Highlights from President Max Nikias' interview with the media following Lynn Swann's introductory press conference.
--on if or how Swann’s lack of experience played a factor in the decision
MN: “That wasn’t a concern to me at all and actually I have to tell you that when I look at leadership positions and especially positions that are senior executives in the University and especially when they’re reporting directly to me, I am looking for a person that has the leadership qualities, the traits of leadership and I’m a very strong believer that the best training for leadership is leadership itself. If you carefully look at what I did for this athletic department, I recruited Dave Roberts, that had no experience in athletics whatsoever. But I knew Dave Roberts, that he had the leadership qualities, that he had the brilliant legal mind and experience. He came here and in the last five years he’s built up the very best compliance program that intercollegiate athletes of America has to offer. And so, if you really want to understand my philosophy when it comes to leadership and picking a leader, I have to send you back to the classics, you should read the bible on the leadership, which is Xenophon’s, he was a student of Socrates, the Education of Cyrus. That’s the very best book on leadership.”
--on how it became apparent that Swann had those leadership qualities
MN: “I had personally interviewed a lot of candidates, Nick Brill interviewed even more himself as a part of this process and then at the end, and by the way, going through this process, I knew this was going to be one of the most important decisions that I made as president for the future of the University. So from the beginning when we announced the search, until I made the decision, I have constantly been restless because I wanted to make sure I made the right decision and after we have gone through the interview process and I thought about it, it was clear to me Lynn was going to be my choice.”
--on if he interviewed Swann or if the search firm did
MN: “Both. When Lynn was nominated Nick Brill reached out to him and he went to Pittsburg, so they spent about four hours together.”
--on nothing leaking about the hire (aside from Chris Swanson's declaration on the TrojanSports podcast)
MN: “I have to tell you, if you go back to my announcement at the beginning, I said I would keep the proceedings of this search very confidential, so I am very, very proud of that because it was extremely important to protect the confidentiality of all the candidates because we have candidates that was sitting in athletic directors, for example, and they were terrified if their president finds out about it. So, you have to be very respectful to that, if you want to build an excellent pool of candidates.”
--on the number of finalists right before the decision was made
MN: “At the end, there was seven serious finalists and Nick Brill interviewed more than two dozen on a one-on-one basis.”
--on the profiles of the candidates
MN: “I have to tell you our candidates, they were sitting in athletic directors, they were managers of NFL franchises, all legal officers, they were all people that one way or another, they had certain experience in athletics, in general.”
--on if Pat Haden signed off on the decision or gave his thoughts on the search
MN: “I announced to Pat Haden my choice yesterday morning, five minutes before I sent the memo out. Neither Pat nor any of the members of the board of trustees were involved in this search and that was the right thing to do.”
--on how important Swann’s USC ties are
MN: “I view that, the fact that he’s a Trojan legend and he went to school here, I view that as a big value added, but that’s not what I looked at first. I wanted to find the person with the right leadership qualities, a general knowledge of intercollegiate athletics or athletics in general, which he does, but the fact then that he’s a Trojan legend, that’s a big value added. And also, and I would say that, and then at the end I felt, I have now a new athletic director that will continue to be a role model for our student athletes moving forward and the kids can respond to it.”
--on him being from outside the Southern California area
MN: “It is an out of the box appointment, but he also is a Trojan.”
--on Pat Haden
MN: “Pat is not going anywhere. Pat has been a good friend, he has done an outstanding job. We tend to forget, people tend to forget, when I became president and I recruited Pat Haden to be an athletic director, we were facing some serious, serious sanctions. It was almost as though our athletic department was in a free fall. And he and Dave Roberts and everybody else worked so hard to rebuild the relationship with the NCAA, as you know now, Dave Roberts is a member of the committee of infractions, and then we restored the dignity of our program very quickly.”
--on Todd McNair’s case against the NCAA
MN: “The legal case, you will respect the fact, we don’t want to comment on that. We monitor that carefully, I must admit to it, we monitor carefully, but as far as I’m concerned, the sanctions and everything else, my God, its behind us, we’re out of it. I just want to look ahead into the future.”
--on how hard it would be to avoid questions about a high-profile NCAA v. McNair case in LA
MN: “I’m sure it will be, it’ll be in the news every day, but let’s take one year at a time.”
--on when he knew Lynn Swann was the guy
MN: “Only after I went though the whole process. One thing I trust about myself, especially when I make decisions like that, that are kind of restless, I can’t explain it, it's what you call your gut feeling. So I have to say that in all interactions, it was growing on me and so at the end, after I had gone through the whole interview process with all the other candidates, it was kind of obvious to me that he was going to be my choice. And then we had to wrap up everything very quickly in the last few days.”
