AD Film Study: Syracuse, Oklahoma, Charlotte and New Mexico

This is a long post that is meant to be an educational resource for those looking to become athletic directors. I highly recommend you bookmark this for future reference.

The idea of “AD Film Study” is to watch a handful of athletic director press conferences and break them down in a way that I think can help future ADs in preparing for their introductory press conference, whether that be in their words or understanding the settings of the press conferences. The post is in list-form as a natural way of communicating my notes. Links to the press conferences are included at the beginning of each section. At the end I offer a list of final thoughts and tips based on what I observed and going back to my time helping with speech formatting for a Big Ten president.

I watched Bryan Blair (Syracuse), Roger Denny (Oklahoma), Kevin White (Charlotte) and Ryan Berryman (New Mexico) press conferences. Each situation was different when you think about it. Blair was the G6 sitting AD that is now joining the P4. Most Syracuse fans expected it to be someone with ties to the university and Blair had to introduce himself to the fan base. Denny was a surprise hire at Oklahoma coming from Illinois when everyone thought Oklahoma would go industry outsider or at least hire a sitting AD. Kevin White was the P4 deputy from Clemson, likely seen as an aspirational peer school to Charlotte from an athletic department perspective, and had more of a traditional pathway to the AD chair. Ryan Berryman was the interim that everyone seemed to know would be the permanent AD despite his young age.

Bryan Blair – Syracuse

Film Study: Bryan Blair Toledo Press Conference

The press conference was held in what appears to be the concourse of the dome. The search committee chair opened with remarks for 5+ minutes before introducing the chancellor-elect who spoke for 10 minutes before welcoming Bryan to the stage for a picture with a customized Syracuse football jersey.
The opening message by Bryan was an energetic “good morning. How are we doing?” along with a funny message how his wife told him to be himself and not try to be smart or funny. Blair then went into a handful of thank you messages to leadership at Syracuse, his team at Toledo, and the countless mentors in the industry he has but chose not to list them as he knows he would leave someone out.
Blair then became emotional in speaking about his mom (middle school principal) and dad (entrepreneur) in how they taught him about hard work and to not be discouraged at a young age in anything he tried to do.
He showed appreciation for his two young children and supportive wife about how she said to “go into that interview and show them why Bryan Blair should be the next athletic director at Syracuse.”
Blair listed his 5 core values (Family, Passion, Integrity, Curiosity, Servanthood) and tied each into the position ahead of him at Syracuse.
He explained why Syracuse for him. He was excited about the history and constant brand of the block “S” and wanted to harness that and “wake this sleeping beast…and take control of our destiny and make sure the world knows that Syracuse University is one of the top 10 brands in all of college athletics and we’re here to stay.” And then he laid that out in a vision, starting with winning.
Mentioned how Syracuse has to modernize the enterprise and not be stuck in “what was” and no more “blending and morphing” and instead look at the model for 2026, including attacking revenue generation and NIL. He said this “modernization is something we have to do to survive and thrive.”
Spoke about the academic brand power of Syracuse and specifically how places like the Newhouse School of Public Communications and the Falk College of Sport are assets that he wants to help grow as a competitive advantage for Syracuse.
Blair mentioned how he wants to “weaponize the dome” and thinks it is incredibly unique how they have one venue for football and basketball, and how they can think outside the box with the dome that is “unlike anything in the country.”
Blair made a joke at the end saying the packed house for the press conference made him think Syracuse must be announcing a men’s basketball head coach today or something. This was the only part of his press conference where he mentioned the men’s basketball coaching search, which at the time had not been completed.
Blair mentioned that he had a staff meeting to talk about transition and make sure they did not have anxiety about this and instead focused the conversation on teamwork for Syracuse and to get aligned around that vision, mission and direction.
His speech lasted 16 minutes (started at 29:10 and ended at 45:16 of the broadcast)
He also did a 15 minute interview produced by Syracuse athletics that I highly encourage you to watch. I won’t go into it here because this is more about the press conferences, but here’s a quote I did like about that interview:
- “I want to challenge us all the time to have a growth mindset and think differently. What should we be doing differently? How should we think about getting better in a lot of different spaces? The reality is when I got hired at Toledo I was the youngest AD in the country…..I’ve only experienced one way as being an AD, and that’s in this era. And if I sit around and complain about going back to the good ole days, well I’ve never been an AD in the good ole days, this is the good ole days for me, and in our time at Toledo, I think we were best in this modern era, and the records show that. So the goal is to do the same thing for Syracuse and frankly, be the most modern, forward-thinking department in the country.”

