Sports360AZ
Official release from Arizona State University:
Steve Patterson, Chief Operating Officer of Sun Devil Athletics and Managing Director of the Sun Devil Sports Group, has been appointed Arizona State University Vice President for University Athletics and Athletics Director, subject to the approval of the Arizona Board of Regents.
Patterson has had a varied and successful career in sports management. He spent nearly a quarter of a century as an innovative and successful executive in the NFL with the Houston Texans, in the NBA with the Houston Rockets and Portland Trail Blazers, and in professional hockey with the Houston Aeros hockey team. Immediately prior to joining ASU in July 2011, he was the president of Pro Sports Consulting.
He will consolidate his duties as Managing Director of the Sun Devil Sports Group into his new responsibilities.
Patterson replaces Lisa Love, who became Vice President for University Athletics in April 2005. She is leaving ASU to pursue other career opportunities.
“In his time at ASU Steve Patterson has shown a level of sports management expertise rarely seen at the college and university level,” said President Michael M. Crow. “He is the ideal person to build on the foundation Lisa built and to take Sun Devil sports to the next level – to the highest level.
“I wish to thank Lisa for seven years of excellent service. During her tenure here ASU won seven national championships and the academic performance and graduation rates of our student-athletes improved dramatically.”
“I’m excited that Dr. Crow gave me the opportunity to oversee Sun Devil Athletics,” said Patterson. “We expect to have a program that consistently competes for Pac-12 championships, with athletes that graduate, connect and serve our community, and operate with integrity, discipline and respect. It’s time for our men’s basketball and football programs to compete for championships and perform at the same level as our successful spring sports.”
Crow said the objectives of Sun Devil Athletics under the leadership of Steve Patterson remain the same: graduate student athletes, win championships and play by the rules. Patterson will review all current operations. He will evaluate how best to support Coach Todd Graham’s program to have a nationally ranked football team that wins Pac-12 championships year after year and the readiness of the men’s basketball team to return to NCAA tournament form.
ASU athletics on March 1, 2012 received a full 10-year re-certification by the NCAA Division I Committee of Athletics Certification, after a comprehensive overview of how its athletics program is operated. The program features 12 women’s and nine men’s sports and provides support to approximately 500 student-athletes.
In the last seven years, ASU has won 15 conference championships and seven national championships (two in softball, one in women’s golf, one in men’s track and field, and three in women’s track and field). In addition ASU student athletes have won 89 individual conference championships and 30 individual national championships.
In 2008, Sports Illustrated named the Sun Devil Athletic Department as the top athletic program in the nation and that year ASU finished fourth in the Director’s Cup ranking, the high-water mark for the program.
ASU has drawn national attention for the success of its student athlete academic support program. (Link to 2010-11 academic report: http://grfx.cstv.com/photos/schools/asu/sports/osad/auto_pdf/2011-12/misc_non_event/201011AnnualReport.pdf)
A 2009 Pac-10 Compliance Review report stated, “In some ways, ASU could be the poster child” for the NCAA Academic Performance Program. This program is dedicated to providing student-athletes with exemplary educational and intercollegiate-athletic experiences in an environment that recognizes and supports the primacy of the academic mission of its member institutions.
In the number of its Academic All-Americans, ASU ranks third all-time in the Pac-10(now Pac-12) Conference and ranks19th all-time in Division I Athletics. Since the year 2000, ASU has had 53 Academic All-Americans, which ranks it second in the Pac-10 and ninth nationally.
According to statistics released by the NCAA, ASU had an all-time high 79-percent Graduation Success Rate (GSR) in 2010-11. The 79-percent GSR ranks ASU fifth in the Pac-12 Conference, just one percentage point out of fourth-place Oregon and just four percentage points from second-place (UCLA and Washington which tied at 83-percent). ASU’s women athletes’ GSR rate is 94-percent, which is second in the Pac-12 only to Stanford (97-percent). The ASU men’s GSR is 66-percent.
Also in the 2010-11 academic year:
· 65% of all Student-Athletes earned Sun Devil Scholar-Athletes honors (which requires a 3.00 GPA)
· 21 Student-Athletes completed the year with a 4.00 cumulative GPA.
· The GPA for all ASU Student-Athletes at end of 2010-11 academic year was 2.93.
Patterson will continue to manage ASU’s athletic facilities, the business office, marketing and fund-raising operations. He will play a major role in ASU’s plans to renovate and enhance its major athletic facilities, including Sun Devil Stadium, with the revenue from its new athletic facilities district.
Through legislative authorization from the State of Arizona, ASU has been able to form an athletic facilities district involving some 300 acres of land on its Tempe campus. As the land is developed commercially, the University can use the revenue stream from ground leases and payments in lieu of property taxes to fund the renovation and enhancement of its existing sports facilities and to build new ones.
ASU expects to realize $15 million annually in new TV revenue from the Pac-12 television operations and is leveraging a portion of that income by reinvesting it in sports marketing and operations with the goal of doubling the budget of its athletics department in four to five years.
Steve Patterson has built championship professional teams and designed, financed, built and run stadiums and arenas. As General Manager of the Houston Rockets he built the 1994 NBA Championship team. Later, he successfully led the effort to bring the Houston Texans NFL team and Super Bowl XXXVIII to Houston, Texas. As President of the Portland Trail Blazers, The Rose Garden and Rose City Radio, Patterson refined his skills as a turnaround specialist, while garnering national recognition for his player acquisition skills player acquisition skills when he took over as the team’s General Manager.
Patterson also served as the President, General Manager and Governor of the Houston Aeros hockey team. For his efforts he was named the 1995 winner of the Andy Mulligan Trophy as the IHL’s Executive of the Year.
In addition to his roles with the Aeros, Patterson also acquired and served as President and Partner in Arena Operating Company, which managed and operated Compaq Center, Houston’s home of the Rockets, Aeros and Comets.
Born and raised in Beaver Dam, WI. Patterson attended the University of Texas, graduating with honors earning a Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration in 1980. He graduated from UT’s Law School in 1984.
