If you spend much time with Ted Kissell, you come to realize that he is more than a teacher, more than a coach, more than an Administrator. Although none of us like to admit it, sports is no longer just the fun of shooting the ball around and seeing who is better. There is more than just pride on the line. Like it or not, sports have become one of the biggest businesses in not only the United States, but the world as a whole. If you are running a school’s Athletic Department and fail to recognize that fact, you will not be able to keep you job for as long as Ted Kissell has.

Although it may not have been of his own design, Ted Kissell has become a businessman.

“I think that there is a polarity between the view of sports as sports and sports as business,” he says. “People ask me what I do in the summer between golf matches. I tell them that I try to get in a little tennis too. The truth is, I do the same thing that any CEO of a $12 million company does and that is run the business. You don’t want people thinking that all we are trying to do is run a business, but you have to apply good fundamental business principles. It is a small business. We have 75 full time employees that gets up to 250 when you include part-time employees plus 430 student athletes.”

The University of Dayton sports programs must be able to stand on their own feet. Although the University administrators realize that the success of the basketball and other programs can increase enrolment, the first job of a university is to educate young people, not give them a reason to throw a party after the big game. With that in mind, the Athletics Department must be as self-funding as possible. To do that, Kissell must take on the same responsibilities as any company head. He must recognize weaknesses and fix them. He must recognize strengths and exploit them, and Kissell realizes that people are his best tool.

“Everybody makes a contribution and you can only contribute in the context of the particular time and the opportunity that the times provide. You can say that Blackburn got us on the national stage, but what Mr. Frericks did was provide the showcase. It was tremendous work and vision on his part. The Arena not only allowed us to advance the success of our own program but to put us on the national stage consistently through the NCAA tournament. Coach Donoher continued that success and took it to what is now the great stage, the NCAA. It is about everybody making a contribution in his or her time.” By allowing those that work for him to make decisions, he brings out the best in people.

Like any other businessman, Ted realizes that recruiting both on and off the basketball court has to be successful for his operation to run smoothly. In his book, Stop Whining — Start Winning, highly sought-after motivational speaker and UD grad Frank Pacetta spends one full chapter on Kissell and his approach to people. Pacetta writes, “What I see in this Ted Kissell and Oliver Purnell story is a case study in people-ology. Kissell would never have gotten his man without personal involvement, a passionate commitment to finding the best person for the job, and the determination to overcome all the barriers that popped up. Clearly, from early on, the message Ted Kissell conveyed to his prospect was a passionate desire to get him on his team. People want to be wanted. If passion is missing from the recruiting process, it becomes ho-hum and the results deteriorate accordingly.”

Like other businesses, there is only so much money to go around. Like other businesses, you do your best to increase sales, but you have to manage to the bottom line and sometimes you have to make cuts and sacrifices for the good of the company.

“We do not have the financial resources to compete on a national basis in all of our sports so we have to make decisions concerning the tiering of sports,” he readily admits. “If you talk to the people from Ohio State or Michigan, they would say it is a terrible thing to tier sports. That is easy to say when you have enough money to give every sport what they want. We cannot do that. The choice is selective excellence or across the board mediocrity. To me that is a very easy choice. We give men’s and women’s basketball what they need to be successful, but after that we have to sit down and make decisions concerning where we can compete strongly.”

Kissell continues, “We are not in a favorable climate for the traditional spring sports. However, soccer and volleyball are unaffected by weather; so we have resourced those programs more aggressively than baseball and softball. We have also decided to emphasize team sports over individual sports. Therefore, baseball and softball have far more resources than tennis, golf, and cross country. The exception is women’s indoor and outdoor track, which is resourced at a level similar to baseball and softball. We do our best to give the student-athlete a rewarding athletic experience. We fund the basketball programs first and then take a look at each of the other sports and decide, ‘What will it take to make it a rewarding intercollegiate athletic experience?’ Then we create that budget. We then divide up what is left and give it to the sports where we can differentiate ourselves. Anybody can offer a scholarship. We like to think that we do a better job of hiring good coaches.”

With the announcement in the fall that Dayton would be upgrading the Arena, there was the hope that the money would be well spent and that sales, through ticket, concession, and box sales would more than make up for the costs involved in the project. In addition, plans were announced for new baseball and softball stadiums and a boathouse for the rowing team. This is on the heels of improvements to the Stuart baseball field and Baujan Field, which is used for men and women’s soccer. This is part of the long-term plan for the university.

“We also feel that we can differentiate ourselves with facilities,” Kissell says. “As a point of differentiation, we have focused on facilities. Is a SportCourt a big deal when you turn on TV and see the Pac-10 or the Big-10? No? But not everybody in the Atlantic 10 has it. What we have done at Baujan Field with the terracing differentiates us in soccer. We are also doing some things for baseball and softball.”

There is a long-term plan in place and it is not just about winning the next championship. It is about creating a solid foundation for not only the basketball program, but for all of the 17 sports that are funded by the University. UD is no longer at the bottom of the ladder with regard to other sports. The soccer, volleyball, and baseball teams can hold their heads high with newfound success. The woman’s basketball program is on the verge of moving into the upper tier of the A-10. The athletic programs are no longer hanging on by the skin of their teeth.

Ted Kissell can be an easy man to work for if you produce. If you don’t, your experience will not be nearly as enjoyable. As he puts it, “If you work for me you don’t talk about effort, you talk about results.”

In the same vein, he is just as difficult on himself. When pressed into giving himself a grade for his efforts he was very reluctant to do so.

“If I had to grade myself, I could not,” he says. “I can tell you that something that I am good at is the selection of people that work in a collaborative way but are high performers at the same time. That and creating a nurturing environment in which they can succeed. I think I do that well. The best compliment I ever received was from Brother Ray when he said, ‘Ted is a leader of leaders.’ I like to think that we distribute leadership and that people are trusted to take initiative and not worry about being second-guessed. I feel that my main job is to be Chief People Officer. You need to be about performance and performance in a team environment to work here. If you are, you will get all kinds of opportunities to excel and stand out. Those are the kind of people that we have here and I’m not just talking about the coaches. I would give myself an “A” for that. I can’t think of anything else that I deserve an “A” in.”

There was a time when Ted Kissell was viewed upon as an outsider. He did not bleed the same blue and red that everyone else did. Yet, he has learned what it is about to be a Dayton Flyer.

“I think the University of Dayton creates a culture of challenge and support that allows you to be better than you ever thought you could be. I have learned so much here that it is unbelievable. I have been able to spend countless hours with Brother Ray, who is a man with an enormous presence. To learn from him and work with him has been an unbelievable experience. He has been a tremendous influence on me. He redefined for me what toughness is. True toughness comes out of a deep sense of personal integrity. He knows the right thing to do no matter how tough the circumstances. He is so warm and kind. I have gained so much more from this experience than I could ever contribute. It is a pretty special place.”