Just a heads up : I had the chance to chat with Lee De Leon recently. A Q & A goes live tomorrow morning.
Lee De Leon
- Thread starter AustinLewis
- Start date
Q & A with Lee De Leon
We sat down with Deputy AD Lee De Leon. See what he said inside!
Summing up.
Lee WANTS to build relationships with ALL of Blue Raider Nation…ALL of it.
I have a feeling he will be more open & more proactive than predecessors.
Lee WANTS to build relationships with ALL of Blue Raider Nation…ALL of it.
I have a feeling he will be more open & more proactive than predecessors.
I was shocked when he said the people at Stones River Country Club said no one has been around there since Kermit. Well, I guess not shocked. So far I think Lee was a very good hire. I hope he is able to do what he wants to here.
You know, that kinda shocked me too. And while I can't speak for Lee, Stock & Massaro seem to be more introverted. And that's fine. But introverts don't excel at going out. They excel at building deep, meaningful relationships.
Nick has a young family and has been focused on turning around MBB. He probably spends any free time is probably with his wife and kids. Again, I can't blame him. Wife is expecting baby #1 this summer and I know my life is going to change in June.
COVID probably affected some of this. I did a lot of outreach related activities in my previous job & most of those events were cancelled during COVID.
Lee and I spoke for the better part of an hour. I lost track of how many times he mentioned engage, build relationships, and grow. He wants to build relationships in the community so it becomes "Our Town, Our Team."
If anyone wants to reach out to Lee, you can connect with him by email at Lee.DeLeon@mtsu.edu.
If anyone wants to reach out to Lee, you can connect with him by email at Lee.DeLeon@mtsu.edu.
Yea, I can see all of that being true. Congrats on the baby and you better believe your life will change. Nick and I's kids are actually around the same age, so I know exactly the work that goes into that. I have been talking with Lee over email and text, but hope to have a conversation with him soon. He reached out to me first, so he is definitely engaging supporters.
Like someone said in another thread, laziness.
I will admit I'm not a fan of CRI, but I like this, "One thing she says about Rick Insell is that he makes people feel like they can’t win a game without their support. He makes the people feel like the program would fall apart if they didn’t show up for games or buy tickets." We need more of that. KD was great at it.
Totally agree that someone - somewhere - failed to engage. That's in the past. Time to move forward with Lee. I think it's pretty clear he will engage (just check his social media).
IMO, I think MT needs more HC like CKD.
I don't want to disregard concerns, however.
But the only way MT gets the facilities built, grows the program, and is ready for the next round of realignment is if ALL sides - city/community, school, and fans - put aside differences, come together, and work to grow the program.
We can agree that its a travesty that the FB program resides in offices that are tucked away in the Murphy Center, but that can only change if the end zone facility is built.
We can agree that McD hasn't performed to expectations, but MT's MBB facilities are behind peer institutions (WKU). Gotta work to change that.
We can agree that it's a bad look for MT to hold their pro day at a HS (Oakland), but this can only change if the IPF is built.
There is blame to go around. There have been decisions that MT has made that I disagree with.
But if the facilities aren't built, MT will remain in the past.
Well said Austin. I really enjoyed your Q&A.
To your point, it is going to take everyone if this is going to happen. I think it is safe to say we are all just frustrated with the current state of the Athletic Dept. Most of that is due to results on the field and on the court. Winning cures everything, right? But, at least for me, some of the frustration is due to a lack of, or complete disregard in fan engagement. I sincerely hope De Leon's enthusiasm is contagious.
To your point, it is going to take everyone if this is going to happen. I think it is safe to say we are all just frustrated with the current state of the Athletic Dept. Most of that is due to results on the field and on the court. Winning cures everything, right? But, at least for me, some of the frustration is due to a lack of, or complete disregard in fan engagement. I sincerely hope De Leon's enthusiasm is contagious.
It’s gonna take time.
In my line of work, you usually don’t see a lasting impact until year 2 or 3. Same for athletics.
Which begs the question, where was the now retired BRAA Director for the last few years? It’s been dead since Alan, Roy and Clint moved on to greener pastures. The first two both once told me that “winning” takes care of a lot. And the last Head Coach to attend and play in a Williamson County golf outing at Temple Hills CC for BRAA was CRI. He played with my foursome and we had a blast.
