BE A BALLER -"Building a lifelong legacy"
On Be a Baller Podcast, host Coach Tim Brown and his guest will talk about how to be intentional about building a lifelong legacy for your family, your community, and the world. Guest include individuals who have through the years have built a legacy in ministry, business, sports, and community service. BAB Podcast guest are committed to the "Wisdom Pledge" of paying forward and sharing wisdom to empower the next generation.
BE A BALLER -"Building a lifelong legacy"
Dr. Roderick McDavis: Ohio University's First African-American President- A Legacy of Educational Leadership and Student Support
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As we begin Season 4 Be a Baller Podcast, join me as I welcome Dr. Roderick McDavis to the show. Dr. McDavis was the first African-American President of Ohio University and the 20th president of Ohio University. Dr. McDavis shares his extraordinary journey from a young boy in Dayton, Ohio, to a distinguished leader in higher education. Dr. McDavis recounts the life lessons learned from his parents, his decision to pursue a career in education, and the pivotal moments that led him to Ohio University.
Listen as Dr. McDavis walks us through his career path, detailing his academic endeavors and unwavering dedication to supporting African-American students. From his master's studies at the University of Dayton to earning a PhD at the University of Toledo, Dr. McDavis's commitment to education shines through. Discover how his roles as a faculty member, dean, and provost shaped his vision and prepared him for the presidency. He shares insights into the development of key initiatives like the Ohio Guarantee and the Promise Lives campaign, aimed at stabilizing tuition costs and bolstering student support.
Don't miss Dr. McDavis's reflections on fostering strategic partnerships between larger institutions and HBCUs, and his efforts to cultivate a positive campus culture at Ohio University. Hear about his pride in reshaping the university's reputation and his current work at AGB Search, where he helps institutions find top-level administrators. This episode is a testament to Dr. McDavis's enduring impact on higher education and his continuous drive to support and inspire the next generation of students and leaders.
Beer Baller. This is Coach Tim Brown of Beer Baller Podcast. I'm excited to have on the show with me the 20th president of the real Ohio School, ohio University, adams Ohio, dr Roger McDavis. Today, dr McDavis will share about his experience in education and the value of education and really his commitment to diversity in education, and so we're excited to have him on the show this year. So welcome, dr McDavis to Beer Baller Podcast.
Speaker 2:Thank you, coach, delighted to be with you.
Speaker 1:You know we're both alumni, ou alumni, graduates and we'll get into all that. But when you grew up in Dayton, ohio, with your brothers, can you talk about the important life?
Speaker 2:lessons that you learned from your parents growing up. You know, I think, coach, the most important thing about growing up in a household and having two parents that were educators is that two things. One, it really taught me the value of education, and it was something that was cherished in our home. Both of my parents were fortunate enough to be college educated, and so they wanted to pass that on to us as their children, and so we learned to value education. And then the model that they presented to us, the role models that they presented for us, helped us to appreciate educators, and that was really the inspiration for me to think about going into education, because I wanted to follow in their footsteps. My mother was a teacher and my father was an administrator, both in education, and so learned some valuable lessons just sitting around the dinner table coach and listen to them talk about their day at work, and so from that experience it really helped me to grow and develop in a way to really appreciate the value of education.
Speaker 1:You know we all have those light bulb moments and a lot of, when it just clicks, you know, because sometimes we see what our parents do and then when it become real for you that this was what you really wanted to pursue, I think when I reached high school, I think during my early years, you know, I thought about doing a lot of different things with my life.
Speaker 2:But by the time I got to high school, I think, as I began to crystallize, you know where I wanted to go to college and what I wanted to do as far as study, you know, education was there and I developed a real liking for history. So I really wanted to be a history teacher Coach. That's how I started out. I really saw myself as being a history, a high school history teacher. That was sort of my ambition, that was sort of my goal. As being a history, a high school history teacher that's, that was sort of my ambition, that was sort of my goal. And as I matriculated through high school, I became more and more focused in on on that subject and more and more focused on becoming an educator. So for me it was probably my sophomore, junior years in high school that I really really crystallized on wanting to, to, to devote my life to education.
