CORPUS CHRISTI — Though he said it doesn't necessarily give him a leg up on the competition, Brian DeAngelis has what the other four candidates for the vacant Texas A&M-Kingsville athletics director position do not.
Having spent seven years as Texas A&M-Corpus Christi's assistant and interim AD, DeAngelis has a familiarity and a comfortable feeling with South Texas.
The AD at East Central (Okla.), a former Lone Star Conference rival of the Javelinas, DeAngelis was the final candidate to interview on campus on Friday with A&M-Kingsville president Steven Tallant, the 11-member search committee and the coaching and administrative staffs.
A&M-Kingsville is seeking a replacement for Ken Oliver, whose resignation became effective last Friday.
Oliver returned to his alma mater, Central Methodist in Missouri, in a newly created position of vice president of institutional growth and engagement, which he began earlier this week.
"I think it's important for anyone going anywhere to understand the culture and the environment. I don't think that makes you a good or a bad athletic director, though. I don't think that makes or breaks you," said DeAngelis, 39. "When I went to Ada, Okla., didn't know a soul, barely even know East Central University existed, and I've been successful there. So not being from some place or having any connections is not going to make you or break you by any stretch.
"Having familiarity, though, with people or situations or the location can only help," DeAngelis added. "So I think it's advantageous for someone going into that situation to have that time, but it doesn't mean you're going to do a great job or you're going to do a bad job."
DeAngelis has been busy — and productive — in his five years as East Central's AD. The Tigers added two female sports — volleyball and golf — under DeAngelis, and he overhauled the operations of the athletic department to make it more effective and efficient.
DeAngelis authored the department's first student-athlete handbook, established a fifth-year scholarship program, instituted an academic success plan and helped establish ECU policies regarding student-athletes and procedures for evaluating coaches. He also helped spearhead the Tigers' exit from the LSC into the Great American Conference.
Some may view a move from one NCAA Division II university to another as a lateral one. But it is one DeAngelis said he would embrace because administering at the Division II level is where he wants to be and the opportunities at A&M-Kingsville exceed those at East Central.
"I know the area well. I still have family in Corpus. This is a perfect-sized community and I've been in this size of a community. Ada's not so much different. I understand small towns," DeAngelis said. "I like the environment. I've been a Division II athletic director, I know what that means, I know how to be successful. I've had successful coaches, I know how to mentor them, how to counsel them, how to facilitate an environment for our kids to be successful.
"I've done all those things at my former institution without the resources to really do them. I think that makes me a very good candidate and a good fit. When people come from very little, have done well and been successful, they can usually even do greater things when they have some more resources. People that have all the resources in the world and don't have to worry about money and keep building and building and building and winning and winning and winning, well, I'm not going to say it was handed to them, but it's not as much of a challenge as it is going some place with very little and elevating them."
As the other four candidates also have stated, DeAngelis said athletics is just a part of the entire academic experience for students, but perhaps is more enhancing for the athletes.
"The students get a great academic learning experience in class. Athletics provides an additional learning experience outside the classroom that you cannot put a value on," DeAngelis said. "Athletics teaches commitment, dedication, time management, all of those things. How to be a leader, how to be a good teammate. All of those things that translate to life, to careers, that you just can't get in a classroom. That's why I say athletics works in conjunction with the educational mission of the university because it is part of the educational experience for the student-athletes."
Randy Hughes, A&M-Kingsville's chief of staff, said the search committee will meet early next week to make its reccomendation, The decision on Oliver's successor will be made later in the week. The other candidates for the job are Dennis Toney, Tom Seitz, Derrick Magee and Chip Smith.