Bryan Blair Analysis

Blair handled this press conference perfectly, in my opinion. He walked into a situation where almost everyone in the college athletics industry knows he’s one of the best ADs in the country. But when his name was announced, I’m pretty sure everyone with close ties to Syracuse were confused, surprised, and curious about who Bryan Blair from Toledo was. They found out in this press conference. Blair spoke confidently and strategically, including the importance of modernizing the athletic department, leveraging Syracuse academic prowess (intentionally mentioned Syracuse schools by official name) and how he was looking forward to the opportunity to “weaponize the dome” as being the only FBS school with one great facility for both football and men’s basketball. I think this demonstrated a fresh approach to what Syracuse fans had probably seen in the last couple of hires, and got them excited about the possibilities of the Bryan Blair era. But what I think was also interesting about his speech was his ability to connect in a personable way by showing his personality throughout the speech, including his joking commentary sprinkled throughout the speech.

Roger Denny – Oklahoma

Film Study: Roger Denny Oklahoma Press Conference

This press conference was held in a formal setting with the university’s official seal above the podium and stage, along with crimson curtain behind the speakers.
The university president spoke for 18 minutes to open the press conference and mostly thanked Joe Castiglione and then highlighted the process and the conversations he had with Roger Denny. The president then introduced the board of regents chair who spoke for 5 minutes, mostly about Joe Castiglione before giving thoughts again on Roger Denny. The president then spoke 3 more minutes in introducing the search committee chair and alumnus in Randall Stephenson who spoke for 6 minutes about the process in creating the job description and the process with Jake Rosenberg who helped lead the search. Stephenson also gave a shoutout to Illinois AD Josh Whitman, who was in attendance, for having the brilliance to hire Denny at Illinois from private law practice. The president then came back and introduced Denny.
After waiting 35 minutes, Roger Denny was welcomed to the stage and spoke for about 12 minutes in his opening comments.
Denny stepped to the podium and made a joke about whether it would be harder to follow the three speakers ahead of him, or following Joe Castiglione as the next AD, which brought laughs.
“There is only one Oklahoma [applause]. This place is special and it’s unique and I want to be clear, that word often gets misused, I mean that in the absolute definitional sense. There’s one of these. There’s one Oklahoma, so I am honored to have this opportunity to lead this program.”
Denny then went into a thank you message to university leadership, the search committee, and Jake Rosenberg who led the search firm. He then thanked Joe Castiglione and talked about the challenge of taking the torch from Joe and building on that success, and that he was ready for the challenge.
Denny stayed on his theme of there only being one Oklahoma and went into a list of several individual and team accolades. That transitioned into talking about the excellence university-wide, not just in athletics, and how the Sooner magic comes from the excellence expectation.
The thank you messages transitioned into talking about the importance of a great college education for student-athletes, but reminded everyone that winning matters, too. He shifted back into the talking point of how championships are the expectation in each program and added short comments specific to teams like softball and olympic sports “widening the gap between us and the field” and getting Coach Venerables and football the 8th national championship.
Roger then told a personal story to introduce himself: “We’re not here to play small. Five years ago I made the decision to walk away from a career that gave me achievement, recognition and prosperity. That wasn’t enough. I never felt satisfied by that. What I realized at that time was my life needed to be about purpose and impact. And I felt that purpose every day for the last 4 and a half years. But now it’s time for impact. And for us to have the impact that we should have and we will have, it’s going to require us to achieve the full potential of this program. For us to fulfill that potential we’re going to have to match an incredible legacy and history of support with underdog spirit and work ethic. It’s who I am. It’s the only way I know how to do it. It’s how a kid from the sticks in North Carolina ends up as a partner in the fastest growing law firm in the country. It’s how the Deputy AD at Illinois becomes the head guy at Oklahoma.”
Denny waited until the end of his speech to give his personal thank you messages, which he acknowledged as the “hard part,” likely because of the emotional part of the comments. Denny became emotional when thanking Illini athletics, including Josh Whitman and football head coach Bret Bielema. He then said how fortunate he was that his parents were there and how they are always in his corner. “This role demands a lot,” Denny says as he begins to thank his wife and his boys. He shares to his boys that “I know you don’t like to listen to your dad but give me a minute here. I hope you’re never afraid to take a risk to pursue something that matters to you. And when you do that, you’re going to have moments of self doubt. And when that happens, I hope you remember this moment. This moment is not the culmination, but it is proof of concept. Proof that at any point in your life if you choose passion and purpose over convention, it’s going to take you exactly where you need to be.”