Speaker 1:You know you attended. You decided to attend Ohio University after education. You know you attended. You decided to attend Ohio University doing an active time on college campuses, you know. So what did a city boy like you choose? To come to the middle of nowhere Because you're from Dayton, ohio, I'm from East Cleveland, I'm from Cleveland. And then we ended up in the middle of nowhere in Athens, ohio. How did that come?
Speaker 2:about Coach. That's an interesting story. So when I was in high school I ran track and I was pretty good at it and you know, especially my junior and senior years, I was fortunate enough to get to state with the relay team and, you know, had an opportunity. In fact I had an offer, a scholarship offer to go to Ohio State. But I didn't want to go to a big school, something about a large school, just you know. I went there to visit and it just didn't seem like it would be a good fit for me, although I was from a city. So I came back and my high school coach said hey, why don't you take a look at Ohio University? It's a school down in, you know, southeast Ohio. It might be something that you like, and there's a good coach there.
Speaker 2:A gentleman by the name of Stan Huntsman was the track coach there, and so I decided to go down and visit. So I went down to Ohio University and visited for a weekend, really fell in love with it the first day that I was there, coach, I just fell in love with the campus, you know, and obviously I went there to run track as well, but I really fell in love with the university and the people and that's who was the president of Ohio University at the time had really initiated a significant effort to recruit more African-American students to come to Ohio University. So two things came together sort of my interest in running track at the collegiate level and also the fact that Ohio University was really reaching out and trying to recruit more African-American students to attend. So when those two things came together for me and my comfort level with being on the campus, I decided that's where I wanted to go and get an education.
Speaker 1:And being there at Ohio University and I kind of the same story. I took a bus trip down on Friday or Saturday morning after a football game. I got on that Greyhound bus and when I stepped foot down I just fell in love. I said this is it, this is home.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's how most of us got there, coach.
Speaker 1:I think that's how most of us get there yeah that's true. As you're on campus, I'm sure you're involved in a lot of student organization student involvement. You talk about your student involvement.
Speaker 2:I know you ran track what were some other things you were involved in on campus. So the biggest thing for me, coach, in my first year was getting involved in the Omega Psi Phi Incorporated fraternity. I had not known a lot about the fraternity, although my father was a member of the Omega Psi Phi fraternity. I really didn't know a lot about fraternities growing up and when I got engaged with pledging my second semester at Ohio University I really kind of got totally involved. I didn't get involved with a lot of other organizations during my time there. Certainly that was a time where the Black Studies Center was started, so I got involved with that, started to serve as a mentor for students, but basically I served as the boss list, which would be the equivalent of a president for my chapter at Ohio University for a couple of years, my chapter at Ohio University for a couple of years, and that was really my primary involvement with student organizations when I was there and really enjoyed it.
Speaker 2:Coach, because for me getting involved with the Omega Psi Phi fraternity, I remember at the end of my freshman year there were some decisions to be made about who would be the leader because we were just starting a new chapter there and I remember several of the older brothers in the fraternity who were about to graduate saying hey, you know we need somebody to be the boss list. And I didn't know I was a leader coach, I had never been a leader in any organization in high school, had never been a leader in any organization in Dayton Ohio growing up. And so they said well, rod, why don't you take on the role of being the boss list? And I said, well, it's not really something I know a lot about, but if you guys think I can do it, I'm happy to give it a try and just fell in love with it, coach, once again.
Speaker 2:It was one of those moments where I found out there was a leader inside of me. And I didn't know that leader was there. I knew that I wanted to be helpful, I knew that I wanted to get things done and all those sorts of things I knew I could. But I never knew I was a leader until that moment in my life where I was thrust into a role that I didn't volunteer for that others said we want you to do it.
Speaker 2:And so I did it and coached. Slowly but surely I started to develop that leadership ability by taking on that role at a very early age, and so I did it and coached. Slowly but surely. I started to develop that leadership ability by taking on that role at a very early age, because when I went to college I was only about 17. And I think by the time I became the head of my fraternity I was 18, 19. So I was pretty young when I took on that role, but it fit and I kept it for the balance of the years that I was there, really, really enjoyed it, became an officer at the state level as far as an undergraduate.
