00;00;01;12 - 00;00;23;14
Joe Carr
Welcome to the Providence College podcast. My name is Joe Carr. Our producer today is Chris Judge. Today's guest is PC athletic director Steve Napolillo. While new on this job, Steve succeeded Bob Driscoll on July 1st. He has been a Friar Town fixture since 2004, serving in a variety of roles, including senior associate aid for external relations since 2014.

00;00;24;00 - 00;00;45;11
Joe Carr
No less an authority than Bob Driscoll himself called Steve the perfect successor, saying So much of what we've been able to accomplish has been due to the hard work and dedication of Steve. He has spent so many years in service to the college that he brings an overwhelming amount of knowledge and experience to the position. I'm confident that you'll have a long and productive tenure leading the athletic department.

00;00;45;20 - 00;00;49;06
Joe Carr
So, Steve, no pressure. Thanks for joining us.

00;00;49;07 - 00;00;52;11
Steve Napolillo
Joe, Thanks for having me. So excited to be here.

00;00;52;24 - 00;00;56;10
Joe Carr
What have the first few weeks on the job been like for you? Any surprises?

00;00;57;02 - 00;01;27;01
Steve Napolillo
You know, it's you know, just first off, to be able to follow Bob's build and an incredible, incredible journey, I'm grateful. But the first month has really been, you know, as you're getting into a new role, is listening. I've been meeting with as many people as possible, both internally, externally and fellow athletic directors, both locally and nationally, to really, as they've gone through it, things to really ask, things to look for.

00;01;27;03 - 00;01;48;00
Steve Napolillo
And, you know, when you go to the big chair is, you know, I know so many people here, but it is a different view because you're making decisions where before you were giving advice and, you know, someone else had the final say. And now as you're going through the process, you have to make the final decision. So it's been exciting.

00;01;48;17 - 00;02;13;19
Steve Napolillo
I love walking around. I love hearing from so many people throughout the Friar community and it's just a you know, I always say it's like when you talk about the formula for Coke or Del's lemonade, people don't know what the formula is, but it's special. That's Providence College is an amazing, amazing formula that makes PC special. You don't know exactly what it is.

00;02;13;19 - 00;02;17;17
Steve Napolillo
You don't know exactly how to say it, but it's just a special place.

00;02;17;21 - 00;02;29;12
Joe Carr
Yeah, there's sort of two ways to come into a job like this through the ranks or from outside. I suppose each could have its advantages, but when you're trying to identify that formula, at least you have a sense of what it is because you've been part of it, right?

00;02;29;24 - 00;02;49;22
Steve Napolillo
Well, I think that's really well said. I think there's positives and negatives to both. Right. You know, you people know your strengths and weaknesses and you know their strengths and weaknesses. And what I've said to the team is, you know, all of us have to have a first day attitude is one of the things that coming in as an internal candidate, you can hit the ground running.

00;02;50;04 - 00;03;09;23
Steve Napolillo
You know, you have the relationships built. You know where you need to go. I have a vision. You know, I keep always saying is my platform every day for everyone who's part of this is purpose with passion. I want everybody to wake up. I don't care if you're a coach. I don't care if you're an administrator, student athlete.

00;03;10;02 - 00;03;28;06
Steve Napolillo
I want everyone to wake up every day with a purpose. I think, you know, when you look at what everyone's had to go through with the pandemic, you know, people have taken a toll mentally, physically and just trying to find where they fit in. And, you know, the holistic approach for me as a leader is to really look at it.

00;03;28;06 - 00;03;40;24
Steve Napolillo
So everyone wakes up, it has a purpose. They try and achieve it. So when they go to bed at night, they feel good. And if they can impact one or the person and impact one or the goal we're trying to achieve, we're going to be really successful here.

00;03;41;01 - 00;04;00;16
Joe Carr
When we think about sports, we think about the seasons and the kind of cycle of preparation. Purpose and passion have to be part of that, but it's really underway as we look around the campus. There's student athletes here, I think many fans, but we don't really understand and realize what happens during the summer. Can you give us kind of a thumbnail sketch of what's going on to get ready for the seasons and various sports?