Roger Denny’s speech ended with one final recognition of the historic brand of Oklahoma (clearly one of his themes) and he signed off with a “Boomer Sooner,” much to the delight of the audience.
The media aspect of the press conference after the formalities started with the president and search chair both giving introductory comments sitting next to Roger Denny at a table. The comments were complimentary based on his background and operational excellence with some comments about how they looked at an impressive candidate list, including many outsiders, but landed on a deputy AD from the Big Ten and state of Illinois.
- “Spent 15 years training for this job without knowing I was training for it.” That is the opening line of Roger Denny in his opening remarks. He credits Josh Whitman for hiring him at Illinois and allowing him to find purpose in his career. Surprisingly, Denny only spoke for just under two minutes before taking questions.
- Why is this risk the right moment for you: “The real risk was walking away from the practice of law. I did that 4 and half years ago and doing that and living in that self doubt…and that period of time of 2 months, lived in a lot of self doubt, I upended my family’s life, we had had achieved a lot of success, we were by any measurement living a good life, and my wife, God bless her, let me chase this thing. And when you upend not just your life but other peoples’ lives, that’s a real risk. And I remember walking out on our football field, we played Nebraska, and it hit me like a ton of bricks. It was the purpose that I had been seeking. It gave me that feeling that I was looking for every day. So once you dealt with a risk like that and you came through the other side of it, the rest of it kind of feels easy. The risk here is living up to the legacy of this place, and I can get really comfortable with that because of people like this you’re working with….the risk isn’t all that great when you see the team you’ve got around you and know you’ve got that group to help pull you forward through this thing. So there’s some risk, but nothing like what I felt almost five years ago, so I feel pretty good about it right now.”
- On needing to know if Denny is a “dog” [in reference to president comments saying he needed to know in athletic terms is Denny was tough] besides just smart: “The answer is not willing to accept anything but winning, and that all out commitment and just the unwillingness to accept anything but the absolute best. When you take that and match it with a lot of confidence that we’re not going to do anything but the best, I feel really really good about where this program is going. I haven’t shied away from any conversations about dynasties. I think that’s what Oklahoma deserves, and I think that’s what we’re going to go get, so I think, more than anything, it’s the unwillingness to offer any conditions to success. we are absolutely here to build dynasties and I’m not going to shy away from that.”
- On Denny’s experience assisting with the financing at Ball Park Village in Saint Louis and the Oklahoma entertainment district project: “In that we represented the bond issuers in that deal and worked closely with the issuers…if you know much about the bond market, the underwrtiting process of that is highly complex, the documentation si extraordinary, and ultimately what I saw in that deal is just how long that project took. And the thing I learned fromt hat is you just have to keep plugging away at it…and every time it turns and you think the deal might be falling apart, we’ll stay in the fight longer than anyone else, and that’s exactly what we had to do in that deal. So that deal was one of the first projects I ever worked on and it took almost 7 years before we got it done, and that’s what I mean by staying in the fight. It’s not just on the field, it’s in everything we do. And big projects like that aren’t easy. And a lot of them fall apart just because of the fatigue that comes with them and the real work going into it is keeping the folks engaged so as that fatigue sits in, no one ever loses sight on all the reasons on the front end that we said were so important. And so I think that’s what we’ll look to do and continue to plug away until we get that built.”
- On saying that 20 years ago you wanted to be an athletic director and asked whether the nontraditional path he took, if Denny ever thought back to that and could imagine it would take him here: “In 2005, we were living in Saint Louis and I grew up in North Carolina. And North Carolina was in town fro the national championship game and my mom and I were walking into the game and we see Dick Baddour, who at the time was Carolina’s athletic director, and my mom, God bless her, told him in that moment that I was going to have his job some day. That was 20 years ago, I was still in my first year of law school, again, God love our parents right, but I grew up in and around college campuses and there’s just an energy unlike anything else in the world, so it’s always been my goal to be in college athletics in some form. I didn’t always know it would be an athletic director, but the closer I got to it, and as I matured a little bit, and started to see how my skills could translate, and 2021 happened and the world changed in our business and, again, credit to Josh [Whitman] for seeing that the skills I had developed to translate to what we’re doing now, and it took him some convincing to convince me that that was the answer, and when he did, you just knew instantly, that once you check those boxes on actually doing the work, you get into leadership and test yourself as a leader, and I think that is what this is all about now.”

