EVANSVILLE, Ind. — Kenneth Siegfried is a fan of Ted Lasso.
Would he call his leadership Lasso-esque? Not exactly. But that doesn’t mean the University of Evansville athletics director doesn’t practice some lessons from the famous comedy series, which follows an American football coach taking the reigns of a fictitious Premier League soccer club.
“I think there’s a lot that can be taken from some of what Ted Lasso does,” Siegfried told the Courier & Press. “I don’t want to say I’m like him because I’m not, but I think you can take a lot from some of the things that are implied or said in that series.”
Perhaps, though, there’s more to the similarity than meets the eye. Sure, UE doesn’t have Jason Sudeikis sporting a mustache running around the facilities and learning everything on the fly, but both Siegfried and Lasso are in new circ*mstances. Both have seen results, too.
“Be curious, not judgemental,” both the UE athletic director and football-turned-soccer coach have said. While Lasso uttered the phrase in a pub while playing darts and reciting a moment from his childhood, Siegfried used the term to describe his relationship with his coaches.
He wants to be close with everyone in the department, from the leaders to the support staff.
“It’s sort of like being a coach,” Siegfried said. “You’re gonna have student-athletes that you want them to know that you care about them, just like I want the coaches to know I care about each and every one of them. But on the backside, I care enough about them to want to keep them accountable.”
Siegfried’s first summer in Evansville has been busy with coaching changes, facility renovations and more. He recently met exclusively with the Courier & Press to review the past few months as UE enters another academic year.
Siegfried’s move; transitioning from public to private
Siegfried was announced as UE’s new athletics director on April 21 after serving in the same position at California State University-Bakersfield for the previous seven years. It’s not exactly packing to move from Wichita, Kansas, to London, but it was still a process.
He brought each of his “pillars” for success with him: academic excellence, student-athlete experience, pursuing competitive success and engaging the community.
Before Siegfried was hired, things were moving quickly on his end as he was approached “literally seven days” before taking the job. He was recommended to the search firm by a couple of people. Siegfried knows because they told him. He looked for what UE sought: someone to be external and who could focus on turning sports around, particularly men’s basketball.
The location was also important to the Memphis native. He “wanted to be back on this side of the United States.” Everything seemingly fell into place.
“The main reason was that I felt like I could come in and make an impact,” Siegfried said. “I’m not someone who jumps around to different places.”
Siegfried was invited for a Zoom interview, then brought to campus, where he met men’s soccer coach Marshall Ray and volleyball coach Fernando Morales. A decision didn’t take long from there.
“I got the job while I was here. Literally canceled my flight, bought some additional suits and started going to work,” he said. “One week, I went from being somewhere for 10 years to being here.”
Siegfried said he hadn’t met his predecessor, Mark Spencer, but he hopes to do so eventually.
There's been a learning process for Siegfried since he made the 2015-mile move from Bakersfield, particularly adjusting from the largest public university system in the country to a small private school.
“It was a lot of learning,” Siegfried said. “The way things work at a private institution are a little different.”
While there are differences in enrollment, CSUB was setting a ceiling whereas increasing numbers is “a top priority” at UE. As “the front porch of the university,” Siegfried says success in athletics would help enrollment as a whole. That comes through making NCAA tournaments and "continuing to get our brand out because we do have a top-notch education.”
Summer news, facilities and fall goals
Siegfried went into the MVC summer meetings with two goals. He wanted UE to host both the conference volleyball and baseball tournaments.
“We hit on one and we missed on one; batting .500 right now,” he said.
The hit, he thinks, could turn into a home run. UE volleyball is coming off a strong season with a 21-12 record and a trip to the National Invitational Volleyball Championship third round. Morales made it clear that he thought the Purple Aces could host while Siegfried was being interviewed for the vacancy, so that became one of his initial goals.
“I quickly got the impression that not only could we compete for a championship, but would compete for a championship this year in the Valley,” Siegfried said. “If we could host a tournament like that and give ourselves a chance to win it, I knew it could be special.
“And, quite frankly, it could ignite everyone to start looking at doing the same.”
The swing-and-miss came with hosting the baseball tournament. The UE baseball team is coming off a strong season, finishing 32-24 and coming one game shy of a conference championship appearance. However, the MVC selected Indiana State as the host.
With the tournament heading to Terre Haute, Siegfried was resolute that the story wasn’t finished.
“We’ll absolutely try again next year,” he said. Siegfried then listed some of the advantages the Aces have — the turf facility, MVC Coach of the Year Wes Carroll, the success on the field. “I know that we’re gonna be at the top of the Valley for the foreseeable future.”