00;04;00;27 - 00;04;33;20
Steve Napolillo
Well, the coaches and I always laugh when you see someone said, you guys get the whole summer off and but, you know, these jobs are 24 seven. And, you know, from the coaches, administrators, you know, you're planning continually on how to succeed, both scheduling, both sports nutrition, strength and conditioning, getting ready for pre-seasons from it's, you know, rooming from food from travel these go on a Joe as you said our kids have been here summer school has been going on double sessions.

00;04;34;01 - 00;04;57;12
Steve Napolillo
A lot of the kids like our basketball programs. Today's our last day where they get to go home for three weeks. They've been here all summer for double sessions with both summer school and working out. But our soccer programs are here. Our field hockey programs, our volleyball's, our hockey programs. So it really is, you know, full go. And to be great, you have to be committed all the time.

00;04;57;12 - 00;05;24;25
Steve Napolillo
And what these student athletes do to be successful, what our coaches do, it really is amazing to watch. And but that's why we take so much pride. That's why we're so grateful to our supporters who give us the resources to be able to provide summer school and the support to be successful. So it really is amazing to watch from the inside and hopefully the results when the seasons come.

00;05;25;14 - 00;05;29;28
Steve Napolillo
All that hard work you put in the summer, you know, it's shown at the at the end of the year.

00;05;30;03 - 00;05;49;29
Joe Carr
From a men's basketball perspective, I think fans will always remember the summer of 2022 because of what happened in late July, and that was the friends of prior basketball series of events that brought together players, coaches, staff members and fans focusing in particular on the 1987 and 1997 teams. How did that come about and what were some of the highlights from your perspective?

00;05;50;18 - 00;06;27;21
Steve Napolillo
You know, I give Harold Starks a lot of credit. The Friends of Friar Basketball is something they started over ten years ago. And he had been talking about, you know, for a ten year anniversary, you know, doing something special for the 97 and 87 Final Four teams as it was their 35th and 25th anniversary. And what was unique is that group when it first started and I give Coach Curry lot of credit because as he's built a really successful program, you can see the former players getting great pride of coming back and wanting to be part of the Friar family again, saying they wore the Friar Jersey.

00;06;27;21 - 00;06;54;13
Steve Napolillo
And as Harold and I had conversations, I think what was unique about it was coming together, both with the partnership of the school and the hard work that Harold Ryan Ford, Quintin Buckner put together to get over 150 players and coaches to come back. You know, that was really going to be a player and coaches event. And when they talked about we talked about, hey, we got to put something where the community, the fans can hear that.

00;06;54;13 - 00;07;15;26
Steve Napolillo
And, you know, I could listen to Coach Pitino, Billy Donovan and Coach Gill, and I could see those guys were incredible to listen to. And when when you think about the legacy and the people who have been part of the Friar family and now a coach Cooley following Coach Welsh who is there, it's it's really, really special. And I love that stuff.

00;07;15;26 - 00;07;33;26
Steve Napolillo
And I think as we move forward, it's really. Joe, I think if you heard my opening remarks is doesn't matter when you play, it doesn't matter who you play for, how many minutes you played, how many points you scored. Once you wear that jersey, you're part of a Friar family and we'll fight. Like I said, you know, Italian families fight.

00;07;33;26 - 00;07;39;12
Steve Napolillo
I know better than ever. But you know, your family, you get through it and this will always be home for everyone.

00;07;39;18 - 00;07;46;10
Joe Carr
What's the kind of long term value of something like an event like that at what can be sort of the implications as we look forward?

00;07;46;27 - 00;08;07;07
Steve Napolillo
Well, I don't care any sport, but, you know, that was all the men's and women's basketball players were invited to come back was our current players were there. So it shows them you're part of a fraternity forever and this is your family. It doesn't matter if you played in the 6070s, eighties, nineties, 2000s are today you are part of something bigger than you can even comprehend.

00;08;07;20 - 00;08;33;20
Steve Napolillo
So that when you wear that jersey, take great pride in it, you know, and and know that you're representing hundreds of people who came before you and hundreds of people will follow you. And I think that's really powerful. Joe. And when you see the successful people who have going on, like, you know, I grew up a huge Billy Donovan fan, I'll never forget I met Billy Donovan at St Joseph's Church.

