By: Janie McCauley, Associated Press
SAN FRANCISCO - The main door to Debi Gore-Mann's office is usually open, and there's a comfy couch and a jar of candy on the desk. The University of San Francisco's energetic new athletic director has made this an inviting place, a rare bright spot in the basement of Memorial Gym.
So far, Gore-Mann has been an equally bright addition to a school striving to get the Dons back on the national map the way they were when Bill Russell and K.C. Jones starred for the basketball team a half-century ago.
"Really, the only long-term goal is winning, and winning with integrity," she said. "We want to be champions or near champions without tipping the field in our favor. College sports, it's so pure. Your career in some cases can hinge on a 19-year-old."
USF hired Gore-Mann away from Stanford in July, making her the first female athletic director in school history and only the third ever in the West Coast Conference. She knows of only two other black women ADs in the country, though the NCAA doesn't track race.
Gore-Mann loves it when athletes or coaches come by and plop down to take a load off or share what's on their mind. She even painted the walls white, covering up the aging wood paneling, and replaced a large conference table with the sofa.
Anything to rid the room of potential barriers.
"It was more like a lodge. I guess that door hasn't been open in like 20 years," she said. "The first day I was like, 'Boom' and I opened this door. For me, I've got to have an open-door policy."
Everybody has noticed how approachable she is. Gore-Mann sees her coaches in the mailroom and invites them to stop by for an informal chat.
She was all for her staff dressing up for Halloween and acknowledges that ideas sometimes come to mind while she's at home baking cookies.
"At the end of the day, we work with 18- to 22-year-olds," she said. "We're not IBM. We deal with young people. We need to keep it fun."
Once a staunch business woman, the 46-year-old Gore-Mann has an upbeat, outgoing personality and a refreshing blend of humility and competitive fire. She has been a sought-after executive in athletics almost from the first day she set foot on Stanford's campus again in 1999. She played basketball for the Cardinal from 1978-82.
"She's very bright and extremely hardworking," said Ted Leland, the former Stanford athletic director now working at Pacific. "She has a passion for sports. I thought she really had leadership potential. She has a certain effervescence in her personality."
Leland hired Gore-Mann, who has a master's degree in business administration from Stanford, away from Bechtel Enterprises, Inc., a premier engineering, construction and project management company. He'd heard about her from some alumni.
"After the first 15 minutes, I thought it was a deal I had to make," he said. "She was an ex-athlete with an MBA and had worked on Wall Street."
Gore-Mann served as senior associate athletic director and senior women's administrator at Stanford and the Cardinal won 14 Division-I national titles during her tenure.
At USF, Gore-Mann replaced Bill Hogan, who left the Hilltop after 15 years to take the same position at Seattle University. The Dons are coming off the most successful spring sports season in school history, highlighted by the baseball team's first NCAA regional berth.
"I will be transparent and honest," she said. "I have no secrets with my coaches."
In the mid-1950s, San Francisco won consecutive NCAA titles basketball championships. The Dons have a talented men's team this season that is counting on improved camaraderie and staying healthy to make them a contender in the WCC, which has been dominated by Gonzaga for most of the last decade.
Gore-Mann already had been commuting from Oakland to her alma mater, so now her drive is a shorter one.
"We've got some new energy with our new athletic director," said first-year USF women's basketball coach Tanya Haave. "And she's a ballplayer, which is great."
Gore-Mann's husband, Anthony, attended USF and played basketball for the Dons. The couple has a 10-year-old daughter, Quinci. Finding a school in an urban, diverse setting was paramount before Gore-Mann was going to leave Stanford.
She became the second woman in recent years to leave Stanford for an athletic director job. Cheryl Levick accepted an AD job at Santa Clara before taking over at Saint Louis University.
"I hope she does a good job," longtime Stanford women's basketball coach Tara VanDerveer said of Gore-Mann. "It does say something that two women left Stanford and became athletic directors."
While Gore-Mann realizes she is definitely in the minority as a black woman running a college athletic department, she doesn't make an issue of it. Others, she says, paved the way.
"It's still a small number," she said. "I don't think about it. I just do the job. I know there are women who have come before me and it wasn't like that, and I respect that completely. I don't want to make it seem like 'Gee, it's so easy.' They are the women who paid the dues so that it is easy, that people are respectful."
