program? It’s all about presence; it is all about partnerships and relationships with the San Fernando Valley community at large. It was extremely important to get our merchandise in stores. Our Sports Chalet partnership has helped out tremendously with that. Airtel Plaza has been a loyal partner with our needs for accommodations for our teams and visiting teams. There are other partnerships that we have. Bonefish Grill is just one. What other ways are you looking to make strong ties with the business community? We are going to do a partnership with the Porter Valley Country Club (in Northridge). It is not signed yet but it will be signed in the next couple of weeks. We will have more of a presence at that club. How involved are you with arranging those deals? I am heavily involved in our corporate partnership agreements. It is a team effort. We have a great staff and a great sports marketing partnership with Learfield Sports Marketing. They have helped us to accomplish some of our goals with corporate sponsorships. Do you have a favorite CSUN moment since you came to the school? I would say there are quite a few moments when I’ve been proud to be the AD. I think being named the athletic director and having the confidence of President Harrison really stands out for me. Why? Due to her having the belief and confidence that I could advance the athletics department and change the culture and do something transformative for the university. Do you have any interesting stories from your playing days at USC? Not any stories that could be published. (Laughs.) I have a lot of great memories as a student-athlete and as an administrator at USC. I also enjoyed my time at the University of Oklahoma. Being in a different culture with different ideas and cutting-edge strategies with administration, marketing, fundraising, really aided in my growth and development as an athletic administrator. Is basketball the most popular sport at CSUN? All of our sports are important to the department. We do have some sports that have had more success than others but all are important. We want to win championships in the athletically sponsored program we have. Do you make it to many games? I try to make as many games as I can. Having over 148 sporting events in one year makes it tough, particularly when we travel. I try to make as many home games as I can. What was your career turning point? When I returned to USC as a graduate student and worked in the athletic department, which was after I had my basketball career overseas. I figured out that the athletic administration was my niche and this is what I wanted to do for my career. Being under the guidance of Mike Garrett, who was the director of athletics at the time, and working with some really smart people – Daryl Gross, Lisa Love – that was really instrumental in my growth. Earning my doctorate degree in 2005 was important to my career trajectory. What are your hobbies outside of work? I spend time with my kids. I play golf and I like to travel. I’ve traveled to China, Caracas, Venezuela, Madrid, Barcelona. I would love to go to Aruba. What do you enjoy about traveling? Each time you visit a different country it gives you an experience of rebirth when you return back home because your lens on the world is totally different. You see how different people live, you’re exposed to different languages, exposed to a different way of living that allows you to evolve and grow as a person.

Mark Madler
Mark Madler
Mark R. Madler covers aviation & aerospace, manufacturing, technology, automotive & transportation, media & entertainment and the Antelope Valley. He joined the company in February 2006. Madler previously worked as a reporter for the Burbank Leader. Before that, he was a reporter for the City News Bureau of Chicago and several daily newspapers in the suburban Chicago area. He has a bachelor’s of science degree in journalism from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.

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