00;08;34;05 - 00;08;50;11
Steve Napolillo
Dave Lucy was a season ticket holder. He took them to Mass on Sunday and he brought I got to take a picture with him, Coach Donovan at Pop Louis. And I was like in awe. And, you know, I had grown up, you know, my dad was a huge friar fan, and he took my first game when I was eight years old.

00;08;50;25 - 00;09;09;16
Steve Napolillo
And I was addicted since then. And, you know, I wanted to be Billy Donovan and those dreams crashed really early. As you know, Coach Judge can tell you here is I could shoot the lights out, but I always tell people I if I could run, jump and had any athleticism, I'd be a D1 basketball player. But I was just missing those three key ingredients.

00;09;09;16 - 00;09;34;25
Steve Napolillo
But, you know, just, you know, Providence College basketball really makes fans from a young age. And, you know, I think last year going to the game, seeing the dunk throughout, I don't care if you're at the dunk, you're at Schneider Alumni Hall, Anderson Field is you look at all the young people who are becoming Friar fans. To me, that's really, really special.

00;09;34;25 - 00;09;48;23
Steve Napolillo
And that's the next generation who you want coming to Providence College Plie and being students that great fans become our season ticket holders and really carry on the tradition of what makes Providence College in Providence College Athletics really special.

00;09;48;27 - 00;10;02;28
Joe Carr
And you can see that from a number of angles. Your own experience, you have young children. So this Chris, by the way, living in Rhode Island. So do you see an opportunity here to take purposeful measures, to do specific kinds of things, to build on that enthusiasm with young people?

00;10;03;11 - 00;10;25;29
Steve Napolillo
We're going to be relaunching a whole new kids club this year. Joe. We've got new Huxley, animation's coming, you know, and I'm really excited, as Chris knows, is, you know, my kids love sports and, you know, Drew's ten now and he's, you know, he's done more in Friar Town than I've ever done. But it's really great to see as a parent how excited they get.

00;10;25;29 - 00;10;47;27
Steve Napolillo
You know, when you see them at the game or watching the games or when they're walking on campus. And he loves wearing friar gear. So I think, you know, it really is special. It starts at a young age and that affinity to the PC logo and the PC gear and, you know, the student athletes and the coaches, it's something when you start young, they're hooked.

00;10;48;02 - 00;11;07;06
Steve Napolillo
So and it impacts everything because many of those kids might not be able to play here, but they want to be friars and come here to school. And that's you know, as you see, Providence College is a special, special place and a great academic institution. So it's really the holistic approach of what PC athletics means.

00;11;07;20 - 00;11;16;08
Joe Carr
So you graduated from PC in the class of 1998. Think about when you were a student. Who were some of the people who influenced you during those four years?

00;11;17;00 - 00;11;38;20
Steve Napolillo
Well, it's funny, Chris and I talk about it all the time, and Chris had an opportunity to play tennis for a little while. And when you get here, anyone who played sports, you know, you always want to continue. And even as we laugh, you know, the guys, the intramural programs, when you're not good enough, you grow. But I was lucky enough when I was here is my junior year.

00;11;38;20 - 00;12;01;11
Steve Napolillo
We went to the Elite Eight. And when you think about the got champ guy to I have an unbelievable friendship with now in the Austin cross years to get to experience that ride as a junior in college truly was one of the most amazing things and I always say people always said what was special last year for for you to be able to see the amazing experience the students had at the dunk every night.

00;12;02;06 - 00;12;37;05
Steve Napolillo
They'll remember that forever and they'll be hooked as Friar fans. And when you think about the multiplier for me, I always tell them is that's critical for institutions because it gets our graduates excited about being alums. Hopefully they'll want to give back so we can continue the great tradition and I don't care what you want to give back to is if it's scholarship, if it's building, if it's the annual fun, if it's athletics, as long as you feel great about your experience and you want to give back to this great institution, you will help us continue to to keep striving to be the best we can be in in the country.

00;12;37;21 - 00;12;42;04
Joe Carr
So you majored in political science. So did I. 15 years ahead of you. So why political science?

00;12;42;15 - 00;12;50;17
Steve Napolillo
Well, I mean, you know, people always tell me, as is Joe, I don't know if you remember this. I wanted to go to law school and be the next Jerry Maguire when I was in college.