November 5, 2006
Debi Gore-Mann is a Bright Addition to USF Athletics
By: Janie McCauley, Associated Press
SAN FRANCISCO - The main door to Debi Gore-Mann's office is usually open, and there's a comfy couch and a jar of candy on the desk. The University of San Francisco's energetic new athletic director has made this an inviting place, a rare bright spot in the basement of Memorial Gym.
So far, Gore-Mann has been an equally bright addition to a school striving to get the Dons back on the national map the way they were when Bill Russell and K.C. Jones starred for the basketball team a half-century ago.
"Really, the only long-term goal is winning, and winning with integrity," she said. "We want to be champions or near champions without tipping the field in our favor. College sports, it's so pure. Your career in some cases can hinge on a 19-year-old."
USF hired Gore-Mann away from Stanford in July, making her the first female athletic director in school history and only the third ever in the West Coast Conference. She knows of only two other black women ADs in the country, though the NCAA doesn't track race.
Gore-Mann loves it when athletes or coaches come by and plop down to take a load off or share what's on their mind. She even painted the walls white, covering up the aging wood paneling, and replaced a large conference table with the sofa.
Anything to rid the room of potential barriers.
"It was more like a lodge. I guess that door hasn't been open in like 20 years," she said. "The first day I was like, 'Boom' and I opened this door. For me, I've got to have an open-door policy."
Everybody has noticed how approachable she is. Gore-Mann sees her coaches in the mailroom and invites them to stop by for an informal chat.
She was all for her staff dressing up for Halloween and acknowledges that ideas sometimes come to mind while she's at home baking cookies.
"At the end of the day, we work with 18- to 22-year-olds," she said. "We're not IBM. We deal with young people. We need to keep it fun."
Once a staunch business woman, the 46-year-old Gore-Mann has an upbeat, outgoing personality and a refreshing blend of humility and competitive fire. She has been a sought-after executive in athletics almost from the first day she set foot on Stanford's campus again in 1999. She played basketball for the Cardinal from 1978-82.
"She's very bright and extremely hardworking," said Ted Leland, the former Stanford athletic director now working at Pacific. "She has a passion for sports. I thought she really had leadership potential. She has a certain effervescence in her personality."
Leland hired Gore-Mann, who has a master's degree in business administration from Stanford, away from Bechtel Enterprises, Inc., a premier engineering, construction and project management company. He'd heard about her from some alumni.
"After the first 15 minutes, I thought it was a deal I had to make," he said. "She was an ex-athlete with an MBA and had worked on Wall Street."
Gore-Mann served as senior associate athletic director and senior women's administrator at Stanford and the Cardinal won 14 Division-I national titles during her tenure.
At USF, Gore-Mann replaced Bill Hogan, who left the Hilltop after 15 years to take the same position at Seattle University. The Dons are coming off the most successful spring sports season in school history, highlighted by the baseball team's first NCAA regional berth.
"I will be transparent and honest," she said. "I have no secrets with my coaches."
In the mid-1950s, San Francisco won consecutive NCAA titles basketball championships. The Dons have a talented men's team this season that is counting on improved camaraderie and staying healthy to make them a contender in the WCC, which has been dominated by Gonzaga for most of the last decade.
Gore-Mann already had been commuting from Oakland to her alma mater, so now her drive is a shorter one.
"We've got some new energy with our new athletic director," said first-year USF women's basketball coach Tanya Haave. "And she's a ballplayer, which is great."
Gore-Mann's husband, Anthony, attended USF and played basketball for the Dons. The couple has a 10-year-old daughter, Quinci. Finding a school in an urban, diverse setting was paramount before Gore-Mann was going to leave Stanford.
She became the second woman in recent years to leave Stanford for an athletic director job. Cheryl Levick accepted an AD job at Santa Clara before taking over at Saint Louis University.
"I hope she does a good job," longtime Stanford women's basketball coach Tara VanDerveer said of Gore-Mann. "It does say something that two women left Stanford and became athletic directors."
While Gore-Mann realizes she is definitely in the minority as a black woman running a college athletic department, she doesn't make an issue of it. Others, she says, paved the way.
"It's still a small number," she said. "I don't think about it. I just do the job. I know there are women who have come before me and it wasn't like that, and I respect that completely. I don't want to make it seem like 'Gee, it's so easy.' They are the women who paid the dues so that it is easy, that people are respectful."
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