Roger Denny Analysis

Roger Denny definitely had a quiet confidence and certainly looked like I was watching a lawyer talk. I don’t say that negatively, I think it was a calming scene in that an Oklahoma doesn’t have to come off as an energetic press conference because it is in a great position after years of excellence under Joe Castiglione. I think Denny had two key themes that were revisited throughout his prepared speech and another one that showed up more in comments to the media afterwards: “There’s only one Oklahoma” and championships are the expectations. And in the media session he spoke much more about being process-oriented and having a strategic plan for each program in order to reach the full potential and championships he referenced in his opening speech. In the media portion after the speeches, almost every question was answered with in-depth evidence of a process that worked which he will use at Oklahoma. He was asked about his role and strategy in stadium improvements at Illinois and Denny admitted that their approach was not flashy but necessary, with gradual improvements each year leading up to an improved stadium instead of one huge project at once. In a follow-up question, Denny was asked about how he will fix men’s basketball and how he will evaluate all coaches and all programs. Denny admitted he doesn’t know yet since he just started, but laid out why each program deserves its own strategy plan and how he sees coach evaluations. Nothing was too difficult for him to answer and nothing was too tempting for him to answer recklessly. There was no overpromising on details, only on the hard work and confidence he has in building dynasties. Hard to find any flaws in this press conference from Roger Denny. I really like how he waited until the end of his written speech to do the thank you messages, which is a strategy I don’t think I’ve seen anyone else take. It certainly helped him get through the speech delivery and hit all his talking points.

