Villanova introduces new athletic director Mark Jackson
Jackson comes to the Main Line from Southern Cal, where he was senior associate AD for six years.
VILLANOVA WOMEN'S basketball coach Harry Perretta, who will soon start his 38th season on the Main Line, has worked for three university presidents and five athletic directors. So he's pretty much seen and heard everything. Yesterday he was at the Pavilion to watch Mark Jackson get introduced as the school's newest AD. When it was over, and all the right words had been spoken, it was Perretta who offered maybe the most pertinent perspective.
"The best thing he said was he didn't have all the answers," Perretta pointed out. "That's good."
Jackson, a Boston native who turns 43 next month, spent the last six years at Southern Cal as its senior associate AD, his second stint on the West Coast. He was the Trojans' director of football administration from 2001-04. He also said that he'll have a tough act to follow. He would not be wrong.
Vince Nicastro stepped down in June after 15 years to become the associate director of the Jeffrey S. Moorad Center for the Study of Sports Law at Villanova's School of Law. On his watch, the Wildcats reached a men's Final Four, won an FCS football championship and two NCAA women's Division I cross-country titles.
"I have huge, huge shoes to fill," acknowledged Jackson, who was joined by his wife Tricia and their four children: Grace (age 14), Hannah (12), Kevin (10) and Sean (8). "I look forward to building upon all that he's established, and enhancing every area of the athletic deparement.
"I couldn't be more excited about this opportunity."
Both he and the Rev. Peter M. Donohue, Villanova's president, quickly squelched any inference that Jackson's hiring might be the first step toward possibly moving football back to I-A. Just in case.
"I wasn't really looking at that," Donahue said. "We made a particular choice several years ago now to move into the Big East in a different way, when the basketball schools joined together. That's the continued direction we're going in."
Later, when it was Jackson's turn to tackle the elephant in the room, he added: "That decision has been vetted by the school. Everybody's happy where we're at, happy to have the No. 4 [FCS] team in the country [in the preseason poll]. That's kind of my mindset.
"Don't let the background be indicative that we're moving anywhere in football. That's not the case."
Jackson has extensive experience in fundraising, which apparently was no minor consideration. He also was a senior associate AD at Syracuse (2005), the vice president for athletic development at a start-up company (2006) and director of football development with the Oakland Raiders (2007-08). And spent three seasons with the pre-USC Pete Carroll as a coaching assistant with the New England Patriots.
"I have too many Al Davis stories to tell," Jackson said. "Sometimes he'd bring a lot of people in to watch the [NFL] draft. His go-to line when somebody disagreed with him was, 'How many Hall of Famers did you coach?' I never opened my mouth, because I hadn't."
He said he's happy to be back in the Northeast, since both he and Tricia have big families. And happy to be part of the Big East once more. In 1989, he got his first taste of what Philly hoops can be like.
"My best friend's brother was a sophomore or junior here," Jackson recalled. "It was the first weekend in February. I remember like it was yesterday. My mother was pretty strict. She stuck us on a train and he picked us up Friday. He was living off campus. We played Saturday in the [St. Mary's] gym. Sunday morning we went to the Spectrum. It was pretty awesome. Doug West was playing. It didn't go the Wildcats' way. Then we went home. It was my first overnight visit to a school."
From now on, he'll probably have a better seat. But while basketball is the flagship, he promises that it will hardly be his sole priority. Not even close.
"To be honest, that's what I'm used to," Jackson said. "We have 21 sports at USC, and the expectations were that every one of them is supposed to win championships. And sometimes national championships. That's the culture I've been immersed in. Last year, 19 finished in their top 25. Now, how can I expect a program that's not fully funded, or not paying a coach what they need to be paid, to win at that level?
"Those are the kinds of things I need to figure out."
He officially starts on Sept. 21, a week after his birthday. It might be the kind of gift that can keep on giving.