Waddell promises energy, vision

Michael Waddell said he will bring high energy and out-of-the-box ideas to the Southeast Missouri State athletic program.

In fact, after his public forum as part of his finalist interview process Friday, it didn't take him long to identify what would be his first order of business and a project name to tackle it.

"Reaching out to the donor base, and letting them know that there's a new vision about to be crafted in Southeast athletics," Waddell said. "To bring back in what was at one point a 3,000-person donor poll and may have shrunk under 1,000. We'll call it 'Project 4,000.' I don't want to just get 3,000 back; I want to grow that."

Waddell, the senior associate athletic director at the University of Cincinnati, drew upon his professional background to let Southeast supporters know that anything is possible when it comes to athletic program turnarounds.

Waddell, 39, was the second of two finalists who visited Cape Girardeau this week. Former Ole Miss and Eastern Kentucky AD John Shafer was on campus Wednesday. A third finalist who had been announced Monday, University of Missouri-Kansas City AD Timothy Hall, withdrew from consideration Wednesday.

The university hopes to have an agreement in place by the end of the year, which could mean an offer on the position will be made next week.

Waddell has been at Cincinnati for 2 years, after nearly five years at the University of Akron. At both stops, he has been an assistant for Mike Thomas.

And at both stops, he has seen programs become successful beyond expectations.

"There's no reason why Southeast [football] can't contend for an OVC championship if the University of Cincinnati can contend for a BCS berth and a Big East championship, if a University of Akron can contend for a MAC championship," Waddell said. "It takes a vision. It takes the experience of taking a program to these championship levels."

Waddell said he is motivated by those kinds of challenges.

"It's going to places like Cincinnati and Akron where it hadn't been done before -- very analogous to this situation here -- and being a part of it, that's the energizing part of this job," he said.

During the public forum, Waddell talked about being able to develop a group of marketing students into leaders of a student fan group known as the "AK-Rowdies."

"They got exposure that could translate to some job training and experience for them later on when they went out into the real world, and it helped create a legacy," Waddell said.

His move to Cincinnati in March 2006 also made Waddell part of a staff working through controversy in the men's basketball program. It was not long after Bob Huggins was fired and an interim coach was leading the program before the hiring of former Murray State coach Mick Cronin.

"The challenges are very analogous to what's going on here now," Waddell said. "Obviously, the situation is one that takes a great deal of careful examination but one that I think in the end that will yield the realization that this is still the best city in the OVC, it's still one of the best arenas in this part of the country, that people are passionate, success has gone on here before, so making the right moves now, that's the challenge that's exciting."

Before his recent stops in major markets such as Akron, just south of Cleveland, and Cincinnati, Waddell worked at the U.S. Military Academy for 16 months and was the AD for external relations from 1997 to 2000 at Appalachian State. Prior to that, he worked in broadcast and marketing with companies affiliated with the University of Virginia and the University of North Carolina.

He was a finalist earlier this year at Northern Iowa, a Missouri Valley Conference school, and he addressed questions Friday during the forum about how the Southeast job fit into his career track.

"For me to say I'd like to retire from here, that would scare anybody off," Waddell said. "It says in the ideal candidate description they're looking for a five-year commitment, and I think that would be the absolute bare minimum under any circumstances.

"You can look at my resume and tell that I've moved a lot, and every time it's been for a reason. When I get the opportunity to be a director of athletics, I'd like to be somewhere where my 9-year-old and my 11-year-old can graduate from high school and have a sense of home."

Waddell grew up in a small town in North Carolina and played football at the Division III level while attending Guilford College in North Carolina. He said he has an appreciation for the Division I-AA level of football and markets where there is more passion than apathy.

"To me, it's not all about the glitz and glamour of college sports," he said. "I like places where there is a great opportunity to work someplace where people are committed. I've been to places where they look to rings and the glitz and the glamour, but to be somewhere where you can touch a student-athlete, that's what I'm for."

Waddell, who dropped references to Kevin Bacon's role in "Animal House" and lines by the "Star Wars" series character Yoda during a post-forum interview, said he expected to have an external role, which would fit his personality.

"I like to be out talking to people and listening, and listening, and listening some more," he said.

He also talked about zero-based budgeting, which Southeast adopted during the spring budgeting process after a review of the department, and having a annual report to make the process transparent to the program's stakeholders.

"When you have an accountant-general as the president of the university," he said, "you need to have a balanced budget."