Joel Nielsen is going into his sixth year as athletic director for USD.
TJ Jerke: How do you feel the first year in Division I went?
Joel Nielsen: It was a different year in a lot of ways from our schedules to not having full conference affiliation. For the most part, everything that happened this year was expected.
TJ: Can USD expect to get the same amount of donations this upcoming year?
JN: We think the donations will only continue to increase. From a budget standpoint, inflation gets you every year and the cost of transportation is another major factor as well, but much of our budget is invested in scholarships. Funding the program will continue to go up, especially with the different requirements we’ll be required to implement.
TJ: What do you think about renewing the rivalry with both SDSU and NDSU and joining The Summit in 2012?
JN: As a department, we have talked about it quite a bit. It’s all about anticipation and planning. What we hope to do is capitalize on the time we have between the announcement of joining The Summit League a month ago and the first official games in the conference. We are also looking to raise the level of interest in our programs, not only by the D-1 transition, but with games against Great West Conference opponents and eventually Summit League opponents. We want to attract the casual fans along with our alumni because we know there are a couple of games out there that USD fans will have extreme interest in. A critical part about being a future member of The Summit League is knowing we’ll be in a conference with post-season opportunities so early in the transition.
TJ: Do you think the rivalry with SDSU will be as big as before?
JN: It will be new to a lot of the students and athletes because the games against SDSU haven’t happened in a few years, so it’s kind of a foreign idea on campus. From a fans standpoint, the rivalry will be just as frenzied as it was before. When you try and remember what the fans felt like on both sides, I don’t think that will go away. With our general student body who hasn’t experience it, it will be different for them. After seeing other rivalries like this one, it won’t take more than five minutes to find out that something is different about those games compared to other games.
TJ: How has the D-1 move brought more recognition to USD?
JN: I think we saw USD get a lot more recognition this year. Playing from coast-to-coast and at places like the University of North Carolina and Notre Dame will always add to the visibility of the institution. The conference affiliation will assist with this in the future.
TJ: How have the athletes dealt with the extra travel this year?
JN: I’ve talked with several student-athletes and they seemed to enjoy the travel and competition and seeing new things and traveling to new places. The teams went from one coast to the other and saw landmarks such as the Space Needle in Seattle, Wash. to Duke University’s Cameron Indoor Stadium in Durham N.C. A few of the players said they wish they had a couple of more years left to experience more.
TJ: How do you feel the football team will do this upcoming year?
JN: We have every reason to believe our football team will be very competitive this year. The schedule is more difficult schedule this year, with nine out of the 10 games being Football Championship Subdivision games. The team was competitive last year, which has helped their confidence going into this year. USD has one of the best quarterbacks at this level coming back and 10 out of 11 of the offensive starters back this year. The defense has gotten a lot faster as well. I think football will be able to hold their own this year.
Reach reporter TJ Jerke at Tyler.Jerke@usd.edu.
The Volante > News > Freshman Issue 2009
Nielsen: First D-I year went according to plan
Published: Tuesday, May 5, 2009
Updated: Tuesday, May 5, 2009
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