00;12;50;18 - 00;12;53;04
Joe Carr
That was Perry Mason in my case. But same idea. Yeah, that.

00;12;53;04 - 00;13;25;06
Steve Napolillo
Was. And what's unique is what I tell all the students and student athletes are here now come and see me is really make sure you take the time to either do an internship or try to if you have a love. So I went to work for a lawyer for summer and absolutely hate it. I'm like, well, I don't know if this is where where I want to go in my next stage, but it was great because if I hadn't done that and gone through the whole process of going to law school, I switched in, I went and worked for Channel 12 Sports for two years and I wanted to be a news anchor.

00;13;25;06 - 00;13;50;07
Steve Napolillo
And at that time it was really the career industry. You were getting a lot of former great athlete and my father used to always say he's like, Steve, you have a lot of gifts, but your looks and being a great athlete isn't one of them. So really think about where you want to go. So my junior and senior year I went and spent time with Lou Sweat time at the Pawtucket Red Sox and he let me intern there my junior and senior year and I absolutely loved it.

00;13;50;16 - 00;14;07;24
Steve Napolillo
As Chris could tell you, I'm one of the biggest baseball guys in the world. That was that was my love playing growing up. And I absolutely loved it. I mean, it was where I wanted to be. It's and I was trying to decide between going to law school or and they said, hey, listen, we're going to be doing a $25 million renovation at McCoy.

00;14;08;04 - 00;14;27;14
Steve Napolillo
We want you to stay on. You can be one of our best salesmen. We want you to redo our whole merchandizing. We want to build a store. We want you to sell billboards. So and you know, I did that for several years. And, you know, I was blessed to be one of those guys to be able to say I worked for two of the greatest places in Rhode Island.

00;14;27;14 - 00;15;01;25
Steve Napolillo
When you think about it and, you know, I've learned a lot in my career because I got to learn how to be part of a really successful baseball organization. You know, back in the early 2000, talking, Red Sox were considered the best baseball organization in the country. You know, both what they were doing in attendance, both merchandise and concessions to be able to learn under Lucia Kaymer, who was an unbelievable visionary, and then to come and work under Bob Driscoll.

00;15;01;25 - 00;15;23;29
Steve Napolillo
You know, I've been really, really lucky and to be able to sit here and to say I'm the athletic director now at Providence College, it really is a great story for a lot of young people out there that, you know, is I always say maximize your strengths, limit your weaknesses, but you have to go out there and try to open as many doors as possible because you never know where it's going to take you.

00;15;24;21 - 00;15;33;14
Joe Carr
You deftly moved us from political science back to sports. I think you were afraid I was going to ask you about like John Locke or the Electoral College or something like that. Is that right?

00;15;33;14 - 00;15;43;23
Steve Napolillo
So I've always been a big you know, I loved history and I loved, you know, learning about our political system. And I think today, if you're afraid to talk politics with anybody, Joe, so it's.

00;15;44;00 - 00;15;44;29
Joe Carr
Absolutely what it.

00;15;45;00 - 00;16;05;11
Steve Napolillo
Is. I did love learning that and I still in you laugh is getting my law degree was always something I would love to do and has always interested me just at 40 years with time and you know, but I love learning about history and law. I think it's always been a really fascinating subject that I've always been attracted to.

00;16;05;13 - 00;16;17;19
Joe Carr
And by the way, we had great professors in political science probably, certainly many of the same ones, despite the 15 year gap. But I'm thinking of Mark Heid, Jim Carlson, Bob Trudeau, Bill Hudson, Dr. Romans, The New Yorker ran.

00;16;17;19 - 00;16;17;29
Steve Napolillo
On and.

00;16;18;17 - 00;16;20;15
Joe Carr
I didn't have him. But I know him. So, you know, he's.

00;16;20;23 - 00;16;43;02
Steve Napolillo
He was phenomenal when I see him now. The funny part about Dr. Hiatt and Dr. Cammarano is Dr. Romance. These guys were all huge baseball fans, too. So. And I got the job with the PawSox, you know, they'd call me. So it it it's a it's a real special family because when you talk about all these names that come back to you and how they impacted your life, I always tell everybody, people impact your life in so many ways.

