So I got my first chance to meet new AD Mark Jackson at yesterday's press conference. He seems like a genuinely good guy. Quick with a smile, very outgoing and friendly. He's going to be pretty easy to like, in my opinion. I also think he'll be much more Jim Phillips than Derrick Gragg -- out front, shaking hands and kissing babies, rather than being largely invisible.
I thought he "won" the press conference. (But, if you remember, Gragg won his press conference, too, so I don't think we should read much into that.) I thought Jackson was much better answering questions from the media than he was in his opening statement. That seemed boilerplate and not very personal. He was mostly reading it, and it sounded like it was written by a communications team. But he was at his best off the podium, when he met with reporters in a small group. He was relaxed and fielded all kinds of questions, positive and negative.
By the way, he's a pretty short guy -- probably around 5-8. He has the build of a football player, though, and more than one person told me they think he looks like Fitz. He's got a Fitz-shaped head, that's for sure.
I wrote about my biggest takeaway from the press conference: he seems very focused on maximizing revenue. That will likely equate to higher ticket prices. I know that they're just trying to remain competitive in the Big Ten; I just hope they don't drive loyal fans away. I know quite a few former STHs that felt priced out of season tickets at Martin Stadium, as well as the Wrigley games. I think we can give the athletic department a bit of a pass because they're just trying to get the most money they can out of a very small stadium and a very big hit to revenue. We'll see if the same scenario plays out at the new Ryan Field. I also think we're going to see a pretty significant restructuring of the athletic department relatively soon. He seems intent on running it more like a business.
I'll probably write at least one more story about Jackson. I thought he had a pretty good answer to my NIL question, as well as some other important issues. I also thought it was interesting that he took this job without ever visiting the campus. The interviews were mostly on Zoom. He called it one of the best jobs in college sports. That sounds like a standard statement from a new hire, but he backed it up with actions.
Near the end of the media scrum, I asked him how many purple ties he had and whether he just bought the one he was wearing. Somewhat surprisingly, it was a tie he previously owned. He said he owns five purple ties, and that was the fourth one he's worn. So he said he's got to make a trip to Macy's soon.
