TEMPE, Ariz. — While the discussion of the paltry number of African-American head coaches in college football continues every year, another minority gets nary a whisper.
How many women run athletic departments at the 120 FBS schools? If you guessed double digits, you’re wrong. There are five.
Arizona State’s Lisa Love is one of the five. In fact, Arizona State is one of two Pac-12 schools, along with California and Sandy Barbour, with a female athletic director. The others are Nevada’s Cary Groth, North Carolina State’s Debbie Yow and Western Michigan’s Kathy Beauregard.
The Pac-12 is one of the few leaders in this regard. Barbara Hedges ran Washington athletics from 1991-2004. Barbour oversaw $470 million worth of renovations currently underway, and Love has supervised seven national titles since taking over in 2005.
The reason for the small number of women in positions of power doesn’t just fall at the doorstep of university presidents, Love said.
“Despite the fact that Title IX is 40 years old, it’s still an atypical path for a woman to follow,” Love said. “Some people can be a first lieutenant of a big-time athletic department and say, ‘Perfect. Thank you. That’s just where I want to be.’ I’m great at the internal guts of the situation, but can you handle the political outside world, that tsunami?”
Then again, some college presidents wonder about the ability of women to hobnob with rich boosters and tip a few cold ones with potential donors.
“Can you really get along with the external community?” Love said. “Can you find a way to talk shop? That could be a question mark that some presidents have.”
Love talked at her desk overlooking the field at Sun Devil Stadium, a 53-year-old mausoleum and the site of Saturday’s contest with Colorado. The school desperately wants to overhaul the 71,706-seat concrete furnace. ASU is looking at eight or nine options, from tearing it down and starting over to refurbishing it. Depending on the plan, it will cost between $200 million and $450 million.
A Stadium District Project is a plan to provide perpetual income for facilities upkeep. ASU is hoping the property tax gained from development on university real estate will be used specifically to maintain athletics facilities.
Athletics at ASU has to catch up on the facilities front to match what else is going on on campus. The university is in the top five nationally in urban sustainability with solar shields all over campus and experiments preventing asphalt from radiating heat.
“You go forward to a stadium and you wonder if they can modify or build a green stadium,” Love said. “To my way of thinking, it’s a potential cover of Architectural Digest.”
ASU visitors guide
Game-day traditions: Students guard the giant “A” on A Mountain during rivalry week against Arizona. Fans ring a victory bell outside the south end after wins. Before going out onto the field, players touch the Pat Tillman Tunnel commemorating the former Sun Devil linebacker and Arizona Cardinals player who lost his life fighting in Afghanistan.
Sports bar: There is no designated go-to sports bar in Tempe. Just crawl up and down Mill Avenue, ASU’s version of the Georgetown district in Washington, which is lined with bars and restaurants.
Dining: Macayo’s Depot Cantina, 300 S. Ash, 480-966-6677. It’s a chain, but the Tempe restaurant is a sprawling, open-air place with lots of TVs, good Mexican food and good margaritas. The Macayo’s in Phoenix claims to have invented the chimichanga.