00;16;43;02 - 00;16;50;07
Steve Napolillo
You might not realize it in the moment, but when you take a step back and look at where you are and where you're going, I'm really, truly appreciate the relationships you have.

00;16;50;13 - 00;17;11;09
Joe Carr
By the way, Professor Hudson has his own podcast called Beyond Your News for You, and it's excellent. So a tip for podcast fans out there if you're interested in PC political science professor. But anyway, back to the Steve Knapp, a little discussion. How did you become connected with Bob Driscoll and what was his impact brushed up against his impact on you?

00;17;11;23 - 00;17;28;27
Steve Napolillo
Well, you know, it's interesting. I was at the PawSox and, you know, I was not I was getting down on kind of where Providence College was. You know, if you looked at from a global scheme standpoint, you could kind of see they were falling back. You know, the facilities were really at a division three level.

00;17;28;27 - 00;17;29;27
Joe Carr
The timeframe here, the.

00;17;29;27 - 00;17;56;19
Steve Napolillo
Time frame was like I would say in the early, probably around 2000, to be honest with you. If you remember dot coms, schools were raising money like crazy and if PC really hadn't found that niche in that manner, even on the athletic side, I think at that time, you know, being in school, coming off the Elite eight, then trying to get back, you know, trying to see, all right, how is PC going to make the next step of investments?

00;17;56;19 - 00;18;14;14
Steve Napolillo
And when they hired Bob Driscoll, I came to his press conference in use, like you saw this guy in California. Unbelievable energy. I like that. You know, that's how I live. My love. I love I'm attracted energy. And I was like, oh, this guy's going to be great for Providence College. So I just reached out to him. I said, Hey, Bob, love to get together.

00;18;14;14 - 00;18;33;23
Steve Napolillo
I was really excited to hear your vision, love your energy, love what you want to do for Providence College. And we met for lunch at Aquafina on Federal Hill, Joe, and this was probably in 2002 and, you know, three hour lunch, you know, it was awesome. We just talked about, you know, where PC was, where PC needed to be.

00;18;34;03 - 00;18;53;16
Steve Napolillo
You know, he kind of talked to me about what I like to do. And I can remember vividly, Joe, him saying to him at the time, PC was raising about 300,000 annually in athletics. He's like, you know, we got to get this to $1,000,000, 3 million, 5 million. He's like, I'm going to need people to really come on and, you know, help me achieve these goals.

00;18;53;16 - 00;19;08;21
Steve Napolillo
And I was thinking, I do I want to get in fundraising. You know, I love selling billboards and I'm selling and I'll never forget I went, you know, I'm really close to my father and he's a huge sports guy. And I said, you know, Dad, I met with Bob Driscoll. These are things I'm not sure if fundraising is where I want to go.

00;19;08;21 - 00;19;32;19
Steve Napolillo
It's it's a different ask. And he said, well, he said, what's what do they do now? And I said, three. He goes, Well, even you can't screw that up. He's like, So it wouldn't be a bad thing to go into and give it a chance. And I was I always laugh. We laugh about it now. But, you know, I give, you know, Bob Ferrara in the Office of Institution, a lot of credit because Bob really Bob Driscoll said, hey, you know, get your feet wet, learn the business.

00;19;32;19 - 00;19;52;17
Steve Napolillo
And Joe Brown was still running that shop at the time. And, you know, a guys who took over from Bill Eustis and Dave Wesson, they all gave me a great opportunity to learn from them the fundraising business and to grow from there. And, you know, it's kind of I love selling the story of PC and asking people to commit, invest into it.

00;19;52;17 - 00;20;11;21
Steve Napolillo
Because I always say you're not you know, people always tell me is like, how did you get it? What's your key to success? And fundraising is a it's like anything you have to give people a vision, a belief that what they're investing in is going to grow and be great is like, if I ask you to, you know, buy a stock, you're not going to, you know, give money to a stock that's going to crash.

00;20;11;21 - 00;20;32;24
Steve Napolillo
It's, hey, the stock's going to grow. And when you look at it, you're going to be really proud. You're part of it. And that's always been my my belief and my my whole pitch to people is, hey, you invest in us, and this is what we want to give. So that when you're looking at Providence College and students and student athletes that you are impacting, you're going to do it a smile and say, Yeah, I helped that happen.

