Guest Speaker: SDSU Director for Compliance

A few weeks ago our class was fortunate enough to have Jay Larson, Associate Athletic Director for Compliance at San Diego State, come in to talk to the class about athletic compliance issues as well as the general structure and functions of the athletic department. Jay is a graduate of the University of Minnesota Law School, and a former Division II basketball player. After graduating law school he was the Assistant Compliance Director at Minnesota for nearly four years. Last year he took over as the Associate Athletic Director for Compliance here at SDSU and is now one of the youngest Division I head compliance directors in the country.

The compliance office has become one of the most important and visible offices within major athletic departments in recent years and for a number of reasons. One is that college sports are seen by university administrators as the “front porch” of the university. In this capacity, athletics often serve as a powerful marketing tool for reaching potential students, soliciting donors and bringing visibility to the school at large. Poor monitoring and training of athletes and coaches within the athletic department often result in NCAA infractions which puts a black-eye on both the athletic department and the university for what is perceived as a, “lack of institutional control.” We need only look as far as USC, Florida State, and Alabama to see recent examples of how weak compliance oversight can have adverse affects on institutions, their athletes and coaches, and athletic departments.

What was great about his talk was that -- in addition to discussing general compliance issues -- Jay gave those of us interested in other aspects of the athletic department a broad picture of the administrative, marketing, business, academic and counseling functions. After Jay finished he fielded questions from the class and we didn’t disappoint. Jay spent an additional half hour talking with us about pressing issues in college sports today: remaining gender inequities despite Title IX, whether student-athletes should be paid, the disparities in revenues among college sports, whether the NBA age requirement is hurting college basketball, the prospects of a having a football playoff system, the APR and more. Since his talk to the class, Jay has brought two of us on board in the compliance office and another classmate has been brought on to help in the Athletic Business Department.

Matt Hiler
SMBA '10