Woelk: CU's George Hits Three Years On The Job

BOULDER — Three years ago today, Rick George began his tenure as athletic director at the University of Colorado.

It's been a heck of a stretch.

The summer George was hired, I was a long way (literally and figuratively) from the daily happenings of the CU Athletic Department, but I still kept as close an eye as possible on what was occurring in Boulder. When I heard that George had been lured away from his job as COO the Texas Rangers, I was intrigued but not surprised.

George had always been a man who sought out challenges, going clear back to the time when he agreed to take on duties as recruiting coordinator for Bill McCartney and the Buffaloes. This was clearly just another test he couldn't wait to begin.

As George's first few weeks and months unfolded, there were challenges not even he could have anticipated. A thousand-year flood inundated Boulder, wreaking havoc on the community and campus. It meant canceling a football game with Fresno State and scrambling to find a substitute opponent, as well as myriad other problems.

But through it all — at least from a distance — George appeared to be unfazed, dealing with each obstacle as it arrived.

Still, I admit to chuckling when I began to read of his ambitious plans to actually begin construction of a new facility that would include an indoor practice building. Such a facility had been talked about for years at CU, but had never reached anything beyond the dream stage. Plans had been drawn, brochures had been distributed … but not as much as a shovelful of dirt had ever actually been turned.

I'd heard this story before, and knew how it always ended.

But barely a month after George started the job, he presented his plan to the CU Board of Regents, telling them it was a need, not a want. Three months later, he had their approval. Several months after that — less than a year into his tenure — those shovels did go into the ground.

And two years after his arrival, the Buffaloes were moving into a world-class facility, one that has become benchmark for universities and professional franchises around the world.

Today, I'm still smiling, but for a different reason. What George has accomplished in three years at CU has been nothing short of astounding. CU's facilities have gone from the lower tier of the Pac-12 to the upper echelon of the nation. Performance by student-athletes in the classroom is better than ever. Athletic successes are steadily improving and fundraising is at an all-time high.

It's the work of a man who has built an almost unprecedented coalition between the community, the campus and the athletic department.

But what makes me smile today is when I hear George described as a "man of vision." I laugh because many years ago, I wrote those same words about another Colorado leader. My editor at the time, a crusty old newspaperman who spent a career covering CU, snorted with derision when he read the description.

"Woelk, everybody has a vision," he said. "All of us can sit around and dream about what we'd like to see. Marolt is a man of execution — that's what makes him different."

Yes, I had written those words about another CU athletic director, Bill Marolt.

Marolt took over a department that had been beset by financial difficulties and was just beginning to emerge from the troubles. He inherited a football coach he didn't hire. And yet, by the time he left Colorado for another challenge, he had built CU's athletic department into a national model of success — replete with what was then a state-of-the-art facility, the Dal Ward Center.

Rick George has faced many of the same circumstances — and has already delivered some remarkable results.

George is also a man of execution. When George is presented with a problem, he asks why it occurred, what can be done to correct the issue and how the solution can be implemented.

Then, he begins the task of getting from point A to point B. It's a matter of execution — and he is a master of the process.

As people read these words — written at my desk in the new Champions Center as one of George's employees — the natural reaction will be, "Of course he's complimentary. He's writing about his boss."

But I am comfortable with the belief that if I were still writing for the local newspaper, I'd be writing virtually the exact same words — but without the more intimate knowledge of how George operates.

Over the last year, I've had the opportunity to watch him work and observe his style. It's been an education.

I've had people tell me "Rick George hates to lose."

Yup — don't we all? And don't we all have vision?

But George approaches defeat the same way he approaches every other problem. Why did it happen, what can he do to ensure that it doesn't happen again, and how do we get there. He inspires confidence. He has galvanized a community and campus. He has earned the trust of CU leaders and delivered results that have rewarded that trust.

And he's by no mean finished. He has more plans, more ideas of how to continually build CU into an athletic department that will be a national standard — and he knows how he will execute those plans.

Is he infallible? Of course not. He hired me, an old newspaper hack. But he's made the best of the situation and has allowed me to cover CU athletics much as I would if I were still writing for the local paper. No censorship, no editorial restrictions. His only dictum has been, "Tell the truth."

Earlier this summer, we wrote a story about George's first 1,000 days at CU. It outlined the successes and detailed what he still wants to accomplish. He agreed to talk about those first 1,000 days, but not without some hesitancy.

George isn't a man who seeks attention. Ask him about CU's student-athletes and he'll talk as long as you'll listen. Ask him about what he believes the University of Colorado can become, and he'll give you details and plans you didn't know could exist.

But ask him to talk about himself and it's usually a very short conversation.

It's why I didn't bother to interview him for this column. I know what he'd say. It would be some version of, "We've accomplished a lot but we have a lot more to do."

Three years? George admits it has seemed much longer in some respects. In others, he says, time has virtually flown by.

But one thing is certain: there is more to come. Much, much more.

Rick George isn't just a man of vision. He's a man of execution — and the next three years promise to be very, very interesting.

Contact: Neill.Woelk@Colorado.edu

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