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Jason Young is the new athletics director at FDU, heralding a 'golden era' for the Knights. Under his leadership, the department has seen significant achievements and expansions, including a historic apparel deal with Macron.
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Jason Young, FDUâs new director of athletics, calls this a âgolden eraâ for the Knights. Itâs hard to argue.
Under retiring AD Brad Hurlbut, who took the reins in 2019, FDU menâs basketball stunned the world by taking down top-seeded Purdue in March Madness, womenâs basketball produced back-to-back unbeaten seasons in the Northeast Conference, menâs soccer made multiple NCAA Tournament appearances, womenâs volleyball made the NCAAs for the first time ever, womenâs bowling advanced to the NCAA Final Four, and menâs track standout Salif Mane became NCAA champion in the triple jump and finished sixth at the Paris Olympics.
The baseball team is currently 24-6 in the NEC and seeking its first NCAA appearance on the heels of $1.3 million stadium renovation. And the department has added two sports, and two more are on the way.
The 36-year-old Young has been on board the whole time, arriving in 2019 and rising to the post of deputy athletic director. He negotiated FDUâs naming-rights sponsorship agreement that renamed the Rothman Center to the Bogota Savings Bank Center in 2024. Just recently, he led the negotiations as FDU became the first U.S. college to sign an apparel deal with Macron, an Italian-based sportswear company well known throughout international soccer.
Jason Young
Young discussed his vision for FDU athletics in a tumultuous time for college sports in a wide-ranging interview with NorthJersey.com. This has been lightly edited for clarity and brevity.
Q. First, your thoughts on Bradâs tenure?
A. âWeâre calling it the golden era of FDU Knights athletics. Once we got through COVID, we really took off like a rocket ship. The thing Brad will be best known for is coming in with a vision and getting everyone to buy in, including me. When I applied in 2019, I had no idea who Brad was, and it clicked. I was like, âI can be part of this and make an impact.â His ability to put that forth was game-changing, and thatâs going to be his legacy.â
FDU athletics has seen men's basketball defeat top-seeded Purdue, women's basketball achieve unbeaten seasons, and multiple NCAA Tournament appearances across various sports.
Jason Young is the new director of athletics at FDU, previously serving as deputy athletic director since 2019.
Jason Young anticipates significant changes, including the addition of new sports and continued success in existing programs.
FDU became the first U.S. college to sign an apparel deal with Macron, enhancing its brand visibility and aligning with international sportswear standards.
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Retiring FDU athletics director Bradford Hurlbut
Q. What are your top priorities now?
A. âAs we go into the modern era we havenât opted in yet (to the NCAAâs House settlement, which allows colleges to engage in revenue sharing with athletes). Figuring out how to do that, and do it fiscally responsibly, is on top of the list for me. Weâve got to get menâs basketball to the level where they can compete and succeed. I donât think itâs an accident that the winner of the NEC this year (Long Island University) opted in.
âNo. 2, weâre growing. Weâre at 400 athletes right now, and Iâd like us to get to 475 or 500. That will be really important for us. With growth, that also means weâre building. Our university is going through a real-estate development plan, if you will. Theyâre reimagining what the campus will look like.
âI want to see us build a practice facility for menâs and womenâs basketball and volleyball, so we can turn the Bogota Savings Bank Center into more of a revenue-producer and make it more of a community asset, which his super important to us and our value to Bergen County.
âOn top of that, we need more resources and fundraising. Weâve got to get more money into this building to stay competitive. We go as menâs basketball goes. And I want us to continue our community service activities, winning more NEC community-service awards. Thatâs something I care about â that stuff matters.â
Q. Is there a timeline for when youâd like to opt-in?
A. âThe 2027-28 school year, so this year being our last not opting in. Iâve got eight more months to figure things out.â
Q. You mentioned expanding the number of athletes? How will you look to do that?
A. âWeâve added (womenâs) flag football (as an intercollegiate member of the ECAC), and their first class comes in this fall. Weâve added menâs fencing for 2027-28. We think we can grow fencing on the womenâs side, too. We just set up a new partnership with Durkan Fencing Academy (in Ridgewood), so thereâs room to grow there. Track & field we can grow a little but more.â
Q. How did the Macron deal come about, and how does this help FDU?
A. âIt came about thanks to USA Fencing making an introduction to the folks at Macron for us. We loved our relationship with Under Armour; unfortunately the numbers (financially) didnât work for us any longer. Â When we started that partnership we were at 240 athletes, and now weâre at 400.