Speaker 2:And so that really propelled me into thinking about leadership, you know.
Speaker 1:upon graduation, you know, once you graduated from OU, it seemed like you hit the ground running in advanced education you know, right to the master's, the PhD and all that education. I did. So how did Ohio University prepare you for that?
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's a great question. So for me, again, it was when did that moment happen where I decided that, you know, I wanted to do something beyond just getting an undergraduate degree, and it was probably my junior year I started to think about, ok, what's next? I was going to student teach my senior year and, as I say, coach, I really wanted to help young people. That was sort of the passion that I developed serving as a mentor, serving as a counselor for younger African-American students at Ohio University. So I got interested in one of two directions Either I was going in the direction of becoming a counselor and at that level was a high school counselor, or I wanted to become a lawyer. A lot of the people that I was going to school with of course, it was a civil rights era and they wanted to go to law school so that they could have an impact on society in a legal way. And for me then I chose to be a counselor. I chose to still stick with education and just, instead of becoming a teacher, become a counselor. So that's really what led me to go to graduate school is that I wanted to be a counselor. And then my senior year, as it developed, I really said. What I really want to do now is to be a counselor at a college level. So I saw myself staying in, you know, staying at the college level and committing myself to serving as a counselor or a teacher at the college level, understanding that if I was going to be a teacher at the college level that I needed to have a PhD.
Speaker 2:So for me it was leaving Ohio University, getting right. Leaving Ohio University, getting right into graduate school, working on a master's degree. And then when I started to work on that master's degree at the University of Dayton, that's really what got me thinking about going on and getting a PhD right after that, so that I could do a couple of things. I could work in student affairs, work with students at the grassroots level, but also teach if I wanted to teach in a college or university.
Speaker 2:So right after finishing a master's degree at the University of Dayton, I went right on to the University of Toledo and started to work on a doctoral degree with the hopes that that would lead me either into a teaching situation at a college or university or working in student affairs. So that was sort of started for me, coach, when I was a junior senior in college and led me into the master's program, and the master's program led me into the doctoral program. And I said, if I'm going to get all this education, I wanted to do it while I still had the energy, while I still had the desire and passion. And so I just went all the way through and was fortunate enough that I was able to finish all of that education by the time I was 25 years old.
Speaker 1:We have this concept. Well, congratulations, first of all, thank you. Well, we've had this concept. Working with young people. I've come up with something that the Lord dropped in my spirit. I believe that is called an MVP, and it's not for a most valuable player, it's for my vision playing yes, and I really believe when a young person, when it's their vision, like yours, if it's your vision, it's going to happen. Yeah. Because it's your vision.
Speaker 2:It's not his. And Coach, you know, these things come to us and you said what was that moment? What was that situation? Was there a person? For me, it was sort of getting engaged with an academic program at a graduate level back home back in Dayton and seeing all of these young African-American students who were starting to go to college. African-american students who were starting to go to college because in the 60s and then the early 70s, colleges and universities just seemed to open their doors, so there were more and more.
Speaker 2:African-American students coming and my sense of that was, you know, I'm going to try to pass the baton, just as people helped me, you know, when I was an undergraduate, because I had some. You know, I had some challenges that I faced when I was in college and there were people there to help me. There were older African-American students at the university to help me. I wanted to be that person that would be there to help young people, african-americans as well as other students, you know, when they ran into circumstances and challenges and obstacles, and that's really what inspired me to move forward and become engaged in the academic programs that I became engaged with, which was student affairs. You know, I wanted to be in a situation where I was close to students, where I could help students and where I could be somebody that could help them, you know, overcome some challenges and obstacles that they faced.
Speaker 1:You know, after working on college campuses at University of Florida, university of Arkansas, fayetteville and Virginia Commonwealth University, what brought you back to Ohio University as the 20th president. Not only that, but the first African-American president and also the only second alumnus, so you're truly a full circle monk. You know you go from being a student, okay, but also now you're sitting in the president's office. You know what brought you back.
