Mike Sielski: Villanova has a new AD and likely a more bottom-line approach to men’s basketball. Kyle Neptune should be on guard.

PHILADELPHIA Not long into the news conference Tuesday morning at which he introduced Eric Roedl as Villanovas new athletic director, the Rev.

Peter Donohue, the universitys president, began to list Roedls responsibilities in his previous job.

As the University of Oregons deputy AD, Roedl was in charge of the schools football, mens basketball, baseball, and tennis programs, all as part of his day-to-day oversight of an athletic department with a budget of $145 million.

Donohue paused after mentioning that figure.

Just a little, please, he said.

Later, someone asked Roedl what he could bring with him from Oregon that would help him most at Villanova.

Before Roedl could answer, Donohue jumped in.

I hope, he said, their budget.

The interjection was funny and telling.

It was a reminder of the true priorities of everyone who controls a Division I athletic program, even a program such as Villanovas one that ostensibly aspires to balance education, character development and competitive excellence.

Roedl wont have the resources on the Main Line that he had in Eugene; according to the Department of Education, the Villanova athletic departments operating expenses from June 2022 through May 2023 were not quite $59 million.

That financial gap is wide, but the expectation gap, at least with respect to Villanovas crown-jewel sport, wont be.

What Roedl has now is a passionate booster base with deep pockets and a mens basketball program that less than three years ago was the best in the Big East and has been declining in quality and relevance ever since.

Mens basketball is the athletic departments revenue-driver.

Its an inextricable part of the universitys brand.

That reality means that Roedls most meaningful experience, the period of his life that best prepared him for this job, wasnt the four years he spent at Villanova as an undergraduate and a member of the tennis team.

It was his 13 years at Oregon, at a bigger institution that better exemplifies the increasingly transactional nature of college athletics.

In the wake of name, image and likeness and pay-for-play, nobody has to pussyfoot around anymore.

At the highest levels, the schools are there to win and make money, and the athletes are there to win and make money.

And if they dont, someone will be heading out the door, voluntarily or otherwise.

There are a number of things, Roedl said, that go into evaluating programs and coaches: the academic performance of the student-athletes, the culture of the program, the trajectory in recruiting, obviously on-the-court results, community engagement.

Are people engaged? Are people excited? Are we selling tickets? Are we raising money? Those are all things that go into evaluating a program.

So what does Roedl see when he looks at Villanovas mens basketball program 3-4 after its one-point loss Sunday to Maryland, without an NCAA Tournament berth since 2022, having won just over half its games since Kyle Neptune took over as head coach? He described Neptune and womens coach Denise Dillon as outstanding people, great leaders for these programs.

I look forward to partnering with them.

He gave no indication of how long he would be inclined to allow such a partnership to last, though, and inside Finneran Pavilion on Tuesday morning, Neptune was sitting in the front row throughout the press conference, leaning forward, his left hand on his chin.

There are no more important hires that you have than head coaches and the impact they have on student-athletes, said Roedl, who graduated from Villanova in 1997.

Todays head coach has to really approach things in a certain way to make sure youre connecting with your student-athletes.

I think that connectivity piece is more important than ever with the transfer portal and mental-health pressures and outside challenges and so many of the outside pressures and influences we have and you mentioned the transactional nature of college athletics.

The coaches who can connect are the ones who are going to be successful in building that kind of culture thats going to last and be sustainable.

If Neptune is connecting with his players in that way, its not apparent in the Wildcats performance on the court, and it hasnt been apparent, really, since he took over.

With more and more Pavilion seats empty on game nights, with Villanovas status within the Big East slipping, Neptune had good reason to strike so intense a pose as he listened to his new boss introduce himself Tuesday.

Roedl has to know what his first order of business is here.

He wont have $145 million at his disposal to get Villanovas mens basketball program back where it used to be, but hell be expected to bring just a little of that bottom-line approach back to his alma mater just the same.

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