Scott Dolson started planning the department response to IU winning the national championship on the flight home from the game. He wanted this to be a sustainable situation at IU where they can live up to President Whitten’s ambitious call to action to be excellent in everything. I made the short drive to Bloomington to sit down with Dolson and ask him questions about leadership, true presidential alignment, and a behind-the-scenes look of selecting Coach Cignetti and two men’s basketball head coach searches. Dolson explains why he doesn’t like to work with panickers and what it means to be a cabinet member in his opinion. Dolson shares how he learned to ask other people things he didn’t know, a lesson he picked up from Bob Knight a long time ago when Dolson was a men’s basketball student manager. Dolson wraps the conversation talking about the responsibility of an AD getting involved in governance at the conference level and participating in congressional conversations and the POTUS round table on saving college sports.
- 0:00 Introduction
- 1:05 Sustaining Next Level of Athletic Success
- 2:55 Dolson’s Experience with President Whitten During College Athletics Chaos
- 7:01 Compartmentalizing Meeting Subjects and Staying Focused as an AD
- 9:57 Thought Process of Research for Position Profiles in Football and Men’s Basketball Head Coach Searches
- 17:20 Continuity of the Senior Staff
- 22:20 Leadership Lesson Dolson Learned from Coach Bob Knight
- 26:01 Dolson’s Advice on the Cabinet Position for ADs
- 30:43 ADs Going to Congressional Hearings and the White House Visit
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