The AthleticDirectorU Athletic Department Power Index, powered by Athlete Viewpoint, continues with a look at the Missouri Valley Conference. The Athletic Department Power Index will evaluate the desirability of Athletic Director jobs in every Division I conference across the country.
It’s imperative to note the Athletic Department Power Index is not intended or developed to analyze the performance or potential of the current Athletic Director at the respective institutions. Rather, it is an assessment of the opportunity generally through the eyes of both peers and aspirants to the position were it to become available.
Over 55 sitting Athletic Directors or executive-level administrators who currently are or could soon be a MVC AD were invited to share feedback on each AD job in the league. The data was used to provide detailed insights about the potential for success at each school.
The eight variables independently measured and utilized to determine the rankings include:
- Athletics facilities relative to MVC peers
- Perceptions about the ability to generate donor & corporate support for the athletics program
- Perceptions about institutional leadership (e.g. President, Trustees, C-Suite) in support of the athletic program
- Perceptions about the quality of the institution’s brand
- Potential for Men’s Basketball success relative to MVC peers
- Potential for success in non-revenue sports relative to MVC peers
- Potential to become a ‘Power 5’ AD from each institution
- Quality of Life (cost of living, schools, culture, geography) if all other factors were equal
Note: Respondents did weigh in on the viability of football compared to peers for Northern Iowa, Illinois State, Indiana State, Southern Illinois and Missouri State. Drake and Valparaiso football were held out of this query and will be compared to Pioneer League peers at a later date.
To view full results for every survey question, please visit the Athlete Viewpoint portal or scroll down for a recap.
Here are the overall rankings, with a rating of seven constituting a much better likelihood for success than other league AD jobs and one as a much worse likelihood for success:
Here are the full category by category ranking results:
Specifically, on the question of which MVC AD job has the best potential to lead to a ‘Power 5’ opportunity (graded on a scale of seven as ‘much better than peers’ & one as ‘much worse’):
Missouri Valley Conference Men’s Basketball has long been a player on the nation scene. Here’s how respondents qualified the ability for each member institution to have success in Men’s Basketball (graded on a scale of seven as ‘much better than peers’ & one as ‘much worse’):
This Athletic Department Power Index intends to review all Division I conferences in the coming months. As was the case with previous conferences covered, selected individuals will be invited to participate and share their views about specific conferences and the subsequent data will be shared in a similar manner. The technical expertise, survey development, survey distribution and data visualization are provided by Athlete Viewpoint.
Up next in the series: the Big East Conference.
