New BCC AD Schwartz goes full time

BARSTOW •  Gary Schwartz became the athletic director at Barstow Community College and then added men’s basketball coach to his title three days into his tenure.

Consider it his initiation.

For years BCC athletic directors have taken on multiple duties — everything from teaching to coaching to working as an administrator in another capacity.

Not this time. When basketball coach Robert Uphoff left, Schwartz, who has 16-years experience as a basketball coach, once tried out for the Chicago Bulls, and played professionally in Iceland, filled the vacancy — but only temporarily. Schwartz ran basketball practices for a month before hiring a new coach.

Schwartz was brought into be the first full-time BCC athletic director in recent history in August, and that’s what he intends to focus on.
Joe Clark, BCC vice president of student affairs, said he’s excited to see the department heading in what he thinks is the right direction.
“It’s a new dawn a coming,” Clark said. “We think the future of athletics in Barstow is very bright."

Schwartz is now charged with stabilizing the BCC athletic department.

The Vikings haven’t had an athletic director without the interim tag in a year since Ray Perea retired. Kim Ensing last served as the interim athletic director, and as the women’s basketball coach, but left BCC for a position at Allan Hancock College in July. Schwartz is signed to a one-year contract.

“Most of the ADs have had two or three positions,” Schwartz said. “So the AD was a part of their whole job. I’ve learned over the years in my many years in athletics, that model just rarely ever works very well. The position is spread too thin.”

With the athletic director position in flux, the BCC athletic department struggled. The softball team was forced to cancel its season halfway through last season when there weren’t enough players to play. The Foothill Conference conducted a program compliance report in late April and found several holes in the athletic department, including a lack of a full-time athletic director.

The report, which was conducted by Foothill Conference Commissioner Dean Crowley and administrators from other schools in the conference, commended BCC for having well-maintained facilities, well-written manuals and community support but concluded that the program would benefit from a full-time athletic director.

“The written philosophy is sound, the athletic program lacks the necessary resources for implementation. The infrastructure for the athletic department is not apparent,” the report stated.

Schwartz worried about the state of the department during the hiring process but said the administration was up front with him and reassured him of the direction it was taking.

“Initially it made me a little apprehensive to take the position,” Schwartz said. “In my talks with the administration, I got a strong feeling that they wanted to develop a whole new and better athletic program that the community could be proud of.”

Schwartz turned around other programs as a college coach and is looking to channel that experience into his first athletic director position. As a basketball coach he’d take less than successful programs and help them to winning records within three years.

“My experience in coaching was I love challenges,” Schwartz said. “I was always intrigued by challenging situations. That was kind of who I was as a coach. That’s what I wanted.”

Athletic trainer Taylor Puryear can already see the difference.

“We were kind of like a ship with out a sail,” Puryear said. “It’s good to have some leadership.”
While Puryear said previous athletic directors did a good job with the resources they had, Schwartz is already bringing new ideas and accountability to the department.

“He’s going to take us to a new level,” Puryear said. “I think you are going to see a big difference.”