Bowling Green State University Athletics
Krebs Celebrates First Year As BGSU AD
April 12, 2000 | General
April 12, 2000
BOWLING GREEN, O. - The first year on the job is always the most difficult, right? If you ask Paul Krebs, it was not only the most tumultuous, but also the most interesting and exciting. On April 12, 1999, Paul Krebs officially became the Director of Athletics at Bowling Green State University. Less than a week after being named to his new post, Krebs packed up and moved from the confines of Columbus, Ohio, where he and his family resided for 14 years, to Bowling Green. It was the middle of the academic year, so his wife, Marjori (a schoolteacher), and two children (Taylor, 11 and Jacob, 7) remained in Columbus until school ended in June. With such a quick move, chances were slim that the Krebs' could find a house ready to move into. So, as a grad of BGSU, Paul returned for a few weeks to where he felt most comfortable in Bowling Green...the dorms.
"It was definitely a unique time in my life," Krebs said. "I think that I liked the dorms a lot more the first time around. However, they're much nicer now than when I was a student at Bowling Green."
Now that the Krebs' have settled into their new home in Bowling Green, and the kids have adjusted to their new schools, life has returned to "normal." Still, there is a lot of work to be done in the Athletic Department. Each day brings new challenges, but Krebs wouldn't have it any other way.
"I guess that if it wasn't hard, if it wasn't difficult, it wouldn't mean as much," he said. "The staff here has really come together to make changes that we collectively decided were necessary in order to move forward."
One of the first orders of business was to develop a new mission statement. This mission statement helps to guide the athletic department in determining where it wants to be and how it will get there. The new mission statement reads, "The BGSU Athletic Department is committed to be a national and community leader demanding academic and athletic excellence fostering integrity, pride, respect, tradition, and creative innovation."
With a new mission, change was inevitable. Many of these changes have been very visible to the general public. For example, who could forget the night of October 2, 1999 and the atmosphere surrounding the BG-UT football game? And have you checked out the Falcons' new athletic web-site (www.bgsufalcons.com)? There have also been increased efforts toward a greater presence in the marketplace, increased attendance and support at basketball and hockey, and a new toll free number is now in place for the ticket office (1-877-BGSU-TICKET).
Internally, there has been much discussion on how to position BG Athletics in the community, in the Mid-American Conference, and throughout the nation. BGSU Athletics is one of the many schools that operate at a deficit, but their goal is to operate on a break-even basis. Krebs and his staff feel that there is a lot of untapped potential for growth, from merchandising to increasing the number of ticket outlets. There is also a need for more focused fund raising and the development of more comprehensive sponsorship opportunities.
The Falcon Club, now in its 36th year of existence, is the annual fund raising arm within the department. While it has always been focused on providing scholarships for student-athletes, Krebs felt that there needed to be a re-emphasis on this. That it needed to get away from a "you give this, we give that" mentality. In a nutshell, the Falcon Club was due for a facelift.
Over the past ten years, the cost of scholarships in the department has nearly doubled, reaching $3 million this past year. The revenue generated by the Falcon Club, however, has remained constant over the same period of time, roughly $300,000. The difference in the annual scholarship costs and the income generated by the Falcon Club has been covered by the athletic department's operating budget. The annual shortfall decreased the amount of dollars available to fund and successfully operate a 22-sport program. Consequently, it was decided that monies generated through the Falcon Club would go to defray the cost of athletic scholarships. Tickets will no longer be available through membership, just priority seating.
"While we recognize that people have different ways of supporting the university and supporting the athletic department in particular, the Falcon Club will concentrate solely on raising money for scholarships," said Krebs.
The "facelift" given to the Falcon Club is just one example of the new outlook on collegiate athletics that Krebs brings to the table at BG. He does not take full credit for all of the positive things that are happening with BG Athletics, as the staff has rallied around him to accomplish the goals that they set collectively.
"This athletic department has a vision, and everything that we do reflects our mission statement," said Krebs. "This is a group effort. I have steered this department in a certain direction, but it is their commitment to the student-athletes and their decision to pursue excellence that makes the difference."
