Approaching the two-year anniversary of his hiring, UTPB Athletic Director Todd Dooley is looking to forge a new source of pride for the community with his program.
Hailing from the small, East Tennessee town of Seymour, Dooley took over the UTPB athletic program in November of 2020.
Prior to taking the helm of the Falcons’ program, he served as the Associate AD for Compliance at the University of Tennessee for 15 years before becoming the Executive Associate AD at the University of Louisiana Monroe.
The jump from an SEC thoroughbred to an FBS program gave him an advantage coming into the new opportunity in Odessa.
“Going from the SEC to the lowest resourced FBS program in the country, and definitely, in that conference, it changes your perspective on how to manage and utilize your resources,” Dooley said. “That gave me a good perspective to come into this job and go, okay I know how to manage these resources, I know how to handle them in a way that’s responsible.”
The journey at UTPB, however, hasn’t been easy for Dooley.
Hired in the midst of a pandemic, he’s not only managed to keep the program afloat, but also has seen immediate success since his arrival.
The football program went to its first bowl game in the school’s history in 2021, while the men’s basketball program had its first winning season in three years.
“We’re doing some things on a competitive level that we’ve never done before here,” Dooley said.
But the man at the helm of the Falcons’ program doesn’t want the success to stop there.
“We want to be in the top third of the Lone Star Conference,” he said. “Drawing comparisons between D1, the Lone Star Conference is a lot like the SEC.
“Any given week, you might be playing a top-10, top-25 team in your own league. We want to be in the mix competing for championships. If you’re in the top third of the LSC, you’re getting a ranking, you’re in the mix for making the NCAA Tournament, all of those things. That’s where we want to be competitively, with all our sports.”
How does he plan to do it?
For Dooley, it comes down to building the right culture. That starts by hiring the right coaches.
“We’ve hired, and continue to hire a really good stable of coaches that understand that we have to compete at a high level here,” he said.
The Falcons AD doesn’t go about his hirings like one might think, however.
Rarely do we talk X’s and O’s on a given sport,” Dooley said. ““It’s my opinion that any coach worth his or her salt knows that, and there’s no one way to coach a team or place players on the field of competition to be successful.
“What we preach and what we strive for is culture. Do they fit our philosophy, do we fit what they want to achieve and accomplish? Do our values align?”
He sees it as a huge step toward getting the program closer to those championship aspirations.
“I think people sense the change here culturally. We want to have that culture that overwhelmingly draws people. People are attracted and really want to be involved in something that is special in that way,” Dooley said.
He also believes in bringing up coaches from lower levels of collegiate athletics rather than bringing on someone with D1 experience.
“I’ve had a lot of conversations with assistants at the D1 level, and honestly, they were quite alluring,” Dooley said.
But while the short-term gains might be great, it doesn’t help to build the type of championship program that he’s looking for.
“It makes a splash, you’d win the press conference by introducing someone with D1 experience,” Dooley said. “But then over time, it loses luster because they feel boxed in from a resource standpoint.
“They feel like you’ve done them a disservice, or there might be a seed for resentment to grow.”
So far, his philosophy has paid off.
Hires like golf coach Kyle Wittenbach, who came from D2 Ferris State in Michigan, have seen immediate success with increased resources in the Permian Basin.
UTPB recently had its best golf signing class in school history, recruiting eight international players and the No. 1 junior college player in the nation in Sangha Park, who played at Odessa College the past two years.
Moves like that have lit a fire, not only under the growing athletic program at the university, but in the community as well.
“I think Odessa, Midland, and the Permian Basin in general, are recognizing the value of UTPB and our athletics program. The support that I’ve had in the community is outstanding,” Dooley said.
“They’re starting to pay attention. I think something you lose from time to time locally you take for granted. The university, historically, has always been at this level, and when something like that happens people go, ‘oh wow.’”
As the program continues to grow, Dooley recognizes the need for new facilities on campus.
“I want us to revitalize and revamp our facilities,” he said. “Soccer we need a permanent facility, a basketball arena, and an on-campus football stadium.
“All of those, from a facility standpoint, are driving every conversation we have. The campus is going through a transformation, and athletics will be included in that.”
While the athletics program is growing rapidly, Dooley also believes that UTPB is in the right place for the time being.
“There’s been a lot of talk about going D1, and there’s been a lot of conference realignment with Texas and Oklahoma announcing that they’re joining the SEC and all the trickle-down effect that causes,” Dooley said.
“We’re not ready yet.”
While he believes that the Permian Basin could be a “serious player” in D1 in the future, D2 provides a great home for a developing program to gain its wings.
“I think that D2 collegiate athletics are the purest form of collegiate athletics that the NCAA sponsors,” Dooley said. “You have such a disruptive landscape going on in D1 that you don’t know what it’s going to look like a year from now, two years, five years from now.”
For the time being, the Falcons’ program has its sights set on a singular goal, or perch if you will.
“We’re gonna be an elite athletic program in the Lone Star Conference,” Dooley added.
Follow Nicholas Pursley on Twitter @nicholaspursley.