00;20;33;09 - 00;20;41;07
Joe Carr
So the foundation is obviously strong as you come into this job, but time marches on, so things keep coming at us. But what are the top few things on your to do list?

00;20;41;25 - 00;21;04;20
Steve Napolillo
Well, you know, I always laugh. I always tell Bob every day when we you know, we talk a lot. And I say, Bob, I want to thank you for inflation, name, image and likeness. You're your parting gift for me have been strong. But you know I look at I'm a guy Joe who looks at you know with great challenges come great opportunities in college athletics has faced a lot of challenges over the last 50 years and we're in one right now.

00;21;04;20 - 00;21;22;10
Steve Napolillo
You know, this is a, you know, name, image and likeness. For my tenure of of where we are as an institution, we have to make sure that we put ourselves in a position to do it the right way, which we will, but to do it in a way where we will help our programs be successful. And that starts with men's basketball.

00;21;22;10 - 00;21;55;02
Steve Napolillo
You know, we as an institution, as a member of the Big East, globally and holistically for our whole department, have to make sure men's basketball is successful. You saw the impact it had last year. Well, we're running and we're doing really well. It helps everything we do. And my goal as the athletic director is to make sure that I'm doing my job as the leader, to make sure all of our programs, we have great coaches, we retain reward and develop the best people we have.

00;21;55;07 - 00;22;15;02
Steve Napolillo
So our student athletes are learning from the best. You know, mental health support is huge for me. Obviously, you know, the last three years have been extremely difficult. COVID, make sure we're giving our student athletes the resources to deal with that, to be successful, both as students, both in the classroom and on the field of play and in the community.

00;22;16;00 - 00;22;36;03
Steve Napolillo
And thirdly, make sure we're moving on holistically, Joe, from what are the things we need to continue to grow is like you laugh as if it's adding programs, if it's adding a fieldhouse on campus. So in the winter months, our our student athletes have somewhere to go play and not have to take them all over the state in different areas.

00;22;36;03 - 00;22;59;28
Steve Napolillo
If it's adding scholarship, it's, you know, endowing things. You know, our goal as an institution, father, courage, goal, utilities want to get to $1,000,000,000 endowment. How do we help that on the athletic side? That's something I'm very passionate about. It never ends. Joe, the list is long, but I'm excited. I love challenges and I tell my my team is like, listen, our goal is together.

00;22;59;28 - 00;23;21;17
Steve Napolillo
We can really help our student athletes. We can really help be a vital member of the Big East and Hockey's conferences. And we want to compete for Big East Hockey, the National championships. We're not afraid to say that. How do we do it? What's the of the sports that we're we've been struggling or not successful and what do we do to help turn those around?

00;23;21;17 - 00;23;42;28
Steve Napolillo
So the list is the list is long, but it's something I'm really excited to tackle. And as you know, as you never arrive, fear, complacency every day, make sure every day you tell your people even that many, many people forget yesterday. So how do you make sure you're looking towards competing at the highest level and having that hunger that drives you every day.

00;23;43;14 - 00;24;06;20
Joe Carr
In I'll name, image and likeness is fascinating. It kind of dropped out of the sky. And then last year we had the season where it was in place, but kind of a little bit suppose disorganized people didn't really understand what it was. Now we're sort of in some sense now we're in a stage where colleges are getting organized around it and taking meaningful steps to try to to to deal with it in the proper ways.

00;24;06;20 - 00;24;14;02
Joe Carr
For a place like PC where we have high ideals and a commitment to integrity, what are some of the challenges and opportunities and considerations as you figure this out?

00;24;14;25 - 00;24;38;23
Steve Napolillo
Well, I think the biggest challenge is you can't run, you know, the word going around, the collectives. Right. So, you know, there will be a fray, a collective that a third party will be announcing come September one. But the challenge is, I think in the in the landscape of college athletics, Joe, is everything was regulated so much and now you're going into complete almost deregulation with, you know, no guidelines for everyone.