CRS and staff never played and just quit making an appearance after around ‘09 or ‘10. McCluney killed it and combined it with one outing in Davidson County. Why should anyone living in Williamson County drive to Murfreesboro when the only function CM throws together is a Blue Raider Blitz at lunchtime in a Downtown Franklin restaurant with a private room capacity of only 50.
Like I said previously, I wish the young man well but he’s got a tough job ahead of him.
He has been enthusiastically handing out t-shirts in the UC instead.
Man, I would love it if we had more BRAA golf events.
😂😂😂. I don’t know which is funnier, the UC video or the nose gaiter avatar.
All you have to say is ,"The UC video" and I cringe and become embarrassed for him. Ugh. Painful to watch, yet someone still put it t out there.
In reading this De Leon comes across as just the right type of guy for the job. He may not be around long, but I do think he’ll drive an immediate impact and, at the very least, build some serious momentum here.
Now - whether or not that is sustainable is TBD. I’m very interested to see how the team he’s going to build around him performs and moves the needle - because they could be a big part of a long term future.
While I do think he’ll succeed he’s certainly got a tough hill to climb. Where I have hope is that this may be the first time someone within the AD has gone on record and acknowledged the current state of affairs, particularly with the relationship between fan and institution. He’s aware. He’s cognizant. That’s the best place to start. I wish him well.
Now - whether or not that is sustainable is TBD. I’m very interested to see how the team he’s going to build around him performs and moves the needle - because they could be a big part of a long term future.
While I do think he’ll succeed he’s certainly got a tough hill to climb. Where I have hope is that this may be the first time someone within the AD has gone on record and acknowledged the current state of affairs, particularly with the relationship between fan and institution. He’s aware. He’s cognizant. That’s the best place to start. I wish him well.
Also big shoutout to Austin for doing this. You asked some great questions too.
I agree 100%. First time someone in Murphy or Cope has publicly acknowledged that we have PR and fan support problems instead of touting APRs, graduation rates and Conf. titles in non-revenue sports. He appears to understand which sports pay the bills (or are supposed to) and why fans are ticked off and staying away in large numbers because of mediocrity and losing to new upstart programs as well as to our neighbors to the north and south on I-65. If he calls, I won’t hang up on him. 😂
I really appreciated his candor. Some administrators sugar coat. Others act like ostriches. He took it head on and acknowledged the disconnect.
There was no sugar-coating it. He understood folks felt disengaged and he was willing to listen, engage, and build relationships on social media & in person.
Great job Austin. He's reached out to me a few times actually on Twitter. I have a draft of an email. Need to finish it up.
His team hires will be huge. If he does well, and with his approach it seems he will, someone could poach him. It will be important to hire other go getters like him to keep the momentum gained if he ever does leave.
His team hires will be huge. If he does well, and with his approach it seems he will, someone could poach him. It will be important to hire other go getters like him to keep the momentum gained if he ever does leave.
Nothing changes until McPhee and Massaro are gone. Bottom line. Period. End of story.
Just like they hired Blackmon. Now he's working for that athletic powerhouse East TN State after having done nothing here.
Back in the day, Clint called me several times to talk donations and BRAA stuff. He was the last to reach out from athletics. I actually tried contacting them back pre-pandemic and never heard back.
I hope Lee can change the apathy that say in and doesn’t end up beat down by the culture.
It's probably still on MTSU Athletics FB page somewhere. It was around 2016 or 2017.
This can definitely happen. I’ve seen it.
fresh blood beat down by people just taking up space or telling them to not work hard as to disrupt the boat.
fresh blood beat down by people just taking up space or telling them to not work hard as to disrupt the boat.
I think it has been scrubbed. I have searched fb and twitter. I even tried to search different variations of text strings on this site.
It has provided some laughter. A lot of discussions about the UC sleepwalk tshirt giveaway, Chris Massaro’s Hawaiian shirt, and instances where our T-shirt cannon either didn’t work or couldn’t shoot it over the rails. 😂. Thank you FR!
That's not it. I think he was in the KUC around lunchtime. It was awkward.
Correct. I think this is a propaganda ministry replacement. The good one had a guy trying to eat his lunch and just kinda looks up at Stock and keeps on eating.😂😂
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I wish I could get a copy so I could put a laugh track over it at all the great moments.
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