Chancellor, new AD already in sync in nearly every way
As Pitt chancellor Patrick Gallagher and new athletic director Scott Barnes stood next to each other, they looked almost like brothers.
Barnes, a former college basketball player, stood a bit taller than Gallagher, his new boss, but both wore matching blue suits, yellow ties and block “Pitt” lapel pins.
Their outfits were coordinated Friday, when Barnes officially was introduced as Pitt’s athletic director, but both stressed that they hope they have more in common than just fashion sense.
“I want our athletics to represent this university. Specifically, I was looking for a shared vision of excellence,” Gallagher said before he introduced Barnes, who spent the past eight years as Utah State’s athletic director. He officially will
start his tenure July 1, taking over for Steve Pederson, who was fired Dec. 17.
Barnes topped what Gallagher described as a “great pool” of candidates. A 14-person selection committee, led by interim athletic director Randy Juhl, narrowed the field down to four candidates for submission to Gallagher, and Gallagher finally settled on Barnes early in the week.
“When I said that the chancellor had a tough decision, he really did,” Juhl said. “He agonized over it for a week, and Scott rose to the top.”
Juhl said the initial applicant pool was divided into two types of candidates — those who were nominated or applied for the job, and those who the committee sought out as potential good fits. Barnes fell into the latter group.
“He’s one that we had to do a little bit of convincing to become a candidate,” Juhl said.
A little reluctance would be understandable. Barnes steadily had built Utah State into a highly successful mid-major collegiate athletic program. He oversaw the Aggies football team winning 10 games twice, under two coaches, and spearheaded significant fundraising and capital projects.
Ultimately, he felt ready to take a step up to Pitt and the ACC. The deciding factor, though, was the connection he felt with Gallagher in the interview process.
“Chancellor Gallagher’s vision for excellence, whether it’s football and physics, is critical for the success of an athletic program,” Barnes said. “It’s also important that there’s a trust and an alignment there, and we felt that the minute that we met chancellor Gallagher, and [my wife] Jody felt the same way.”
In comments Friday, Barnes and Gallagher even had their metaphors in alignment. Both compared intercollegiate athletics to the front porch of a university. It isn’t the most important room in the house, but it is the most visible.
The synchronicity is no coincidence. From their vision to their metaphors, and even their outfits, Gallagher and Barnes together will shape the future of Pitt athletics.
“Without alignment, in short, athletics cannot reach it’s goals,” Barnes said. “We must be aligned and we must be partners with the greater university good. And we’ll look forward to doing that from day one.”