00;24;38;23 - 00;25;14;23
Steve Napolillo
And I think what I've said to fight this card on board of trustees is we're going to do this the right way. You know, we're going to make sure that the landscape we have to compete in, we will do it to be successful. But we're going to do it in a way that maybe other schools don't follow. But we're going to make sure that we give Coach Cooley and all our other coaches the opportunity to be able to recruit the best talent, retain the best talent, and make sure that our parties who take on these challenges know what our commitment is and our guidelines are.

00;25;15;07 - 00;25;38;07
Steve Napolillo
But it is, Joe, when when you when you say that, you know, I always tell people it's an amazing when they tell you, well, this is the way it's going to work, but a third party has to run it and you can't be, you know, think about it. It's just it's it's I always say there's a lack of common sense in the world right now, and I'm not afraid to say this is one that's challenging us right now.

00;25;38;10 - 00;25;40;28
Steve Napolillo
So it is a unique, unique time period.

00;25;41;12 - 00;25;54;07
Joe Carr
The other sort of part of the earthquake that's shaking college sports is conference realignment, more affecting football conferences and schools. But do you think the Big East is well positioned to move forward and in this environment?

00;25;54;24 - 00;26;13;11
Steve Napolillo
Well, I think twofold, Joe, is, you know, conference realignment really has been football driven. If you look at it is like I mean, you talk about common sense, UCLA and USC going to, you know, where they're going to have to fly three time zones for a lot of their sports play. Rutgers, you know, is is does that make any sense?

00;26;13;11 - 00;26;32;01
Steve Napolillo
But it's a financially driven decision. And, you know, that's when people say to me, it's like when I have conversations about, well, you know, you care about men's basketball. We all have to care about men's basketball. That's the challenge of what we're doing here in the Big East is in a great position because we know who we are, where we want to go.

00;26;32;12 - 00;26;53;01
Steve Napolillo
I think when you look at what the challenges Joe is as we work on our next television contract, which Val Ackerman and in all of us in the Big East or Fox Sports has been incredible, partner. But, you know, when you look at the Big Ten is they're going to sign a $100 billion contract where every school gets a $100 million a year.

00;26;53;01 - 00;27;19;11
Steve Napolillo
Right. Is how do you as right now when we signed a you know, a deal that every school in the Big East gets $4 million a year, you're still competing against those schools. So how do you navigate in that world knowing that those schools are going to have those resources and you have to work within these resources? But what I always say to our coaches and our administrators is having the most money doesn't always guarantee success.

00;27;19;11 - 00;27;35;12
Steve Napolillo
I mean, you can look at a lot of the big football schools have poured in a ton of money. And, you know, I don't want to highlight them but is you know is is they've struggled so it doesn't you have to make sure you are doing what's best for your institution to be successful and maximizing the resources you have.

00;27;35;24 - 00;27;40;16
Steve Napolillo
And I think we've done a really good job with that, a PC and we have to continue to do that at the next level.

00;27;40;25 - 00;27;51;26
Joe Carr
It's important when we talk about the Big East, we also always remember acknowledged that very importantly, PC participates in Hockey East too. So we don't want to forget that. But I imagine you look at it similarly. It's a niche.

00;27;52;14 - 00;28;14;17
Steve Napolillo
Yeah, I think the interesting part is, you know, Hockey East is one of the Premier League's in all the country for hockey. We see that. I think from a resource standpoint you're talking about conference realignment because of television contracts. That has an impact at hockey in that sense from. But we're committed and we have obviously, you know excited to keep Coach Lehman here.

00;28;14;17 - 00;28;33;11
Steve Napolillo
Obviously one of the best coaches in the country. We have one of the best programs, best coaches, best rinks. So, you know, our goal is to always compete for hockey east and national championships. That's his goal, our goal. And we have the resources, we have the people in place and we're really excited about the upcoming season.

00;28;33;11 - 00;28;38;17
Joe Carr
A real record of sustainable, consistent success. I mean, it's it's a beautiful thing to watch.

00;28;38;22 - 00;28;50;04
Steve Napolillo
Yeah, it really is. I think when you look at, I always say it's a beautiful thing when your expectation is to compete at that level every year, you know, you have what it takes and you're doing the right things.

00;28;50;16 - 00;28;57;03
Joe Carr
So nobody knows prior fans better than you do. What is it that makes PC supporters special?

