Jared Benko spoke to the media Monday morning at the Sukup End Zone Club. Benko, a University of Georgia alumnus, will be the 15th athletic director in Iowa State history. He officially starts on Oct. 30, pending approval from the Iowa Board of Regents.
The following is a question “Q:” and answer “Benko:” transcript.
Q: You told us in the opening statement why Iowa State. To zoom out a bit, I want to ask why a place like Iowa State here in the Big 12, where, and pardon me for using a strawman argument, some may say teams in the Big 12 have hit their ceiling, a lot of them, it might not get the same level of resources as some brand names like your previous employer, Auburn, or your alma mater, Georgia or other teams in the SEC and the Big 10. Why is it that this type of school and specifically this school appealed to you?
Benko: I wouldn’t be here if I thought Iowa State had hit its ceiling. In today’s world, there’s the economics of college athletics. Everyone has their headwinds and challenges. I think, to me, what gives me great confidence here is you can’t undervalue the fan base here. When I first got in the process and you look at since 2011, averaging over 50,000 fans in football, 12,000 in men’s basketball and north of 6-8,000 in women’s basketball, that’s unbelievable. So, first and foremost, you’ve got the fan base here that supports day in, day out. You can’t undervalue or overstate that enough. Two, I think it also is about people in alignment. I mean, with the job that Jamie did here and whatother staff have done from a, fiscal management standpoint, it really positioned Iowa State to do all these investments and facilities.
I would say that I still like the best is yet to come and really CyTown development, I think it’s a really kind of a look-in of, of the innovation that can come. But listen, every school in the country is having to, to turn over every rock to find different revenue streams. The great thing here is there’s been a long history of managing money well, but in today’s world, you’ve got to also produce it. I think this is a tremendous foundation. I’ve spent time mostly in, in small college towns or rural areas, and this is a great fit for us as a family. It checked all the boxes.
Q: Your interesting background when you started Starkville, places before that, but then Georgia, Southern, Auburn, what makes you uniquely qualified in your opinion for this athletic department?
Benko:I think in today’s world, you have to be fluent in every facet of a department. For a long time we all kind of came up through specialties, right? Mine was through finance and tremendous skill set to have. I think the time at Georgia Southern leading the department where I was mostly external raising resources and again where you had no backstop, had tremendous alignment and support, but no backstop. Even at Auburn, where you’re competing against some of the largest resource schools in the country, you really focus a lot on revenue generation, but then you tackle on the front office management. That’s been a change for all of us post-House settlement where you’ve got to build out a front office, you’ve got contracts, negotiations. Every core facet of responsibility that you need to really be successful, I feel like in this role, I feel like I’ve done at a high level with, with some, building out some really high-performing teams.
The reality is you’re only as good as those around you, and we’ve got a great team at Iowa State, and it’s not just me, it’s gonna be everyone in the department pulling together. That was the mission or really the, the vision today to lead out to our department was saying, hey, listen, this is gonna take a, it’s gonna take a village to get Iowa State to where we want o, get it to, but we have some incredible people here. So I think it’s past experiences and I think it’s a tremendous foundation that Jamie laid that really gives me confidence that we can take this place in new heights.
Q: Most of your résumé has a lot of SEC schools, but what were some things that you felt you could have only learned at Georgia Southern as your time as an AD there that helped enhance the way you approach your job when you returned to Auburn and now when you come here to Iowa State?
Benko: When you become an AD or any role in life, right, you don’t really know what to expect until you get in the role, right? And so. I think we’d be remiss that there’s things that you go back and say, man, I really did a great job there and I could have done better here. I do think when you, anytime you lead an organization, you find out, one, it just, it’s sometimes more affirmation of how you want to lead, right? But also two, you realize when you’re at a place at a group of six school, where again, we have tremendous support, tremendous alignment, but the resources aren’t there. Sometimes you have to measure 3-4 times before you cut, and I think that, that really honed in on me of being resourceful.
So whether you’re leading the department of 150 employees or leading one with over 500, there’s a lot of similarities there. I left Georgia Southern because I saw the change in the landscape and really with post-House and so seeing where the front office piece and the contracts were going, I wanted to make sure I was at the tip of the spear. To work with the SEC office and others to make sure, cause listen, we’re all drivers, like really hyper-competitive. I want to be one of the best in the country. Part of that was getting back to the SEC, taking what I learned at Georgia Southern, which a lot of the leadership skills, a lot of the external experience that you also need, and then you get a chance to really use it at Auburn, and the great thing we did at Auburn, again, we have a fantastic leadership from the president on down to the AD. We have the ability to cross-pollinate across departments, and that’s not usual. A lot of times departments get saladed up and kind of have their, their various responsibilities. At Auburn, we’ve done a great job of cross-pollinating, working across the aisle, and I think all that is a culmination of the experience that I have.
Q: When it comes to the future, which of course is rife with uncertainty as you all have referenced, how does innovation play in when it comes to probably sometimes you need to take bold swings, sometimes you have to take a measured approach? It’s a case by case basis, I’m sure as fast as it moves.
Benko: There’s obviously, sometimes you come into an organization, there’s low-hanging fruit, and there’s sometimes, I think the CyTown piece is a great example of innovation that really runs through campus and runs through the leadership. We’re not gonna be innovative just to be innovative, but I do think that what you’re seeing is college sports for a long time has been a decade behind professional sports. When you look at the professional sports model, they’ve been owners and operators, an, they’re commercial entities oftentimes are more profitabl, than the, the teams that they actually own and operate. So for us, With our fan base and again our donor base who’s been so supportive, we’re always gonna make sure that everything we do is to position our student-athletes for success on and off the field. You have to continue to find ways to improve the economic engine. So that commercialization piece is what we’re gonna be looking at. Listen, we’re gonna bring some different events and initiatives to Ames that may seem out of left field, and we’re not afraid to fail at times and, and fail forward and try to learn from it.