Kevin White – Charlotte

Film Study: Kevin White Charlotte Press Conference

Press conference began with the fight song as he people rose to their feet as White and board chair walked to the stage and sat at a table. Afterwards, Chancellor Gaber was quickly introduced. Gaber had a long list of people to thank for their attendance and asked the White family to stand to have an extended welcome applause from the crowd.
Gaber started her speech with explaining “Charlotte is a university that competes in the classroom, in research, on the court and field. We are an R1 institution in one of the most dynamic cities in the country. Our expectations are high, and our aspirations are even higher. Athletics matters here. It matters to our student athletes, it matters to our campus community, it matters to our alumni and supporters, it matters to me, and it matters to the Charlotte region. We’re committed to competing at the highest level in the American conference and positioning Charlotte athletics for sustained competitive excellence. With that in mind, when we set out to find our next athletic director, we were looking for 4 things. Someone who can fundraise, someone who gets revenue generation, someone who knows how to win, and someone with a proven track record of strong and visionary leadership.”
Chancellor Gaber spoke for 5 minutes before introducing board chairman Donta L. Wilson. Chairman Wilson spoke for 4 minutes and described Kevin White as a man of achievement, vision, and execution. He emphasized that White has an almost 200-page playbook for the job. Gaber than came back to the microphone to introduce Kevin White and take photos with personalized CLT football and basketball uniforms.
White thanked Chancellor Gaber among many others, and started the speech by emphasizing the importance of the athletic department being a partner to the entire campus. He then thanked previous ADs and presidents that invested in him. White then shared his faith in God and how He has worked in their family. Afterwards, White gave an emotional appreciation message to his wife and children, and his mother, extended family, and mentioned his late father, too. White also showed his appreciation to his fraternity brothers and childhood friends that made the trip to support him at the press conference.
“At my core, the reason I do this, comes down to purpose. Back in 2008, I was working in corporate America and found myself asking an important question. What kind of impact am I really having? Am I making a difference where it truly mattered? Around that same time, I watched something special happen year after year. My wife is an educator, and I watched lines of parents wait after kindergarten graduations just to say thank you to her, for helping to turn the lightbulb on for their child, helping them discover a love for reading and learning. And I remember thinking, I want that purpose. I want to make our society better. I found that purpose in college athletics. Do I love to win? Absolutely. And I understand winning will always be a part of how this job is judged. But equally important, maybe even more important, is impacting the lives of young people who walk onto this beautiful campus. I want to help them grow. Help them develop confidence. Help them to become good citizens for life after college. And most importantly, graduating with a degree from this great university. That’s my why.”
“Charlotte athletics has extraordinary opportunity in front of it. The university is growing. The city is thriving. And I want everybody to hear this clearly: Charlotte’s stock is rising. But in order to truly strike gold, it’s going to take all of us. We have more than 189,000 alumni around the country, around the world, and our responsibility is to make sure they’re proud of their university. But greatness requires participation. We need you in the stands. We need you buying tickets. We need you supporting our student athletes. We need you investing, donating, and believing in what we’re building together. Because when this university and the city align behind charlotte athletics, special things will happen.”
To coaches and staff: “Excellence cannot just live on the scoreboard. Elite must be the standard in everything we do. How we recruit. How we serve our student ahtletes. Howe we engage our fans and donors. How we represent this university every single day. Our coaches have scoreboards that measure wins and losses, but everyone in our department, starting with me, will be accountable to a higher standard. And when I commit, I commit fully. In the days ahead I plan to listen, learn, and build strong partnerships across campus and throughout the Charlotte community. Because success here comes from alignment. Trustees, campus leadership, coaches, staff, alumni, donors, fans, and student body rowing in the same direction. Charlotte is an incredible university with visionary leadership. We have passionate supporters, outstanding coaches and staff, and together we have n opportunity to build something truly special. My promise to you is simple: We will lead with integrity. We will compete relentlessly. We will develop young people prepared to lead meaningful lives. And we will represent Charlotte in a way that makes ever one of our alumni proud to wear green and gold. My family and I are grateful to be here. The work starts today. The future is bright. And together, let’s go strike gold. Thank you. Go Niners.”
Kevin White spoke for approximately 9 minutes before taking questions while seated next to Chancellor Gaber:
- Strategy for fundraising: It is important but it’s also important to focus on revenue generation. White cited the importance of working with the 189,000 alumni and the 60 percent of them that live within Charlotte. He mentioned fundraising starts with Associate Vice Chancellor for Development Penny Hawkins, which came with smiles and applause from the crowd as she is clearly a beloved person at Charlotte.
- What can and cannot be applied from Clemson to Charlotte: “I’m coming from Clemson, but I’m Charlotte now. I won’t reference Clemson very much after today. But I’ll tell you the thing that really made Clemson great is we didn’t rest on our laurels, despite going to CFP games and Elite Eight basketball runs, Clemson was never satisfied. So there’s a lot to be taken from that. Here at Charlotte, we can never be satisfied. We’re going to be great members of The American Conference, we’re going to compete at the highest level, but we’re never going to be satisfied.”
- Advice from Graham Neff and Jim Phillips: “Jim Phillips means so much to my family. He’s always available to me when I need him or a call, industry specific or personal. The advice he gave me was that Charlotte’s a great job, a great city on the rise, and they have an opportunity to do great things in a great conference, that is well respected and has representation in the CFP, so you can have it all there. Great leadership and alignment from the board to the chancellor, and to the rest of the athletic department. In Graham, the last four years have been really great for me in my professional career. Graham is a younger guy, he’s younger than me, but he’s gotten some grey hairs over the last four years [laughs], but I learned so much from him. The way that he thinks – he thinks differently – he’s innovative, he’s been there for both national championships at Clemson….you can attribute a lot of success at Clemson to Graham and Dan Radovich. And so for me it taught me a different way at looking at things. Graham wanted to make sure the board [at Charlotte] was aligned because we really do have the opportunity to be the front porch here, and so I’m looking forward to doing that here at Charlotte.”
- Construction on football stadium currently going on at Charlotte right now: I probably need a little more time to dig in on it, but we have great people here with great plans in place. We’re expanding the stadium as you alluded to. It’s going to fit us really well. I’m looking forward to getting in there with the staff and see ways we can enhance that from the fan and student perspective, but just really looking forward to getting here, getting started, rolling my sleeves up, and understanding how we can potentially make it better.”
- When did you become interested in the position: “Well early on, my ties to North Carolina, obviously when Charlotte came open, I was all ears, and eager to learn more. I know the process takes time…but instantly I was really intrigued by it and interested in it because of the city of Charlotte, it really fit a lot of the places I had been and I felt a lot of things I could translate here, and also because the institution is on the rise. When I was in school in the 90’s, it was largely considered a commuter school. The chancellor and leadership of the board have changed that narrative. And going to The American is a really competitive conference, so a lot of those things attracted me to the job, along with the continued investments and being a R1 institution, which happened about a year ago now, which opens up other doors for us from an athletics perspective but also a university perspective.”
- Best way to tap into Fortune 500 presence in Charlotte: I think utilizing the resources we have around us, the connections we have. Chair Wilson said he received some phone calls that may be connected to me, that showed my interest in the job. I think for us we really make sure we tap into our connections, so I have some connections at the previous school I was at. Obviously the ACC has a large footprint in Charlotte moving their offices here, so being able to get involved in the Charlotte Sports Foundation and other organizations is going to be important. This is going to be a large community-based job. I know that. Revenue distribution and revenue generation is important, along with raising money. And so it’s going to be really important for me to be tethered to the community and get out and meet as many people as I possibly can to show them why they need to invest in Charlotte and obviously be able to show that return on investment when needed.”
- How hands-on will you be with football: “Look forward to getting here and finding out how I can support [Coach Albin]. What resources does he need to be successful. And then once we define that and have some alignment there, it’s my job to then go and chase it.”
- Chancellor Gaber was asked about what stood out about Kevin White: “The community connections – I don’t think every candidate comes with 30 people texting, emailing, calling, it was fantastic to know that he had a broad sort of range of people here already rooting for him. As Trustee Wilson mentioned, they’re people we know, people in our community, and people who haven’t necessarily given to our university, where now we’re going to stay this is important. You want to support our AD, you want to support our athletic programs, we want you to do that. That was an example of one because that isn’t something we said was a criteria that we must have, it certainly was a nice-have.”