00;28;57;03 - 00;29;15;22
Steve Napolillo
They love this place. The passion, the they have Ford and I mean, wherever I go, it doesn't matter. My wife laughs. If we're at the beach, at the market, you know, people just want to talk about PC. You know, it's truly something they take pride in. It's it's a fabric of the community. It's a fabric of Rhode Island.

00;29;15;22 - 00;29;30;27
Steve Napolillo
And it's in what I really get excited is I just had to fly out to DC to meet with a donor last week and I had my Fryar hat on and you know, wherever I go, Fryer is wherever you are. As I was in Disney World with the family and you're walking around and people giving you the go fryers.

00;29;30;27 - 00;29;51;18
Steve Napolillo
It's it's really taken hold as one of the coolest things. Coach Cooley and I had to fly down to Florida to meet with a large donor, and we're at a golf course and we walk on and Larry Fitzgerald, the great receiver, comes right over and goes. Coach Cooley, I'm a big fan. And when you think, wow, one of the biggest NFL stars of our he knows who Coach Cooley is.

00;29;51;18 - 00;30;07;02
Steve Napolillo
You know, he went to Pitt and he was telling coach and I think that's when you really take a moment back and say, you know, this is a special place and, you know, we're in it every day, you can kind of lose that. And I tell our student athletes, you know, I talked to our women's soccer team this week.

00;30;07;02 - 00;30;29;03
Steve Napolillo
They just got back and I said, you're you're part of the 1%. There's so many kids out there who would love to have the seat you're in, but when you're in it, you can lose it. And I think all of us sometimes is when you can go down and just see the passion of our fans and you go to a sold out dunk, a sold out Schneider game.

00;30;29;03 - 00;30;52;10
Steve Napolillo
And when you can't comes in for women's basketball and the place is packed, I think what we all have to realize, and I take a step back, I'm so grateful for the generosity, the support, the passion that so many alumni and Subway fans who might not have gone here but grew up on PC and love this place. I can't say thank you enough to those people because without them we couldn't do what we do.

00;30;52;17 - 00;30;57;00
Joe Carr
What are you looking forward to most in the upcoming season as we sit here in the early part of August?

00;30;57;22 - 00;31;17;04
Steve Napolillo
Well, I mean, I'm excited to work with Father Sarkar and the Cabinet, our board of trustees, and really setting out our vision for the next 5 to 10 years of how we're going to be great. I think, you know, Father's Card has unbelievable plans for the school holistically. You know, with the new nursing school and the things he wants to get done under his leadership.

00;31;17;26 - 00;31;51;00
Steve Napolillo
I'm really excited. I'm really excited to work working with my coaches. We have some great things that we want to accomplish, but most of all, I'm really, really committed to impacting the lives of our student athletes. I want to have them when they come into Providence College, that they feel like they've been holistically impacted in positive ways. As a student, as a student athlete and as a person, I really hope when they leave here, they feel good about themselves, they feel good about being a friar and that they want to make a difference.

00;31;51;00 - 00;31;53;25
Steve Napolillo
And whatever career that they go into.

00;31;54;15 - 00;32;05;10
Joe Carr
This has been fun. Steve, thanks for taking the time to talk with us today. We should do this regularly and thank you for bringing purpose and passion to talking with us and sharing your story with the PC fans who are all rooting for you.

00;32;05;19 - 00;32;20;25
Steve Napolillo
Well, I appreciate everything you and Chris and so many at PC do for the Fryer family and I'm fired up. Thank you to everybody out there. I can't wait to see them at the games. And we're going to have a lot of fun. You know, we're going to have our challenges. We're going to have our good days, we'll have our bad days.

00;32;20;25 - 00;32;32;29
Steve Napolillo
But like I tell everybody, it's the bad days. Make you really appreciate the good days and when you're working together will be a lot more good days and bad days. So purpose with passion. Go for us nicely said.

00;32;32;29 - 00;32;46;27
Joe Carr
Thank you and listeners, thank you for joining us for the Providence College podcast. All episodes are available on podcast apps, PCS, news, web page and the college's YouTube channel. For Chris Judge, I'm Joe Carr. Until next time.