Jeff Mullins oral history interview, 2013 March 6
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Jeff Mullins, former athletic director and men's head basketball coach at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, discusses the tenure of Chancellor James H. Woodward. He begins the discussion talking about how he came to the University in 1985 after being hired by Chancellor E.K Fretwell for the dual role of Athletic Director/Men's Head Basketball Coach, and how in 1989 Chancellor Woodward convinced him to stay on in this role rather than take a job at another university. He notes that Woodward's vision for both the university and the athletics department persuaded him to remain. He then talks about how his dual role as Athletic Director/basketball coach was split, paving the way for Woodward to appoint Judy Rose as UNC Charlotte's first female athletic director (at the time she was only one of three women at the Division I level to hold such a position.) Mr. Mullins explains how important the Student Activity Center was for athletics and how Judy Rose was able to secure a donation from the Hayes family of Concord, North Carolina, that helped make the facility a reality. He also briefly discusses the Irwin Belk Track and Field Center and what it did to raise the university's profile. Mr. Mullins also discusses Conference USA and why UNC Charlotte wished to get into the conference. He notes that doing so moved the campus to a "whole new level in terms of image, recruitment of student-athletes, as well as providing more opportunity for revenue and publicity. Conversely, Mr. Mullins also talks about conference realignments due to the impact of football on collegiate sports, illustrating how this negatively affected UNC Charlotte, citing the move from Conference USA to the Atlantic 10 in 2005 as one example. Mr. Mullins recalls that the timing for football was not right during Chancellor Woodward's tenure because the university was not yet ready to shoulder the enormous financial obligation that came with starting a program. He concludes the interview summing up the impact of Chancellor Woodward’s tenure on the university.
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