Kevin White Analysis

Kevin White spoke with great confidence from his script. The speech was in a brown leather bound notebook and I think it was organized in a way that he could keep the pace he wanted. I think he did a great job introducing his “Charlotte’s stock is rising” motto that he is now using on social media. It did feel like some comments in White’s speech were repetitive and likely could have done without that since there was also going to be a Q&A afterwards, but it likely wasn’t noticeable to many. Being clear in his comment that he won’t mention Clemson very much after today and that it’s time to look ahead at Charlotte was a line that others should borrow, especially if you go from a P4 deputy job to another AD position that isn’t at a power school. Everyone knows your experience there, but you don’t need to flaunt it in your comments. Instead, do what Kevin White did by being respectful to the question asked, complimentary of the time at the P4 school, but tie it back to where your feet are now. I think White was consistent in questions about coaches or sport-specific items like construction at the football stadium, acknowledging that his job is to support the coaches here and that he needs time to get to know how he can best support each of them and their programs. Chancellor Gaber’s response in the Q&A about the 30 calls, texts and emails received about Kevin from Charlotte businesspeople was interesting and probably something that happens at a lot of these jobs that we just don’t typically hear about. I think it was probably something that shouldn’t have been overly stressed, but White himself did a good job of appropriately describing his connections to Charlotte – it was the board chair and chancellor who spoke about it.