But we’re gonna be innovative in everything we do, and I think part of that is there’s some things that I think will really be again, low-hanging fruit. There’s some things we’re gonna need to sit and marinate on and talk to people, but I’m not as concerned with that cause innovation runs through the heart of this campus, and we’re hopefully and excited to be part of that.
Q: You’ve talked a lot about attacking change and turning over every rock for revenue.
How have you done that and how will you do that here while still keeping the games and athletics affordable and accessible for fans and students?
Benko: I think that’s, that’s why you do it, right? I think part of it is there’s some schools out there that are just tax the consumer, and I think one want to make sure you tell the fans thank you and the supporters and the donors and alumni, thank you, because this is not possible without them. I do think that what you’re seeing are different ways to bring new offerings to fans. Oftentimes they go to an MLB ballpark, an NBA game or NFL game, they’re seeing, and so part of that is just trying to continue to learn more about the fan.
I’ll give you a great example. Historically, you know, a fan purchases a ticket and maybe you have a little bit of information. But what we’ve done in the past is start connecting, what are their concession purchases, what are their retail purchases, and you start building profiles of ways we can continue to enhance their experience. I think part of that is using the past fan surveys and trying to make sure that we’re listening to fans and being attentive. I think also what I’ve found, honestly, the best feedback from is getting out and visiting fans and tailgates, greeting them at the gates. I’ve done that before and I always appreciate candor, and some people will sometimes tell you more than you want to hear. All kidding aside, you just gotta be humble enough to listen and learn and ultimately understand that we’re gonna try some different things. So with Auburn, we’ve, I shared with President Cook a lot of things we’ve done. I’s not just concerts, it’s not just entertainment. We just had Nate Bargatze last week in comedy. So we’re gonna continue to push the envelope, but hopefully, it’s bringing things in line with our mission and enhance the community.
Q: As you look at your future in the next year ahead, what are some specific things that you would like to accomplish between today and the next 365 days?
Benko: Immediately it’s getting out and talking to people. today we had a chance to meet with all the staff and all the head coaches and really digest and then synthesize a lot of information. I will tell you what’s front of mind for me is making sure with football with Jimmy, I mean, we’ve got the ’27 signing class offers going out here soon. I had a chance to visit with him yesterday, so it’s really good that we’re on the same page, but also opportunities to, to re-sign guys and then ultimately the portal. So I gotta make sure we’re there. With T.J. and, and, and Bill and the staff on, on their assignees and all our coaches, so it’s really right now making sure they have the resources they need to be successful.
I shared with them this morning also too, my job is to remove roadblocks. I’m not gonna have all the answers day one, but I do think it’s, it’s making sure, meeting them at their venue, learning about their programs, getting in front of all the student-athletes and it’s the same thing with donors. I look forward to get on the road and visit all 99 counties. It’s gonna take a little bit of time. I look forward to that because, see, to me, I’m energized by people, and I also wanna know that, like what makes Iowa State special, what we may need to make sure we never change, and what are some things that we can enhance. I think that sometimes you have to really get boots on the ground. So I’m not gonna sit here and tell you it’s a listening tour for 6 months. There’ll be a lot of listening, but there’s gonna be decisive action when needed as well.
Every job is different, every opportunity is different. I’m very fortunate and very blessed to come in behind Jamie because he has a great staff. He has a legacy to live on for a long time, and, and we had a, Jamie and I talked on Friday, and he’s offered to be of assistance and, and so, you know, I think there’s so many great people that want to see Iowa State be successful that, um, it’s really a chance to connect that first year with them.
Q: I’m curious, before you were even in the running for this job growing up in this industry, what did you know about Iowa State and maybe what have you learned through this entire process?
Benko: The fan support to me is always, that’s synonymous – I’ve also had, we’ve had several friends and former coaches, obviously, Alex Golesh, at Auburn and Charlie Henry at Georgia Southern. Both have told me Ames is their, their favorite place they’ve lived. So to me that carries a lot of weight. The other thing I heard were the fans and donors and the staff want to find every reason to like you. I understand it’s not about likability, but it really spoke to just how people in this community come together. So that’s what I knew about it. I talked to T.J. about it the other day about the Sweet 16, the Maui, but also seeing them in, in a tournament in the past and, it’s amazing when you turn on the TV, both in football, basketball, women’s basketball, wrestling, you name it.
To me, the passion is what I’m used to, 365 and my experiences. To me, I just, that really attracts me and really appeals to me. That’s really what stuck out. The last piece too is just what a great community. When you look at our research and being an R1 institution and the first land grant institution in the country.
Q: Wondering on facilities that was something that I think was kind of put on the back burner. There was a wrestling facility planned, that was kind of put to the back burner with the rev share NIL kind of coming around. I know that that was one of your focuses at a previous stop was facilities. Where do you kind of see that at Iowa State and anything in particular you’ll be taking a look at?
Benko:I think there’s, there’s no right or wrong answer. I think you want to try to do it all, but not the sacrifice of not doing anything. And so I’ve got a lot to learn about that facility. I’ve heard some really unique design on that also, there’s some opportunities, I think at Hilton as well. I need to come in and listen and learn and, and take it all into context, cause I think right now for a long time, you could, you know, you go back 5-10 years ago, you really could make facilities a priority. We’re gonna continue to make them a priority, but you’ve got to balance a little more than you did 5, 10 years ago. So, I’ve got a lot of listening and learning to do when I get, when I get here officially.