The softball field at James and DorothyCooper Stadium is currently being renovated and will mark the second UE facility with an outdoor turf playing surface. It’s a project Siegfried admits began before he arrived, readily crediting Spencer with getting it started.
“When baseball got turf, the conversation started about, ‘Well, what about softball?’” Siegfried said. UE waited until it had a formal commitment from Tri-State Orthopedics. From there, Siegfried signed off, confident the new sponsor felt good about the direction of the program in addition to supporting the athletes.
There could be more to come on the facilities front. Siegfried said the Carson Center may be getting the next upgrade, specifically the weight room and athletic training areas. He also mentioned Arad McCutchen Stadium as well as the armory.
“Our playing facilities are good,” Siegfried said. “Now we gotta look at locker rooms and other facilities that can be enhanced.”
He also mentioned the possibility of adding programs, even if that doesn't happen in the near future. Plus, while he notably hired new men's basketball coach David Ragland, Siegfried also completed a cross country and track and field coaching search.
Midway through this interview, he looked out his window stationed to the right of his desk.
“I look this way,” he said while lifting his right hand to the window, “because we don’t have a track.”
With that box checked, Siegfried looked ahead to the fall. Volleyball, he thinks, should compete for the MVC. Same with men’s and women’s soccer, with both having gone to the championship matches last season.
“I’m just ready to see our student-athletes in competition,” he said. “People care about what we’re doing, and what’s going to be awesome is just to be able to watch our student-athletes do what they love and also see our staff who have been putting in a lot of work.”
NIL, conference realignment, fundraising
UE is working on an NIL collective. That much has been known for some time now. The ruling that student-athletes can profit off name, image and likeness has left schools scrambling to gain an advantage while the NCAA is floundering to control the situation.
For a school like UE, the concern involves how it can continue to compete in the new era of collegiate athletics.
“It’s our job to educate, and we want (student-athletes) to have opportunities,” Siegfried said, “but we mainly have to focus on education… Frankly, we may not have the same type of dollars that are going to come in as a Power Five, but we have to make sure that we have it available.”
Purple Aces:NIL, athleticism, five-star offer: takeaways from the first UE men's basketball practice
Alston payments are one aspect of NIL Siegfried feels is not spoken of enough. Coming from the NCAA v. Alston Supreme Court case, Division I schools are permitted to provide up to $5,980 in addition to a scholarship for athletes, though they are not required.
Siegfried said UE is “heavily” looking at installing that next school year. There are some hurdles, mainly whether it can be available for all sports, but the school gets to set the criteria for how an athlete can receive the payment.
“That’s what more people should be talking about,” he said. “For us, we’re going to be involved in all of it. From the NIL collective space, we’ll have opportunities there, especially around education. Then we’re looking at implementing the Alston payments.”
From there, fundraising comes in. Siegfried wants to revamp the Purple Aces Club, an annual fund to raise money that helps all programs. He added that UE had gotten “a little bit away from pushing for annual support,” so he wants to bring that back to the forefront.
Then there’s the topic of conference realignment. The biggest recent moves are highlighted by UCLA and USC leaving the PAC-12 for the Big 10, but the MVC is no stranger to the facade, with Belmont, Murray State and Illinois-Chicago joining after Loyola left for the Atlantic 10.
MVC commissioner Jeff Jackson recently said while the conference doesn’t have an “open for business” sign at the front door, it wouldn’t turn away programs that made sense. “The Valley is in a good spot with our membership, which is a positive,” Siegfried said. “There’s no doubt those things are gonna impact us. We gotta be ready to adapt; we gotta be ahead of the game.” Siegfried said he agreed with Jackson’s comment.
He then quoted another athletic director.
“You can get left behind like the taxi services vs. now Uber and Lift,” Siegfried said. “Stuff like this is always gonna take place. We have to make sure that we’re on the end of being prepared and being proactive rather than reacting to what everyone else is doing.”
Confidence
Siegfried is a fan of Ted Lasso. However, Siegfried is not Ted Lasso.
But heading into his first full school year at the helm, that fictitious football-turned-soccer coach’s lessons are present. Unlike Lasso, there’s not a sense that Siegfried doesn’t belong.
He’s outgoing and wants to meet everyone in the community. He’s confident, not co*cky.
“We actually had a guy at Bakersfield who did a presentation, and I’d have to get him to send it to us of 'Leadership from Lasso,'” Siegfried said.
One of the main lessons from that presentation? Be curious, not judgemental.