--on if or how Swann’s lack of experience played a factor in the decision
MN: “That wasn’t a concern to me at all and actually I have to tell you that when I look at leadership positions and especially positions that are senior executives in the University and especially when they’re reporting directly to me, I am looking for a person that has the leadership qualities, the traits of leadership and I’m a very strong believer that the best training for leadership is leadership itself. If you carefully look at what I did for this athletic department, I recruited Dave Roberts, that had no experience in athletics whatsoever. But I knew Dave Roberts, that he had the leadership qualities, that he had the brilliant legal mind and experience. He came here and in the last five years he’s built up the very best compliance program that intercollegiate athletes of America has to offer. And so, if you really want to understand my philosophy when it comes to leadership and picking a leader, I have to send you back to the classics, you should read the bible on the leadership, which is Xenophon’s, he was a student of Socrates, the Education of Cyrus. That’s the very best book on leadership.”
--on how it became apparent that Swann had those leadership qualities
MN: “I had personally interviewed a lot of candidates, Nick Brill interviewed even more himself as a part of this process and then at the end, and by the way, going through this process, I knew this was going to be one of the most important decisions that I made as president for the future of the University. So from the beginning when we announced the search, until I made the decision, I have constantly been restless because I wanted to make sure I made the right decision and after we have gone through the interview process and I thought about it, it was clear to me Lynn was going to be my choice.”
--on if he interviewed Swann or if the search firm did
MN: “Both. When Lynn was nominated Nick Brill reached out to him and he went to Pittsburg, so they spent about four hours together.”
--on nothing leaking about the hire (aside from Chris Swanson's declaration on the TrojanSports podcast)
MN: “I have to tell you, if you go back to my announcement at the beginning, I said I would keep the proceedings of this search very confidential, so I am very, very proud of that because it was extremely important to protect the confidentiality of all the candidates because we have candidates that was sitting in athletic directors, for example, and they were terrified if their president finds out about it. So, you have to be very respectful to that, if you want to build an excellent pool of candidates.”
--on the number of finalists right before the decision was made
MN: “At the end, there was seven serious finalists and Nick Brill interviewed more than two dozen on a one-on-one basis.”
--on the profiles of the candidates
MN: “I have to tell you our candidates, they were sitting in athletic directors, they were managers of NFL franchises, all legal officers, they were all people that one way or another, they had certain experience in athletics, in general.”
--on if Pat Haden signed off on the decision or gave his thoughts on the search
MN: “I announced to Pat Haden my choice yesterday morning, five minutes before I sent the memo out. Neither Pat nor any of the members of the board of trustees were involved in this search and that was the right thing to do.”
--on how important Swann’s USC ties are
MN: “I view that, the fact that he’s a Trojan legend and he went to school here, I view that as a big value added, but that’s not what I looked at first. I wanted to find the person with the right leadership qualities, a general knowledge of intercollegiate athletics or athletics in general, which he does, but the fact then that he’s a Trojan legend, that’s a big value added. And also, and I would say that, and then at the end I felt, I have now a new athletic director that will continue to be a role model for our student athletes moving forward and the kids can respond to it.”
--on him being from outside the Southern California area
MN: “It is an out of the box appointment, but he also is a Trojan.”
--on Pat Haden
MN: “Pat is not going anywhere. Pat has been a good friend, he has done an outstanding job. We tend to forget, people tend to forget, when I became president and I recruited Pat Haden to be an athletic director, we were facing some serious, serious sanctions. It was almost as though our athletic department was in a free fall. And he and Dave Roberts and everybody else worked so hard to rebuild the relationship with the NCAA, as you know now, Dave Roberts is a member of the committee of infractions, and then we restored the dignity of our program very quickly.”
--on Todd McNair’s case against the NCAA
MN: “The legal case, you will respect the fact, we don’t want to comment on that. We monitor that carefully, I must admit to it, we monitor carefully, but as far as I’m concerned, the sanctions and everything else, my God, its behind us, we’re out of it. I just want to look ahead into the future.”
--on how hard it would be to avoid questions about a high-profile NCAA v. McNair case in LA
MN: “I’m sure it will be, it’ll be in the news every day, but let’s take one year at a time.”
--on when he knew Lynn Swann was the guy
MN: “Only after I went though the whole process. One thing I trust about myself, especially when I make decisions like that, that are kind of restless, I can’t explain it, it's what you call your gut feeling. So I have to say that in all interactions, it was growing on me and so at the end, after I had gone through the whole interview process with all the other candidates, it was kind of obvious to me that he was going to be my choice. And then we had to wrap up everything very quickly in the last few days.”