Ryan Berryman – New Mexico

Film Study: Ryan Berryman New Mexico Press Conference

Location appeared to be a stage set up in the weight room. Band members played the fight song from above the stage while Berryman and his wife walked down the stairs to their seats.
Introduction started with associate AD of communications introducing the president, who spoke for four minutes. The president recounted Berryman’s lifetime ties to Albuquerque and University of New Mexico. She mentioned that Berryman’s interim experience was vital as they did not lose momentum and he led UNM to receive state funding for improvements to the football stadium and finalized a naming rights partnership for the basketball arena. “He’s someone that knows the business of college athletics, who understands what it takes to build and sustain a culture of excellence, and someone who really loves cheering for the Lobos no matter what the sport. He’s one of our own and we couldn’t be prouder or in better hands.”
Berryman was presented both a red Lobos suit jacket that the president placed on him as well as a football jersey with his name that we typically see in press conferences.
Berryman started his speech by saying this was his dream job and then thanking the president, board, search committee, and his athletic department staff and coaches. He then thanked donors, fans, alums and the community for their support of the Lobos before saying words about his family.
After a brief pause and deep breath to collect himself, Berryman moved on from the introductory thank you messages (a little under 2 minutes worth) and got into the next part of his speech.
“Leading this athletic department is more than just a job for me, it is a combination of passion, preparation, and a deeply rooted care for this place, its people, and its history. The Lobos are more than an athletic department, they are a beacon of pride and promise of hope for our communities and for generations of people from every corner of our state. I know how much this athletic department means to our university, our city, and our state, and that’s what fuels me each and every day.”
Berryman mentioned that the university leadership is aligned and the state government and elected officials have championed key priorities for the Lobos athletic department.
“While I have been tasked with leading this athletic department into the next five years, make no mistake this is not my athletic department, it is our athletic department, and it is at the university for New Mexico.
The final part of his speech: “I will never shy away from a good idea, I will always be approachable, and where others have shied away from change, we will embrace it. Instead of seeing threats, we will find opportunities. And there’s no doubt in my mind that we, collectively, can be the best resourced athletic department financially and in fan support and pursue championships in every single sport. And what will never change is the passion in this room, the support from the community, and the pride we all feel as New Mexicans as the Lobos take the field or take the court. I’m incredibly grateful to get back to work, I’m so grateful for this opportunity, and go Lobos.”
Berryman spoke for approximately 5 minutes before accepting questions from the media in attendance.
- The first question was interesting as it shaped him as being known as the nice guy at Lobos athletics for several years, but now he “gets to be the bad guy and be the boss now,” which seemed weird. Berryman addressed that by saying he’s experienced a growth in responsibility and telling people no as an administrator at each role he’s had at UNM, and that while he still likes being the nice guy, he knows what the role requires.
- Asked about not having lead fundraising roles in his career: Berryman cites his excellent team, singling out Jalen Dominguez in fundraising record years, and then talks about the continued growth of their operating budget and the importance of finding new revenue streams and state support in addition to continued fundraising being vital.
- Another reporter asks about how he plans to keep UNM athletes from leaving besides just asking for donors to give more money. Berryman acknowledges that not every athlete will have the same deep roots for UNM as he does, but emphasizes that the department has numbers that many power schools wish they had.
- Longterm future of the department: If we just focus on what we do in our own walls, the story will tell itself, and I think we’ve seen that this year. People are going to take notice of the wins.
- What would you do differently than Fernando Lovo: “I’d probably flip that around… there’s more that I’d like to do like him. I think he is an incredible leader, he empowered me for this moment, he treated me like a future athletic director and brought me into every conversation and prepared me for this moment. The only knock I have on him, which I’ve told him, he’s late to meetings often, and I’m sure he’s gotten better, I’m teasing him [laughs], there’s more I’d like to do similar to him than different than him.”
- Right away priorities: Retention of basketball players and coaches, and ramping up for football and getting state funding for the stadium was important.
- Philosophy towards NIL: It will take all of us, we will not be bankrolled by one company here. We have to be the Green Bay Packers of college athletics and I really believe in our ability to do that [applause].”
- Asked about the ability to retain men’s basketball coach and if any decisions had been made on the women’s basketball coach: He mentioned how he was in the room helping hire their men’s coach initially and how he and Fernando didn’t want to be the idiots to not hire him, so he knows it’s important to evaluate and keep having conversations, but that it was premature since the team is still competing in the NIT. Berryman did not give any indication about women’s basketball other than that evaluation is part of the process after a season as it is with every sport and that he would definitely evaluate things. They have since moved on from that coach but it wasn’t obvious in his answers to the questions in the press conference.
- What drew you back to UNM from Washington: A deep love for the place. He had texted Fernando Lovo a congratulatory text early in his first few days on the job and offered to talk if he needed to ask him anything from his long time at UNM. He got a text over Christmas break from Fernando asking to talk and things moved quickly about an opportunity to return, and that he believed in the vision.
- New landscape from strictly NIL to revenue share and NIL. Talk about the complexity and how UNM moves forward: “It’s our job to simplify that complication….any donor that wants to keep our team here, retention is always going to be more cost effective than recruiting, that’s now a tax deductible gift through the Lobo Club, how we can simplify that message and encourage everyone that they have ownership in that process as we try to keep elite talent in New Mexico, that’s our job as administrators to simplify that and chase the money.”

Ryan Berryman Analysis

Berryman walked into a room where it seemed like almost everyone there was rooting for him. At times, it looked like his speech was somewhat out of order as he shuffled papers in and out of his folder. Outside of that he was confident and honest about how much this job means to him, and how much UNM has shaped him as a person. I thought it was nice how he entered in a grey jacket but they had a cherry red jacket placed on him before the speech. It sort of felt like a Master’s green jacket ceremony, but it also appeared in the Q&A that this might be a tradition UNM does with coaching hires. I also like how neither the president, reporters, or Berryman ever mentioned his young age. Berryman answered the Q&A portion of the press conference with confidence and brief but pointed answers, including two difficult questions starting out that tried to poke some holes in his background for the job [an old description of the AD job, too, in my opinion]. I think he stayed on theme with what he wanted to share, which was love for the place, importance of community participation at each level, and continuing to build on the foundation of success in this new era of college athletics. His response to what he’d do differently than Fernando Lovo showed respect and maturity. The comment about being the Green Bay Packers of college athletics was incredible.

