San Diego Union-Tribune: Bryce Miller: New USD athletic director Kimya Massey sees broader horizons

Former COO at Oregon State says Toreros ‘will be in the game’ with NIL, sponsorships, more

 

Along the home side of Torero Stadium, sponsorship banners for Jersey Mike’s sandwiches, Gomez Trial Attorneys and others hang.

It’s what Kimya Massey does not see that has the wheels in his head churning.

The empty spaces winding around the stadium represent dollars unrealized and, in the increasingly cutthroat era of college athletics, opportunities missed.

In the six and a half months since Massey was introduced as athletic director at the faith-based university, he has toured facilities, met staff and gotten his legs under him like a newborn giraffe.

Now comes the number-crunching math for everything from sponsorships, coaching retention, quality scheduling and name, image and likeness (NIL).

Each and every dollar will be crucial if the Toreros are to compete in times like no other.

“We’re different than San Diego State. We’re different than UCSD,” said Massey, 47. “Each one is great and unique in their own ways. I think it’s being intentional about how you’re tapping into potential sponsors and markets.

“Which businesses have USD ties? I think those companies and organizations are going to see a return on investment that maybe they didn’t see before. We have to tell the story.”

Massey is not interested in becoming Oregon State, the university where he served as deputy athletic director and chief operating officer.

The Pac-12, now the “Pac-2”, leveraged advantages related to shared revenue in a large and name-brand conference. Massey needs USD to become the cream of the West Coast Conference and work from there.

USD has hired a full-time NIL position, potentially a first in the WCC. They launched Torero Exchange, a one-stop shopping website that is searchable by athlete or team for everything from signing autographs to personal appearances, social media campaigns and “shoutouts.”

There will be no cookie-cutter approach to this and shouldn’t be.

At Oklahoma State, larger attendance and mainstream TV coverage led to the football program sprinkling QR codes to benefit its NIL coffers on helmets and signage at Boone Pickens Stadium.

At USD, which opens its football season Saturday against Cal Poly, strategies must vary.

“We need to be in the game and we will be in the game,” Massey said. “One of the big priorities for me is raising more revenue and doing more sponsorships to increase the resources and support we do give our staff.

“We don’t look like a Power 4 school in terms of resources, especially knowing the industry changes. That said, can we be the best resourced at our level and in our league?”

Where does he start? At the start.

It seems clear that Massey yearns to lock down two of the most successful coaches on campus, Brock Ungricht in baseball and Jennifer Petrie in volleyball.

Part of retention also means facilities and travel to play the types of teams that sharpen steel and elevate profiles.

“In the WCC, some of our sports are pretty top-heavy in terms of the top four or five programs being really strong,” said Massey, who used the volleyball’s current trip to Hawaii as an example. “Then there’s a drop.

“So in your non-conference (schedule), you’ve really got to be competitive in who you’re playing. That means resourcing teams to go play Texas, go play Michigan.”

“Paying people competitive salaries is one thing, but they have to feel like they have the support staff and facilities. It’s both.”

So many dominoes. Which ones do you tip? And in what order?

Topple the right one or two and you might land a talented recruit. Misfire on gathered financial support and fall short. It’s a tricky business, College Athletics 2024.

“The exchange is not as fully active as we’d like it to be yet, but we’ll get there,” Massey said. “As far as NIL, you see these things about what kids are getting paid. I would say, honestly, that 90 percent of it is not true. There’s a lot of bravado out there. I’m going to be pretty aggressive on NIL. When we got here, we didn’t have the infrastructure for that.

“And we’re going to have the best facilities in the conference. I feel pretty confident that we can get there on that.”

That’s quite the to-do list, but Massey sees what can be mined.

“On NIL, the person we hired will provide education on that, stay up with NCAA legislation and help facilitate deals,” he said. “There’s also a tax literacy piece of this. It’s going to help us retain athletes.”

Those sponsorships and the ripples they create?

“We can really increase that,” Massey said.

There’s plenty of room at Torero Stadium.

Massey’s windup

University of San Diego athletic director Kimya Massey understands how to uncork a sales pitch, along with a baseball. He was a pitcher at Michigan State.

A few weeks ago, he threw out the first pitch at Petco Park.

“I’ve pitched at a lot of places, but not in front of (40,000 or so) at a Major League stadium,” he said. “I’ve been to about 25 parks, and Petco is the best one. Petco is 1A and Pittsburgh is 1B.”

Massey played in college with future big-leaguer Mark Mulder, an All-Star and Cy Young runner-up.

“The thing about Mark, he wasn’t only our best pitcher, but he probably was our best hitter because played two ways,” Massey said. “And he was an incredible golfer. He was just one of those guys, 6-6, 215, rolls out of bed and can hit 93, 94 (mph) and hit bombs and 325-yard drives. Must be nice, right?”

Nash Sanderson