UCSD Athletic Director Sweet Is. . . : Unknown at Home, Well-Known Away

It’s fitting that Judy Sweet was once chairwoman of the NCAA committee on committees.

The UC San Diego athletic director, whose reputation on a national level far exceeds her notoriety in San Diego, is a member of numerous NCAA committees.

Last January, for example, Sweet became the presiding officer for Division III schools. That position gives her a place on the five-member NCAA administrative committee.

She is also chairwoman of the Division III championships committee, a member of the NCAA executive committee that deals with financial matters, a member of the council that handles legislative matters and a member of subcommittees that deal with budgets and playing seasons.

And she is also on the board of trustees of the U.S. Sports Academy.

“It would kind of sound like I love committees,” said Sweet, who has been athletic director at UCSD since 1975. “Really, I enjoy being involved where I can make a difference. I enjoy analyzing situations and making them better than they might be.”

In her spare time, what little of it exists after 16-hour work days, Sweet serves as the president of the homeowners’ association at her condominium complex in La Jolla.

“When I came to San Diego to review the program at UCSD last May, I found that Judy is not really known in San Diego,” said Mary Jean Mulvaney, chairman of the department of physical education and athletics at the University of Chicago. “Isn’t that really a shame? She’s well known and is very highly respected around the country.”

Doug Dannevik, UCSD women’s volleyball coach, told of taking his team to Elmhurst (Ill.) College for a tournament. Elmhurst Athletic Director Al Ackerman wanted to know if Sweet was coming.

Said Dannevik: “The people there really wanted to meet her.”

Sweet, attending an NCAA meeting--naturally--in Chicago, stopped in Elmhurst.

What’s more, Sweet has been honored in “Notable Americans” and “Who’s Who of American Women.” But she has gained more fame in conference rooms in Mission, Kan., where the NCAA office is located, than in her home county.

Sweet, 38, oversees a Division III program that includes 22 varsity sports and six club sports. UCSD does not offer athletic scholarships and operates on an annual budget of $500,000 supported by minimal ticket revenues and student fees.

And, of course, UCSD does not have a football team.

However, Judy Sweet moves in the circles of those who have so-called major college programs.

“She is exceptionally effective,” said Wilford Bailey, faculty representative for athletics at Auburn University and secretary-treasurer of the NCAA council. “Judy is very articulate and persuasive and has gained the respect of all members of the council and NCAA staff.”

As might be expected, Sweet felt that her first NCAA meetings were “eye-openers. There are those in Division I who feel a Division II or Division III school can’t relate to their issues. Those that think we don’t understand.”

Sweet made it her business to understand.

“Judy’s patience and willingness to listen has communicated to members of other divisions that while their problems are different, there are many commonalities,” Bailey said. “Judy does not take the position that that’s a problem of Division I and that she doesn’t have any interest in it.”

Another obstacle, particularly a few years ago, might have been her gender. Even though there are now 48 women athletic directors, according to the NCAA office, Sweet admits she still has to put up with some of the “good ol’ boy” attitudes that used to permeate the world of college athletics.

“Personally, I’ve recognized that may exist,” said Sweet, who was the first woman athletic director to oversee both men’s and women’s programs when she was named to the job in 1975. “I try to anticipate what may happen when I go into a situation. I go in thinking it’s not going to be a problem, but if it is, I have thought about what I need to do to reduce it.

“I feel most people have been very receptive to working with me. I have not been shut out too much from the locker room, if that’s the way of phrasing it. I’m not so naive to realize some of those problems do exist and that there aren’t some things I might be excluded from. So I develop my own network.”

Sweet on the NCAA and the place for UCSD athletics:

“Fortunately, one of the positive things about the NCAA is it allows an institution to develop a philosophy consistent with that campus. The priority of this campus is on academics. Participation in athletics is to be a supplementary experience. I think we’ve been successful in supporting that philosophy.”

In referendums held in 1968 and 1972, UCSD students voted against offering scholarships to athletes. Both times, the vote was by a 4-1 margin. Last year, a number of freshman students advocated having a football team, but they dropped the idea when they found out the price tag--about $150,000 for the first year.

