Return to Pointer View home page February 11,  2005

New athletic director Anderson on the job 

Story and photo by Eric S. Bartelt
Leisure Editor  

Army football: "We will be competitive. We'll play competitive teams with our goal to make a bowl game. There's no reason to believe with the success at Navy and how they've done it, that it can't be done here." Army athletic director Kevin Anderson

Strong role models play an integral part in every successful person’s life and having that foundation can help create a domino effect that continues for generations.

New Army athletic director Kevin Anderson is the embodiment of hard work and character learned from a generation of men and women who blazed a path for him to being the man he is today.

Anderson is now a pioneer in his field, the first African-American to become an athletic director at any of the military academies, and he knows that he benefits from the people who established the opening.

“I’ve always been fortunate to have strong, black male role models in my life, starting with my father, Ralph, and uncles,” Anderson said. “My father was a sergeant in the Army and that’s how he raised us and instilled education, values and caring.”

The U. S. Military Academy leadership hired Anderson Dec. 13 from Oregon State after a successful stint where he helped balance the athletic department’s budget for the first time in nearly 15 years.

His wealth of sports knowledge also comes from stints at the University of California - Berkeley and Stanford University athletic departments.

But his path took a different direction in mid-stream as the San Francisco native spent the first 10 years of his working life at the Xerox Corporation.

“I fell into this (sports management) half-way through my tenure at Xerox,” Anderson said. “I was chosen to participate in a program to work with underprivileged young people in Oakland. I was working with kids that weren’t achieving higher standards in math and science.

“Through that, I saw that if you make an investment that those kids will flourish and when I returned to Xerox it wasn’t the same,” Anderson added.

During that time while he was officiating football with a high school friend, federal judge Mark Jacobs, they talked about sports administration and he recommended Anderson for a job at Stanford.

He would serve four years with the San Francisco Education Fund before he applied for a job at Stanford in 1993 and has never looked back since.

Since taking over as athletic director here Jan. 18, the 1979 San Francisco State University graduate has found the transition to be seamless due to the West Point community.

“I’ve felt welcomed since day one, this is truly family and to be accepted into the (academy) family the way I have been -- I can’t thank them enough,” Anderson said. “The community is making me feel that I’ve always been a part of this which makes the transition easier.

“I have a sense of pride and loyalty to the academy and I will put my best foot forward because of my position and the history of this place,” Anderson added.

A six-man panel went through an intense interview process to find the right man to replace former AD Rick Greenspan, who is now AD at Indiana University, and Anderson shined over seven other finalists, many of whom were West Point graduates.

“We had a strong field of applicants that included West Point graduates, career Army officers and professionals in sports administration,” said U. S. Military Academy Superintendent Lt. Gen. William J. Lennox Jr. “Among those talented prospects, we were looking for the right fit in terms of character, leadership, experience and vision. Kevin emerged as the best all-around candidate.”

As the passionate Anderson gets used to his new environment, he wants to evaluate every aspect of the Directorate of Intercollegiate Athletics.

“Prior to joining Oregon State University, President Ed Ray came aboard and said, “I’m going to be a freshman for the first six-to-nine months, so I can take everything in,” Anderson said. “I would like to think that I’m a plebe for six-to-nine months, not to say that I won’t make a decision that has to be made, but I truly want to get more of a flavor of the academy and its athletic department.”

The overseer of 25 Division I sports, Anderson begins his tenure here as the Army football team reverts back to independent status after seven less than spectacular seasons in Conference USA. Every Army football fan is looking forward to a more successful run under his and Bobby Ross’ guidance.

“We looked at our scheduling, how we schedule and determined to play teams with a profile more like the academy,” Anderson said. “We (Bobby Ross and I) talked strategy and I think we both believe we’re on schedule and there’s no doubt we believe that we will continue to progress.

“We will be competitive. We’ll play competitive teams with our goal to make a bowl game,” Anderson added. “There’s no reason to believe with the success at Navy and how they’ve done it, that it can’t be done here.”

Once Anderson became a serious candidate for the job at West Point, Oregon State AD Todd Stansbury talked about Ross being the man for the job here as they worked together at Georgia Tech.

“Todd told me there’s no finer man, not coach, but man, than Coach Ross,” Anderson said. “There’s no better man to put us back on track than Bobby Ross. I’ve worked with Bill Walsh, Tyrone Willingham and Jeff Tedford, all fine coaches, but I hold Coach Ross in the same light as those gentlemen if not more so.”

Working with the cadet athletes and Soldiers every day is also one of the big reasons he loves the job here because it solidifies his firm belief in leadership.

“I’ve worked at schools that compare academically, but the leadership qualities and values that these young people have is quite amazing,” Anderson said. “It’s an honor and a pleasure to work with these people because it helps me further myself everyday to continue to be an effective leader and hone my leadership skills.”

While settling into his job, Anderson tries to deflect the importance of his place as the first African-American AD in academy history.

The fact is there are only nine African-Americans who lead the 117 Division I-A athletic departments in the United States, and three were hired in December, which also included Daryl Gross at Syracuse University and McKinley Boston Jr. at New Mexico State, in addition to Anderson.

“I wish I could take credit for being the first, but I’ve been around people who’ve been the first all my life and haven’t gotten credit for it,” said the 49-year old AD. “They’re the ones who allowed me to be where I am right now. In one way it’s flattering, but in other ways it’s saddening because I’ve been around these people who should have benefited from what they did, but I’m just benefiting from the fruits of their labor.”

Since the days of Henry O. Flipper, who was the first African-American to graduate West Point in 1877, the academy has been a leader in its diversity and judging people on their merit more so than their ethnicity or the color of their skin.

“Civil-rights struggles in previous generations have liberated all of us, and today, minorities have more opportunities than ever,” Lennox said. “The U.S. Military Academy supports equal opportunity and enjoys access to a broad spectrum of candidates, with that being said, we hired Kevin Anderson because of his background and vision, not because of his race.”