Final Thoughts

Formatting your printed speech is important, in my opinion. When I worked as an assistant to the president at Indiana University, I was responsible to work with the speechwriter in formatting things a certain way. We always printed double-spaced with large margins, printed one-sided only (for easier flipping without getting lost), and in a 3-ring binder that fit the size of the speech (you don’t want the papers getting stuck or ripped trying to turn pages in too small of a binder, but you don’t want a gigantic binder that is being carried around, either). Some other printed tips that might be helpful:
- Consider adding numbers to the lines of your speech so if you need to stop somewhere, or make a point of emphasis, you can tap or circle that number. This is a setting in Word.
- If there are names that are difficult to pronounce correctly, or you’re uncertain, ask obviously, but also consider writing out the phonetic spelling of the word or name to make sure you pronounce it correctly.
If you practice a speech, prepare for multiple set-ups, including the president/chancellor either being in the front row of the crowd, or sitting next to you at a table while you give your speech. Practice giving the speech in the same room or at a similar podium while practicing looking up at the audience. Know that if the mic is in front of you and you look over to the side, the mic might not catch everything you say clearly if you don’t practice.
Study the names and positions of everyone on the search committee. Know the trustees that were involved in the process and each of the ones that are in attendance. Ask the communications administrator who important is in attendance – ask them to write it on a piece of paper legibly. Don’t worry about it being written on your speech – just have it nearby clearly labeled as something like “VIP in Attendance.” If possible, try to understand where some of these people are sitting and you could make note of that on the sheet of paper with arrows, imagining the paper is the same setup design as the room.
Understand if there will be a Q&A afterwards or if it will be afterwards in an interview style informally. This likely means you’ll be answering questions in a different setting and with different paces or length of answers required.
Try to stick with 2-3 themes or points of emphasis, especially since there will likely be media availability during or after the press conference.
Prepare for the questions you might get. A couple of questions asked at the beginning of Berryman’s Q&A session seemed like they could have thrown some people off as it basically pointed out reasons he maybe wouldn’t be prepared for this job. Instead, he nailed the responses and looked confident in doing so. I think preparing for what perceived shortcomings are in your resume, or if local media outlets maybe had others higher on their list of candidates, can go a long way in staying focused and on theme. Blair and White had to be ready to be asked about hiring men’s basketball coaches. Denny was asked several questions from capital projects underway to how to get men’s basketball and football back to prominence.
Understand that whoever is leading the search, whether the president/chancellor, board chair or search chair, may make some exaggerative comments about you or the school. The Charlotte chancellor, in my opinion, talked too much about Kevin White’s many contacts in the Charlotte area that kept contacting them during the search on his behalf, and indicating they would like to support Charlotte. The Oklahoma president probably gave too much credit of men’s basketball and football hires to Roger Denny – who was not the final decision-maker to hire either of those coaches. I just would recommend ADs be ready for whatever comments their new boss(es) might make at the podium, and to not let it catch you off guard or to lose focus. And be ready to be sitting a while as Oklahoma waited 35 minutes before Roger Denny actually stepped to the podium.
Know information about the institution. Each press conference demonstrated good detail and understanding with several aspects of the institution. Blair acknowledged specific schools at Syracuse being an advantage. Berryman spoke about alignment, recent state funding for the stadium renovation, and the president shared how he has three degrees from the institution. Denny quickly expressed how Oklahoma is a dynasty and how OU is 1 of 1. White talked about the 189,000 alumni of UNC Charlotte and how 60% of them are in Charlotte still. And he acknowledged the important milestone of becoming an R1 university a year ago.
If you think you might become overly emotional in thanking your list of family and mentors, which is totally understandable and expected, consider making it the end of your speech like Roger Denny did. I never have seen that before, but it allowed him to effectively deliver his prepared speech while still showing his personal side to the audience at the end. I think it might help people with their full delivery of their theme and talking points.

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