Hired to coach and teach badminton and tennis in 1973, Sweet was named assistant athletic director in 1974 and athletic director in 1975.

Even at the Division III level, that’s quite a leap.

“The thought of being an athletic director never crossed my mind when I was growing up,” said Sweet. “There weren’t opportunities for women in sports. There were no role models involved in sports administration. It seemed like my options were limited.”

Indeed, when she attended the University of Wisconsin in the late 60s, she said there were no organized women’s sports programs. In such a situation, it was hard to imagine a women dreaming of organizing and directing both men’s and women’s sports.

Despite her love of sports, Sweet was sure she would end up being a math teacher or even a nurse.

At the University of Wisconsin, Sweet majored in physical education and minored in mathematics. While at school in Madison, Sweet was named the national president of the Athletic and Recreation Federation of College Women in 1968-69.

Her teaching career took her to Tulane University and the University of Arizona, where she also got her master’s in physical education.

Sweet said she ultimately moved to San Diego because she loves water. She landed on her feet, literally, teaching dance at Kearny High School.

“Dance wasn’t exactly my forte,” Sweet said, “but when you don’t have a job . . . “

While at Kearny, Sweet became acquainted with UCSD.

“I had heard about UCSD and its philosophy pertaining to athletics,” Sweet said. “I wanted to be part of it.”

The next year, UCSD had an opening and Sweet got a job teaching and coaching badminton and tennis. One year later, she was named assistant athletic director.

“When I was named athletic director,” Sweet said, “I didn’t really know everything I would be challenged with. But the opportunity was too great a challenge to pass up. I was in the right place at the right time and someone had the confidence in me.”

That someone was Howard Hunt, who was athletic director for nine years before appointing Sweet as assistant athletic director and then as athletic director. Hunt was the chairman of the physical education department before relinquishing that post this fall. He still teaches at UCSD.

Said Hunt: “Judy has a quiet approach of listening first and then analyzing. She weighs facts very well. I observed that in classes and at faculty meetings. I realized she was the type we needed in our administration. She conceptualizes very well. She understands long-term problems and has vision down the road. She had the perception to see that the program had great potential for development.”

There is a correlation between Sweet’s hobby of making stained glass windows and the way she runs an athletic department.

“I have to make each of the pieces fit,” Sweet said. “Each piece is very fragile. If a piece cracks, it needs to be recut and reshaped and fit into the total picture being created. It’s a lot like my job as athletic director. . . .

“I enjoy trying to make all the figures fit together. I have to do a lot of creative financing. Every decision has to be made on whether it’s a fiscally responsible decision. It doesn’t allow for many frills.”

In 1975, Sweet took over an athletic department that had a skeletal staff. The budget was about $65,000. There was no sports information director or athletic trainer, and a revolving door of part-time coaches. In her first five years as athletic director, Sweet said she saw about 10 part-time coaches come and go. At $900 a year, the part-time coaches couldn’t afford to stay.

“Everything was a struggle,” Dannevik said. “Nobody believed the athletic department would be viable. Now the whole thing is more professional. Now being a UCSD coach, you have built-in respect.”

However, the struggle took its toll on Sweet, who did not feel she was being compensated fairly. Therefore, on June 10, 1983, she and Bert Kobayashi--now chairman of the physical education department, then the director of campus recreation resigned their administrative posts.

She was being paid for the nine-month academic calendar year rather than the 12 months she was working to keep the athletic department going. Kobayashi had the same complaint.

“It revolved around some misunderstanding regarding my administrative responsibilities and contractual arrangement,” said Sweet, whose resignation lasted four weeks. “That situation was the unlucky part of my time at UCSD. But we came up with a satisfactory solution.”

UCSD women’s volleyball and tennis won Division III championships in 1984-85 and the women’s water polo won the USA Water Polo title in 1985-86. The Tritons were national runner-up in men’s golf in 1985 and 1986 and in women’s tennis in 1986. The list of winners in individual sports is equally impressive.

Much of this success is very much a secret hereabouts. Just like Judy Sweet.