Indiana's new AD takes on dream job during trying times

Two days after Scott Dolson accepted his dream job, he walked into an unimaginable transition.

Indiana's newly selected athletic director locked himself into his office while those nearby worked with skeleton crews. Students were gone. Spring sports had been canceled and the anticipation of seeing the Hoosiers' men's and women's basketball teams start NCAA Tournament runs had ended.

Instead, Dolson did his introductory news conference by phone, unable to predict when things could return to normal — or how all these changes may affect the department's fiscal bottom line.

It's the new reality for athletic departments everywhere.

“What we've been doing here in the last few days is trying to evaluate as best we can the impact on canceled events, the impact on what we're hearing in potential NCAA Tournament money, trying to figure out the impact," he said Thursday. “We're doing all we can to be on the offensive, knowing there are other measures we can take now, knowing we could take some hits, to mitigate those as best we can.”

Dolson understands the challenge better than most, having weaved his way through the ranks from student basketball manager in the fall of 1984 through his most recent job as the department's deputy athletic director and chief operating officer.

But whenever the retiring Fred Glass actually leaves this summer, Dolson will inherit a situation nobody could have foreseen even a month ago.

He doesn't know when games will resume or classes will restart. He's not sure when athletes will again be able to participate in group workouts. And even a self-avowed numbers guy can't say whether Indiana's streak of operating in the black every fiscal year since 2009 will remain intact.

What he, like counterparts at other schools, is trying to do now is remain nimble with so much in flux.

“We haven't really gotten into too much trying to project how long it's going to go on," Dolson said, referring to his most recent conversations with Glass. “But we have talked about sort of our transition moving forward."

Dolson appears to be as well-positioned to take over in these unprecedented times as anyone could.

He became Glass' right-hand man in 2009 after spending seven years in charge of the school's Varsity Club. He's overseen compliance services, athletic performance, finances, strategic communications, fan experience and an array of facilities upgrades that Dolson and Glass continually funded without deficit spending.

The projects have included upgrades for everything from the football stadium to the venerable Assembly Hall to baseball and softball fields, the golf course, even lower-profile Olympic sports.

And while some funding came from the shared revenue of the Big Ten Network, it's unclear how the cancellation of the league's men's basketball tournament and the subsequent ticket refunds coupled with the potential of multi-million dollar losses from NCAA Tournament payouts may impact the Hoosiers' budgets this year or next.

For now, Dolson is doing what he can to adapt.

“It's really important for me, we have an incredible relationship with our (university) CFO, John Sejdinaj, who is extremely talented," Dolson said. “We meet regularly with him, coordinate all our financial aspects with him. That's critical moving forward."

Budgeting is only part of the issue.

After seeing the Hoosiers football team post its best record since 1993, the Hoosiers men's basketball team projected to make its first NCAA Tourney since 2016 and the Hoosiers women's basketball team seemingly in the mix to host NCAA Tourney games, Indiana had momentum heading into the summer and fall ticket seasons.

Now, with everything on hold, Dolson must figure out how to keep generating excitement with a fan base that knows winning has suddenly taken a backseat to public safety.

“While I'm humbled and honored, I want to make clear our focus has been and will continue to be on the pandemic and dealing with the current challenges," he said. “Without question, the health and safety of our student-athletes, coaches and staff is our No. 1 priority and we will do everything we can to support all of our IU athletics family in any way possible moving forward."

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