Fresno State Athletics
Jim Bartko Press Conference Quotes
11/21/2014 12:00:00 AM | General
Good morning everyone, this is certainly a birthday present. It is my great honor to be with you today. This is the beginning of a new, exciting and bolder chapter in Fresno State Athletics. I promised you that we would have a fair and transparent search process that reached across the nation and looked at the all the many candidates who could do this job. Jim Bartko is our guy.
I am so excited that he has decided to come here to Fresno State. There was an extraordinary pool of candidates and I want to thank everyone who participated in the process, one way or another. I want to especially thank our Committee Chair and Provost Lynnette Zelezny, who could not be here today. Each and every member of the committee who worked so hard to review the candidates and did so in a fair way.
Why Jim Bartko? Jim Bartko was born in Stockton, he is a Valley native, who performed in extraordinary ways at the University of Oregon and for a briefer period at my alma mater, the University of Berkeley. He has the skill set that we need right now. He has a long and significant track record of accomplishments and most importantly he is a great guy. He is a man of character, integrity and what you see is what you get. I love him already. If you will join me in welcoming our new Athletic Director, Jim Bartko.
Questions for Castro:
On why Jim Barkto is the best person for this position....
Several reasons, but I think the key ones are his long record of significant accomplishments that is certainly one. Two, the way in which he interacts with people builds relationships. The authentic way that he does that is certainly important. The third reason is the fact that he has connections to this region. He was born in Stockton, so he knows this valley and loves this valley. That was a very important thing to our committee. We had extraordinary candidates, but I would say in the end, Jim was the clear choice for us.
On short-term goals for Jim when he starts in January...
We have a lot to talk about. We have begun those conversations and you will be hearing more from us about sports expansion before the Christmas holiday, so stay tuned for that.
On the importance of fundraising...
It is very important that Jim has demonstrated success in fundraising. That is one of the reasons we selected him as our Athletic Director. For those folks that have been on the sideline lately, I want to invite you back. This is a great opportunity to reengage with Fresno State. We are only going upward, I promise you that. I just want to ask everybody who might not have taken a look at us lately to take a look. We have 5 million people in the valley and we plan to do great things.
On Castro's ultimate dream for the athletic program...
In the tradition of great American universities, having academic and athletic programs rise together is what we want to see happen. It is what is happening right now. If you look at our trajectory academically and from an athletic prospective, they are both going in a very positive way. I want to accelerate that, with the help of our student, faculty, staff, alumni and friends we have amazing potential. I think that in order to be the very best comprehensive university we need a very strong athletic program, and they will feed off of each other. That is the vision and Jim is going to help us realize this vision.
On changing conferences...
I think that Jim said it best, in regards to the conference. First thing is to be the very best in the conference and we are doing that in many ways. I would like to build on that, and that will require investments in our people, our facilities and all of us within the university. We will also need a community of supports to achieve all of these things. I would like to position us to be competing at the highest levels academically and athletically.
Jim Bartko's Opening Statement
"I want to thank President Castro, Lanett's not here right now, Glynn and Pat and the entire committee. I'm so excited, you had faith in me, I'm coming home and I'm looking forward to meeting every one of you. I know there are some coaches here with games this afternoon and practice so thank you all very much. I know there are a lot of people on the committee that put their faith in what I can do, I am a team player and I'm looking forward to it."
How Bartko got here...
"My mom and dad were born in Ripon, married in Manteca, grandparents all the way down from Stockton and Tracy and my sister went to Fresno State in 1981, I used to come up on a bus and visit her a little bit. Who would of thought 30 years ago I would be here, I'm very honored because I know what it means to be from the valley. I got a good break, I went to Washington State. At that young age we all want to be baseball players or pro football players, but unfortunately my height, weight and athletic ability probably weren't the best mix but athletics is what I wanted to do. I got lucky, Washington State's Jim Walton took me under his wing and I spent four great years with Jim. He gave me a chance to do everything I wanted to and I knew I wanted to be an AD someday.
"Dennis Erickson took over and Thomas and Jim hired me as a 23-year-old kid with not a whole lot of experience, but I got a great job there. Spent a few years there and I got a great call, a life changing call, there was a place in Eugene, Oregon, back then the budget was 19 million and we raised about 900,000 dollars annually. Not the best facilities, but great people and great coaches with passion about their university. There was a way to elevate the university through athletics with a great vision and collaborate with campus, need to do that, and changed things a little bit with all of the hope that we don't need to be average. I think that's a big part of why I came here, I didn't need to leave Oregon, we had a great family there but there's a chance to come to a place that has a vision to be great.
"The framework is here, the passion is here, the valley has a lot of people who have a lot of great passion so I look forward to coming in running. I come to work with a lot of energy and a smile on my face, I know people in this community want to be engaged in that and I'm looking forward to being a part of that."
"You build relationships over life and just because you're changing conferences and allegiances don't mean you give up friends. I hope to build friendships here in this room and in this community for many many more years and I look forward to building this place up. I want to think the committee, the President and all of you in the room. It's going to be a fun ride, athletics is a great addition to this university and athletics done the right way can elevate this campus and this community, I can't wait to get started."
Questions for Bartko:
On the vision that he's bring to Fresno State...
"We'll sit down with the President and the cabinet and talk about it...We have the ability to not look at the schools in this conference and say `let's try to be fourth place.' Let's dominate this conference. Let's elevate this community academically. We need to raise more money. You need the facilities to evolve. There's a great leadership team here. We'll sit down, next week, probably Friday when I come back for the home football game and sit down and go through all of the plans that are laid out.
"I didn't leave Oregon just to be satisfied. We're going to work our tail off to be the best and that's what the goal should be."
On what he sees of the future of the Mountain West...
"The Mountain West is a great conference. There are some great schools in the conference. When I came to Oregon, I would say that Oregon wasn't the cream of the crop; we worked hard to get there. I think we need to get set in our mind that we need to elevate this place and get things going. It's already going.
"We need to dominate this conference. We need to not be scared of anybody and let's take it head on with every one of our programs. That needs to be the goal."
On athletes leaving the San Joaquin Valley in previous years...
"Oregon is not the hotbed for high school football talent. I think probably four or five kids get Division I scholarships. I know there's many more in the Valley so we need to show them what we have to offer...We're going to find the best kids academically and athletically and we're going to make the university proud...This is for all of the teams. We want to keep the best kids here. If they want to go somewhere else, it's their loss."
On why the time to make this move was right...
"It was the place, I can honestly say that I can count my fingers how many jobs I have applied for. It's the time and also the place. I believe Fresno State University can achieve great things. Great leadership. Great fan base."
On the challenges that lie ahead...
"There's challenges everywhere you go but we have great leadership on campus and great coaching staffs. I told the staff briefly a little bit ago that I come to work every day having fun. I'm not in this to grind at a computer at a desk and do spreadsheets all day long. I look forward to getting out. I look forward to our family getting out and meeting everybody in this community.
"If the job was easy, if there weren't any challenges, it's not worth it...The expectation I got (from the committee) is let's move the needle, and let's do it together."
On the Valley and the "V"...
"I love the idea of V on the helmet. I know that started years ago and I know what it stands for, `We are the Valley.' The people here are proud and hardworking."
On the goal of being an AD...
"I wasn't going to move east to a small school were I had no ties and no family history. I'm a West Coast guy. My family is all on the West Coast so when this job came open and they gave me a call, it intrigued me. My family said let's do it. I think the offer was a great chance. It's hard to believe that it's here and almost done."