âWhen Macron presented, I was blown away by the quality of the stuff, and I like that we will be direct to an apparel company â no middleman. And the last piece, our athletes can pick their own shoes. Weâll be ankles up with the apparel provider and that will give our athletes that freedom. I want us to be trailblazers in a lot of respects. And being the first university in the U.S. with Macron, that means a lot.â
Q. How has student-athlete retention been across your sports? What can be done about that at the institutional level, and what would you like to see the NCAA do?
A. âOur retention has been very, very good for the most part. If you take out menâs and womenâs basketball, we do not see heavy amounts of kids going into the portal. So overall weâve been very happy. One of the reasons is we have really good strength and conditioning, athletic training, and academic services. Those are three key student-service areas. Our success also helps Weâve been able to win and weâve been able to compete for conference championships, so they want to be part of that.â
âWeâre going to lose a kid every now and then to a bigger school. One thing I tell our coaches is, at the end of the day youâre all teachers and you have your students for a year. If they stay a second year, they stay. But you have to capitalize on the time you have with them. For that year you have to push them, create growth, make them uncomfortable, do things to create that college experience so theyâre leaving a better person than when they got here.â
âWeâre proud of (former FDU basketball standouts) Terrence Brown and Ansley Almonor when they go on to play at North Carolina and Kentucky. Weâre not going to shy away from that. Theyâre part of our recruiting pitches as much as the kids who stayed four years and won two championships. You have to accept that reality and not get too frustrated by it.
âWith the NCAA, the only thing Iâm looking forward to at some point is the ability for there to be a little bit more of a commitment made by an athlete to an institution upon signing. If we can guarantee an athleteâs going to come for at least their freshman and sophomore years, that helps you plan, and it helps their character growth on and off the field. It builds more stability.
âIt would like to see the ability for an athlete to transfer every year off the table. I donât think weâre helping students if theyâre going to a different school every year. Itâs hard for them to build an alumni network, relationships, and things that will help them for the next 40 years as opposed to this immediate gratification.â
Q. You have a basketball background -- what do you think of NCAA Tournament expansion and the way the bracket will be set up going forward?
A. âA little bit bummed, honestly. Itâs not going to help schools like us, thatâs for sure. At the end of the day our goal is to get to Dayton and win a game, and then letâs see what happens. Itâs important for us to get that national exposure on a Tuesday or Wednesday night by ourselves. Having had that Dayton experience, it was awesome.
âMy issue now is theyâve added eight teams who will be Power-4 teams who will all be middling teams that will now have a shot to get through to the second round or Sweet 16, and that takes away from your Cinderella stories. Youâre not going to see as many 12 (seeds) beating 5s because most of those 12s will be Power-4 schools, so that Cinderella feel is going away.
âI know where this whole thing is going â itâs going to be FA Cup-style (used in English soccer). If youâre in a lower division, you might have to play two or three games before you have a shot at a team from the Premier League. Schools like FDU might have to play two games before they see Purdue instead of one. Thatâs unfortunate, and it all comes back to greed and money. As long as the tournament (financial) shares stay the same, I donât think there will be a lot of griping because it makes a huge difference for a school like us, but youâre going to lose some of the magic of Cinderella.
âWe have a book coming out next February by Triumph Sports; the working title is FDU Believe It.â One of the reasons weâre pushing to do a book so hard is to memorialize the Cinderella story, because we donât know how often itâs going to happen anymore.â
Q. Do you foresee FDU maintaining a long-term membership in the Northeast Conference?
A. âNo foreseeable changes. Iâm a big proponent of the NEC. Iâm also a proponent of not having these super-leagues. If you look at the math, if I have a 1-in-18 chance of making the NCAA Tournament versus a 1-in-10 chance, Iâll take the 1-in-10 chance. Why merge with the MAAC or the America East? The math doesnât make sense. We also love of geography in the NEC â the number of day trips we have is incredible.â
Jerry Carino has covered the New Jersey sports scene since 1996 and the college basketball beat since 2003. Contact him atjcarino@gannettnj.com.
This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: New FDU athletics director Jason Young sees big changes ahead