Scott Leykam Interview

Pilots AD Scott Leykam: Our outreach within Portland has to be better

Nick Daschel, Special to The Oregonian on July 02, 2013 at 6:04 PM, updated July 02, 2013 at 6:23 PM

The ever-growing Oregon sports landscape has myriad options, including Trail Blazers, professional soccer, perennial top 25 football programs at Oregon and Oregon State and the longest-running LPGA tournament.

It’s the job of University of Portland athletic director Scott Leykam to make sure Pilots’ sports have a prominent plate on the table of local sports.

Since the Pilots hired Leykam as their AD 14 months ago, he’s been working to expand the school’s athletic sphere within Portland. Leykam hired Peregrine Sports, the entity operating the Timbers and Thorns, to help market Pilot athletic programs, particularly soccer and men’s basketball. The school has had marketing people attend several local youth soccer tournament and camps to drum up interest in the Pilots.

During a six-week season and group ticket campaign for soccer, Leykam said UP has already exceeded 2012 sales for the 2013 season.

For men’s basketball, the Pilots recently agreed to a home-and-home deal with Oregon State. Leykam said he’s working with Portland State athletic director Torre Chisholm to cross-market the Vikings and Pilots’ programs.

“What we’ve been doing before is, who bought tickets? Let’s try to call them again. Instead of, who is a soccer fan in the area or a basketball fan? Let’s activate those areas,” Leykam said.

“Our outreach within the city has to be better. Where we’re located in the city is not always an easy drive for folks. I think we’ve done a much better job in getting the message out.”

Leykam recently answered some questions regarding Pilot athletics. Answers were shortened for brevity and clarity.

Q: What is the long-term plan to help make UP athletics relevant in this market?

SK: We have comprehensive marketing plans for our soccer and basketball seasons, which is something we haven’t had before. Our partnership with Peregrine will go a long way in helping that. And like I said, a lot of what we do is getting outside our small community and getting out into the city a little more.

Q: Gonzaga has become a men’s basketball powerhouse. Why not UP?

SK: That is a question I’ve heard a lot in my first year. What we need to focus on is being the University of Portland. For us, it’s looking at how do we play to our academics, how do we play up our facility, this great city, and (coach) ability to develop players. You can take a little bit of what works from other programs, but at the end of the day, we’re different institutions with different strengths and different challenges, and we have to play to our strengths.

Q: What is your opinion on the progress of men’s basketball?

SK: You’re on TV 15 or 20 times a season, so there’s great potential. Eric has done some very good things here. He and I meet daily to see how we can get back to where we want to be. One thing that’s big in men’s basketball now is foreign tours. For the first time, we fundraised and we’re going to Spain for two weeks in August to get us a couple additional weeks of practice.

Another piece we’ve identified is how we’re set up for transfers. The transfer list in men’s Division I basketball is an expansive one. Looking at high school kids and that’s your only pool for recruiting? Those days are over. There are JC transfers, and four-year transfers; the list in the hundreds now. It’s important that you’re set up to get a transfer from another school who can succeed at your school academically.

Q: What’s something surprising that a booster or alum has told you during the past year?

SK: The most surprising thing I hear is relation to soccer, that we’ve led the country in attendance for several years now, and that it will always be there. You can never count on a fan base to always be there. You have to work hard on retention and fulfillment, and make sure fans have a great experience.

Q: Why doesn’t UP men’s soccer have the following of the women?

SK: That’s something we’re drilling down on. Women’s soccer has really hit it big across the country. From our perspective, we market the men as hard as we do the women’s side. As a league, women’s soccer, we have four or five teams reach the NCAA, the men usually one. We’re in a little bit of a rut there.

Q: Are you OK that your men’s basketball coach is occasionally outspoken about NCAA issues on social media?

SK: I don’t have a problem with that. Eric has done a nice job for his personal brand and the university’s brand on social media.

Q: What’s on tap for capital improvement projects?

SK: The big capital improvement on our plate is a recreation and wellness center. It has a big athletic component for us: a court designated for a basketball and volleyball practice facility. One of our biggest challenges that puts us at a little bit of a competitive disadvantage is we don’t always have a floor to practice on.

We’re looking at soccer short and long term. We have the river property (below the existing campus) that we’d like to put some fields on and expand our soccer complex. Merlo Field is a premier facility, we but we need to get better in what we do with seating and hospitality. The baseball field is in need of significant renovations. We’ve raised over a half million to go from a grass to turf field.

--Nick Daschel