On Feb. 27, the University’s Marketing Office emailed the campus community with the information that James Downer was departing from his role as Director of Athletics to “pursue other opportunities.” Downer served as Saint Francis AD for almost five years.
The Marketing Office also announced in the Feb. 27 email that longtime Associate Director of Athletics Jim Brazill was being promoted to AD. Brazill, a Johnstown native, has worked in SFU’s Athletic Department for almost two decades.
On March 17, the day before the Red Flash men’s basketball team’s “First Four” NCAA Tournament game against Alabama State, Troubadour Sports Editor Alex Crocco sat down for a conversation with Brazill.
Q: Your transition into the AD role comes at a historic moment in Red Flash Athletics. How do you think the transition has gone so far?
A: It’s hard to say. Since becoming AD, we have won four men’s basketball games and we’ve been hyper-focused on the Northeast Conference Championship and now the NCAA Tournament.
Q: What are some of your short-term and long-term goals for Saint Francis Athletics?
A: Saint Francis is about winning championships, but it’s also about recruiting quality student-athletes and developing them into strong young men and women.
Q: What does the men’s basketball team’s NEC title and trip to the Big Dance mean for the Athletic Department and for the University?
A: It’s great for the department, the University and the Saint Francis community because they have all embraced the team. From a department standpoint, it is about doing more for the community and not just for yourself. To be able to do this with zero NIL dollars speaks to what Rob Krimmel and his staff have been able to accomplish with far less than what others have.
Q: Would you say that the Loretto community is a part of this, in addition to the Saint Francis community?
A: Absolutely. They have embraced the team. Plus, the recognition the school gets enhances Loretto and the surrounding area.
Q: You’ve worked in the SFU Athletics Department for two decades. What has been the biggest changes that you have seen during this period?
A: The transfer portal and NIL – they have been game-changers for athletic departments across the country, not just Saint Francis. They have disrupted our efforts to develop young men and women, because now they’re more apt to transfer.
Q: What are the biggest challenges for Saint Francis, and the Northeast Conference in general, during this volatile period in college sports?
A: It’s definitely the transfer portal. You might get a student-athlete (at Saint Francis) who is on the bubble. Essentially, we become a farm system because we will take student-athletes and develop them academically and athletically. We get them ready and the next thing you know, they have a good season and somebody else comes in and scoops them up.
Q: With membership changing dramatically over the last several years, do you feel that the NEC has stabilized, or are we likely to see more teams come and go?
A: I think it’s stable right now. They (NEC officials) have been in talks with some other schools about joining the conference. I know the number they like to be at is 10. I believe they are working on that.
Q: Has the University kept an eye on other conference membership opportunities, just in case the NEC would not survive all the ongoing shuffling?
A: I don’t know that there’s a “natural fit” for us out there. You’ve got the Patriot League, but I’m not sure that one would be a fit for us. I don’t think there’s one out there right now.
Q: You came to Saint Francis from a professional hockey background. Are you going to bring hockey back to Saint Francis?
A: Hockey is an expensive sport to maintain, from equipment to travel to personnel, so that would be a tough one. But I will say that about 10 years ago, this was discussed.
