12.12.22

The Shocker Way: A Q&A With Kevin Saal

In just over four months on the job, Kevin Saal has made a splash at Wichita State as the university’s 19th director of athletics. Responsible for managing oversight of sponsorships, fundraising, partnerships, marketing, public relations, strategic planning, compliance, academics, student-athlete development and performance, Name Image and Likeness (NIL), and hiring and mentoring coaches, Saal took up his duties at WSU this past July, after three years as the athletics director at Murray State in Kentucky.

Q: You and your wife Jennifer have two college-age sons, Jacob and Alex. What do you enjoy doing together as a family?

We really enjoy the outdoors — hiking, fishing, hunting, running, golf, etc. We also enjoy attending sporting events together, cooking a meal at home together. Our oldest son Jacob, who’s 22, is planning to start the culinary program at WSU Tech in January, so he’ll be moving to Wichita. He has an unbelievable servant’s heart and really enjoys the operational aspects of restaurant management. Our youngest son Alex, who’s 20, is a junior at Murray State, studying in the college of education. Alex serves as a residential adviser in one of the dorms, enjoys working out and intramural sports on campus. He has expressed interest in exercise science, kinesiology, strength/conditioning training, etc. Jennifer and I are both incredibly proud of the quality young men they have become.

Q: You grew up in Manhattan, Kan., where you were a high school student-athlete in soccer, swimming and diving, and where both your parents worked at Kansas State, your dad as a psychology professor. In college, you continued to compete in swimming and diving, and earned a bachelor’s degree in psychology from Texas Christian University. What was it that drew you to the subject of psychology? How did you get hooked on swimming and diving?

My original major was biology — and I quickly learned that wasn’t for me! I entered psychology initially because of my dad’s work, but I became interested in the various disciplines within psychology, such as sensory/perception, behavioral psychology, child psychology, etc. I was — and still am — intrigued by what inherent and environmental factors impact human behavior and how can we as leaders intentionally cultivate an environment/culture that will produce desired behaviors contributing to elite performance.

My oldest sister competed as a diver in high school, and I wanted to give it a try. I enjoyed the developmental and continuous improvement aspects of the sport — and was a bit of an adrenaline junkie! When I was in high school, I attended camps each summer at the University of Arkansas. I continued to improve and enjoyed the opportunity to compete at State, win two KSHSAA state team championships and ultimately earn scholarships and compete at Arkansas and at TCU.

Q: What kind of music do you listen to?

My “all songs” playlist looks like an eye chart. It’s got some of my dad’s 1950s and ’60s folk/rock, classical music, classic rock, and music from the 1980s, ’90s and 2000s. I was recently asked what my walk-up song would be if I were a baseball hitter or pitcher and I chose “No More Tears” by Ozzy Osbourne.

Q: You began your career in athletics administration at K-State, then served as director of operations at the University of Missouri-Kansas City before moving on to the University of

Kentucky. You’ve had a number of personal and career mentors, notably UK athletics director Mitch Barnhart. What did you learn from him that you’ve come to value the most since becoming an AD yourself?

I have been blessed to learn from so many great administrative and coaching mentors throughout my career. Each stop — Kansas State, UMKC, Kentucky and Murray State — has included individuals and experiences critical to shaping who I am today, my core values, work ethic, motivation, etc. Mitch took a keen interest in my development at the University of Kentucky. The lessons/attributes I value most from him are his steadiness, commitment to core values, his faith, his ability to garner support from passionate constituents to achieve remarkable results. Mitch’s style empowers his team members. His philosophy is to equip and launch leaders of character, competence and consequence. Most notably, Mitch and his wife Connie create a warm family environment within which our family grew to prosper.

Q: What’s your favorite kind of food?

Italian.

Q: What piece of Shocker sports heritage or chapter in WSU sports history most impresses you?

Wichita State has a tremendous tradition and history of success in so many of our programs. It’s difficult to nail down one particular element, given the historical and traditional success of our programs over the last many decades. Winning nine MVC championships in 2015-16 is certainly impressive. The trophy case in Charles Koch Arena is chock full of MVC All-Sports Trophies. Since stepping into a more expensive and competitive environment in the American Athletic Conference, we’re proud to have earned six AAC Championships in the last five years — men’s outdoor track/field, women’s outdoor track/field, women’s cross country, volleyball, softball and men’s basketball. Perhaps most impressively, our student-athletes have earned a department-wide 3.0 GPA for 34 consecutive semesters.

Q: Do you have a particular area of interest or hobby or skill that might surprise us?

Interesting question — I enjoy jogging, fishing and hunting, and my family and I were always really into a wide variety of music. Many of us played instruments and/or sang in a choir — so I enjoy music as a result of seven years on the saxophone, amateur picking around on a guitar and six or seven years of concert choir in middle school and high school. I do also still have a bit of the adrenaline junkie in me as we’re making plans to try a little skydiving — and Jennifer surprised me with an opportunity to begin flying lessons!

Q: How do Name, Image and Likeness (NIH) efforts fit into the mix of your AD duties here at Wichita State?

First and foremost, it is our department’s responsibility to maintain the integrity of the institution and the eligibility of our student-athletes. As a department, our charge is to educate about NIL — what it is and what it isn’t. Additionally, it’s our responsibility to set up the infrastructure that connects our student-athletes with the business community and drives NIL activity.

Q: What are some of your favorite books? Movie?

The Captain Class by Sam Walker, The Servant by James Hunter and Credibility by James Kouzes and Barry Posner — and my favorite movie is Moneyball.

Q: In addition to your bachelor’s degree from TCU, you hold a master’s degree in athletics administration from the University of Kansas, and you’re working on a Ph.D. from Murray State. What’s the focus of your dissertation?

I finished up the coursework for my doctoral program, Ed.D. P-20 & Community Leadership, in June of 2022. While I’m in the very preliminary stages of the dissertation work, the focus will be on the intrinsic motivations and values of participation in intercollegiate athletics.

Q: Do you have pets?

We have two dogs, Molly, a 4-year-old beagle mix, and Maddux, a 1.5-year-old charcoal lab.

Q: With some four months on the job to date, what do you see as Wichita State’s key strengths and assets?

The success of any organization rises and falls on leadership. Wichita State is led by a dynamic and forward-thinking leader in President Rick Muma and his executive team. Institutional points of pride are endless, and everyone shares in them. From applied learning to the Innovation Campus, NIAR to plans for a new biomedical research building, transformative grant funding to reducing equity gaps, Woolsey Hall to the Shocker Success Center — Wichita State has seen tremendous growth in recent years. Access and affordability continue to be key priorities for our institution. The future is incredibly bright for WSU because its faculty/staff, administrators and, most importantly, students pursue excellence.

Q: What’s your favorite type of getaway location?

Mountains.

Q: Is there a particular quote that inspires or grounds you?

Several come to mind. Perhaps a couple that resonate the most with me are excerpts from Marianne Williamson’s A Return to Love: Reflections on the Principles of ‘A Course in Miracles’ and from Theodore Roosevelt’s The Man in the Arena speech, where he said, “It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly, who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.”

Q: What’s your favorite color?

Yellow and black, of course!