Q&A With Scott Stricklin

Getting to know Scott Stricklin

Q: Do you have a quote about leadership philosophy you favor?

A: "I am a huge believer in the concept of servant leadership. Most people may think of an organizational chart in college athletics to be kind of a pyramid, with the AD at the top, then the coaches and the staff and the students next, then the fans, student body and alumni below that. I think that order is right, but I think it's upside down. Flip it over. The president and the AD have to support the coaches and staff and they all have to work to support the student-athletes. If we're all doing a really good job, then the fans and student body are going to have a great experience. It's not everybody supporting me. My job is to help support all of them. I like that model, that visual image. I like leading from the back of the room, if that makes sense."

Q: Winning, obviously, is the best way to a great experience. How else can get you there?

A: "I know the saying at the University of Florida is 'A championship experience with integrity,' and that fits right in there. But, to me, every group interfaces with that experience differently. The student-athlete experience is based on the academic piece, athletic piece and social piece. For your coaches and staff, I love the concept of internal marketing. If you have a service business — and we have a service we're providing — your internal constituents and marketing to them and making them feel really good about what you're doing is just as important as your external constituents because they provide the service to your external constituents. So I want our coaches to feel very valued and rewarded with what they do; our coaches and staff, everyone in the building. That experience is important. And if we're successful with our coaches, student-athletes and staff, then all the external constituents are going to have that experience based on the pride, the joy, the entertainment that you want them to have. It gets them back on campus and re-engaged to their university. That's just my philosophy on what we do. I don't know how you quantify 'Are you doing a great job with experience?' But I know what it looks like when it's done well and I know what it looks like when it's not right. Florida has done it well for a long period of time, but my focus now for — every decision or dollar that comes across my desk — I'm going to ask, "How is that impacting the experience? How is this helping our coaches, our student-athletes, our fans, alumni and student body? What is the benefit if we spend our dollars that way or take this approach?' "

Q: What are the images or connotations that come to you when you think about the Gators?

A: "Well, first off, 'The Swamp.' I came here when I was at Auburn. It was the first time I ever went to a football game there. Just the energy and how close the fans are — right on top of the field — it always felt like it was one of the best atmospheres for that reason alone. Next, Coach Spurrier. If you're growing up in the '90s in this league, I don't know how you don't think about him. I remember I had a conversation with him on the field before the South Carolina-Mississippi State game in 2011. He reminded me how he interviewed for the Mississippi State job when he was between the Tampa Bay Bandits and Duke in 1986. He said, 'Yeah, they didn't hire me, but I guess it worked out OK, though.' Yeah, it did — for the Gators. And then, of course, Billy Donovan and what he did with the program and those back-to-back titles. I was at Kentucky and remember how frustrating it was when they went on that run. At the time, it was like, "Man, these guys are winning everything. Football, basketball, everything."

Q: What athletes did you look up to growing up?

A: "I try not to say this too often, but I was a Saints fan, like most people in Jackson. Archie Manning was quarterback of the Saints when I was growing up. And even though he's an Ole Miss guy, everybody loved Archie. And I was in high school when that team at Mississippi State of Will Clark, Rafael Palmeiro, Bobby Thigpin, Jeff Brantley crew came. College baseball, at the time, was something not a lot of people paid attention to. They were kind of a phenomena and people, especially in Mississippi, started going to baseball games. It became a big deal. From a college standpoint, I became a college baseball guy. They finished third at the College World Series. They were undefeated [in the CWS] and in the driver's seat of that old eight-team format that took forever. They won their first two and were beating Texas. Win that, they're in the finals. They were leading, then their pitcher took a line drive to the shin and Texas came back and won. The next game, they lost to Miami on a grand slam. But that was a team Mississippi State will never forget. 'Thunder and Lightning.' "

Q: What do you do when you're not athletic directing?

A: "I unplug pretty well. I read. I like to run. I've run a couple marathons, but I really just try to run three or four miles five or six times a week to stay as young as I can."

Q: What books are on your bedside table?

A: "Well, I like reading on my iPad. It's a lot easier to travel that way. I've not been reading the last few weeks because of all this going on. My last two books were "Seabiscuit" — I'd seen the movie, but never read the book, so I went back and read it — and the Phil Knight memoir, 'Shoe Dog,' about starting Nike. I also read the Harry Potter script, that play, 'The Cursed Child.' It wasn't a novel, but a theater play script. I'd read all the other books and she hadn't written anything in forever, so I read that. Me and my kids were a sucker for all the other books."

Q: What are the three most-often-played songs on your playlist?

A: "You're going to laugh, but I like Tom Petty. I promise I'm not just playing to the home crowd. I really like Tom Petty. I like "Won't Back Down," by Tom Petty. I like Van Morrison a lot. "Caravan," by him, is probably my favorite song. You want three? How 'bout Steven Curtis Chapman? "Glorious Unfolding." I like praise music and I've been listening to a lot of it lately just trying to get through. It's helped."

Q: If you're going to watch a movie with your wife, what will it be? And if you're going to watch one by yourself, what will it be?

A: "Me and her? It's probably 'When Harry Met Sally.' If it's by myself, it's going to be either 'Moneyball' or 'Lincoln.' Daniel Day Lewis is unbelievable. We have a monthly coaching staff meeting at Mississippi State and I showed a clip from 'Lincoln,' this scene where he's yelling at his staff. It's just great. It talked about in the book 'Team of Rivals' that he had a high-pitched Kentucky accent, and yet you think of Lincoln as this deep baritone. He just nailed it."

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Getting to know Scott Stricklin

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