Tom O’Connor visit
Tom O'Connor
Tom O’Connor and the athletic department want George Mason University’s program to be the best in the Colonial Athletic Association. Not in terms of wins and losses, but in academics, in the community and in on-and-off court standing.
The two key words that the athletic department stresses are quality and balance; they rarely talk about winning.
“I would rather have the coaches of each team do it the right way and lose then do it the wrong way and win,” O’Connor said. “Winning is what people in the media and fandom zero in on.”
O’Connor has been the athletic director at Mason since 1994 and has served as AD at Loyola (Md.) College, Santa Clara University and St. Bonaventure University. He spoke at George Mason University on April 14, 2011.
Every team plays to win, but according to O’Connor, the success of the program is based more so off the field of play than on it.
O’Connor also tackled the biggest misconception surrounding athletics, at least at GMU.
“The biggest misconception is that the athletes are spoiled and that there is a jealousy between the students and the student-athletes,” O’Connor said.
O’Connor said that the average GPA for the student-athletes at Mason is actually higher than the average GPA of other students at Mason. He also said that there is a bonus of the contract of every coach at Mason based on how high the average GPA is on the team.
O’Connor also touched on the possibility of a football program for Mason in the future, but said right now it’s a funding issue more than anything else. Almost everyone is on board with having a football team. O’Connor said if Mason does eventually get a football team it should be in the BCS, not in 1-AA because as he pointed out, who can remember who won the 1-AA championship (even though a CAA team has been in the championship the past four years)?