In the fall of 1990, Jim Livengood, then 45, was a third-year athletic director at Washington State earning $90,000. His wife, Linda, worked as a receptionist at a medical center. He had two school-aged children.
The wolves were at his door.
Livengood's basketball team was coming off a 1-17 Pac-10 season in which the Cougars barely drew 2,500 fans per game. His hand-picked football coach, Mike Price, was about to put 3-8 and 4-7 seasons into the book, capped by 55-10 and 56-21 blowouts against loathed rival Washington.
Worse, 11 Cougar football players were arrested and jailed in a turbulent 18-month period, further eroding respect and support of Livengood's ability to run a Pac-10 athletic department. And, to cap it, ASU basketball coach Bill Frieder further damaged WSU's image by calling Pullman "a dump" and saying "it's the town that stinks."
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So don't ask Jim Livengood if the dreadful UA sports season of 2007-08 is a career crisis like no other.
"I'm not blowing smoke," he says now, "but I've forgotten most of what went on back in those years. I've forgotten the amount of fire we went through, but the good thing is, a year later it started to turn. These are jobs that you sometimes just have to find a way to survive."
A year later, a rising star in the industry, Livengood declined chances to be the athletic director at Iowa and USC; he was rewarded with a raise and a six-year contract. In 1992, the Cougar basketball team won 22 games and the WSU football program went 9-3.
Thus, his career reputation has been as "Smilin' Jim," a man who has been able to rise above some formidable challenges. That's not to say that the ongoing Lute Olson/Kevin O'Neill saga and the stagnant image of Arizona's football program hasn't hit him squarely between the ears.
"A bad year is a bad year and there is no way to cut it, slice it, paint it or make it look better," he says. "But it's in the past now. We're moving forward."
This is vintage Livengood, who, while wrestling with volatile issues in his revenue-giant football and basketball programs — finding himself on an island while relatively new UA president Robert Shelton builds some equity and political support — has hit the move-on button.
Rather than be preoccupied about his own skin (his contract expires in June 2010), Livengood this week has engaged in meetings with a design group to expand the UA's football plant. His school hasn't produced a winning season since 1998, but the boss is studying a major expansion/makeover of Arizona Stadium.
His message: I'm determined to control events and not be controlled by them.
It's like Wazzu in 1990 all over again. Listen to what the critics say but don't necessarily believe them.
This is an incredibly sensitive time at the UA, and not simply because Olson has become a divisive force and is somewhat estranged from the administration. For the first time in two decades, the cash-strapped Wildcats must be concerned if they can continue unabated basketball's $16 million-a-year revenue stream.
Late last month, the UA mailed to its basketball season ticket holders a bill for the 2008-09 season.
The timing was absurd.
Imagine if you own rights to four midrange tickets in the lower level of McKale Center. The UA wants $500 for each of those seats — $2,000 total just to maintain the right to purchase those seats — and please remit by mid-May.
The actual bill for the tickets themselves will be mailed in August, with an estimated cost of about $475 per ticket. The package includes, mandatory, the dreadful Red and Blue Game and two non-counting exhibition games.
There was no mention of a discount related to the diminished success of UA basketball, or the uncertainty of the 73-year-old Olson's ability to return Arizona to its once-customary elite level.
One suspects that payments will not be returned as promptly as in previous seasons.
For all of the above, much like at Wazzu 18 years ago, Livengood is under siege by a legion of detractors. He surely receives more criticism than Olson or his football coach, Mike Stoops.
"I fully acknowledge we've not had a good year," Livengood says. "I need to do a better job of directing and leading. But I'm not going to sit here and say woe is me."
A few days after celebrating his 63rd birthday last month, Livengood attended a reception for Arizona's NCAA champion men's and women's swimming teams. He was reminded that space for the UA's title banners on National Championship Drive has been exhausted on the east curb between Arizona Stadium and Kindall/Sancet Stadium.
"Now that's a good problem to have," he said, smiling. "I think we'll begin another line of championship banners on the west side of the street."
Perhaps the project will be accompanied by the howling of some wolves.
Follow local sports on Greg Hansen's blog at go.azstarnet.com/hansenblog
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