Speaker 2:So, as I was working as a doctoral student, I really started to ask myself, you know, okay, so what's next? The biggest question for me in life coach was always what's next? I never just stayed focused on the current, but I was always asking myself so what's next? So when I was in my master's and doctoral programs, I started to think about okay, so where is this going to lead me? What do I want to do once I get a master's degree, a doctorate degree, and get into a university? And so for me, at that point in time, because there were so many presidents who were speaking out on the issues of the of the day, whether it was the Vietnam War, whether it was civil rights, whether it was women's rights there were a lot of college presidents who were using their offices to speak out on those kinds of issues. I said that's what I want to do, that's where I can have the largest impact. But I knew it would take years for me to put myself in a position where I could, you know, come back and serve as a president for a university. And so I decided to just take my time, put in the years I started off as a faculty member at the University of Florida, put in some years there, then went on to the University of Arkansas where I started my major administrative career as a dean of education at the University of Arkansas, fayetteville, and then came back to the University of Florida, served some more time as a dean of education.
Speaker 2:And the reason, coach, that I was so specific about the different steps that I took I really studied presidents when I was in graduate school. How did they get to be presidents? And there were two or three things that I saw. One they had been faculty members somewhere, they had taught, they had done research. Two, they had served as a dean of some academic unit. And three, they had been a provost. So those were the three things that I said. That's what I want to do. I want to be a faculty member, I want to be a dean and then I want to be a provost.
Speaker 2:So I started, as I said, at the University of Florida as a faculty member. Then I went on to become a dean at both the University of Arkansas, university of Florida, then went to Virginia Commonwealth University where I served as a provost. And about the third, fourth year, again, it was sort of what's next when? Fourth year Again, it was sort of what's next? Where will I go?
Speaker 2:And never dreamed, coach, that I would have the opportunity to come back and serve as president of my alma mater. But, as it turns out, the president at the time, bob Glinton, decided to step down and somebody gave me a call. A former classmate in Columbus, in fact, gave me a call and said hey, rod, did you hear that Bob Glinton decided to step down as president and I'd like to nominate you for the job? And I said oh boy, this is a big deal now, because, you know, there was always that concern of you. Know, can you go back home? You know, can you go back home and serve in such a prestigious position, or shall I look elsewhere? And at the end of the day, coach for me, I said how would I feel 10 years from that point if I passed on the opportunity? Would I look back and always regret that I never tried to become president of my alma mater? Or would I go ahead and challenge myself to pursue it? And if I made it, that was great. If I didn't make it, that's okay. At least I could live with the fact that I tried. So, long story short, I tried.
Speaker 2:I was fortunate enough to be named the 20th president in 2004. And for the next 13 years, coach, that was the honor of my life was to serve as president of my alma mater. And to your earlier point, my alma mater. And to your earlier point, never did I imagine, as a 17, 18 year old kid coming to Ohio University, that so many years later I would come back to serve as his 20th president Only the second alumnus in the history of Ohio University to ever be able to serve as president. So it was again not in the master plan. But what was in the master plan was preparing myself to become a president. And again, when I pursued the presidency of Ohio University, it was not knowing that that would lead me to a place of being named the president, but certainly preparing myself for that opportunity once it came. And that's what I try to say to young people all the time you always want to prepare yourself for whatever opportunities are going to be out there, because you never know what's around the next corner.
Speaker 1:Well, that's good. That was good, and I love how you studied the path of a president. Yeah, so basically, when the opportunity came, you already know you checked all the boxes.
Speaker 2:Coach, that's exactly right. You know, I always say to young people you want to go backwards, you want to start with what's the goal, and whatever that position is in life, whether it's in education, whether it's in business, whatever field it's in, what's the end goal, where do you want to end up? And then you just go backwards. You say, okay, let me look at some of the other people that have done those sorts of things and to see what was their road, what was their path, what were the steps that they took. And then, if you try to replicate the steps that other people have taken, more often than not that will at least prepare you to be in a position where you can go after some of those opportunities, if they're out there.
Speaker 1:Wow, you know you've always been ahead of the curve and a visionary. What was your vision for the state's first guaranteed tuition plan, the Ohio Guarantee, first of its kind, performance-based model and funding model in the nation. And then you also develop and implement Ohio University's strategic plan of success called the Promise Lives campaign, which raised over half a billion dollars in support of students and programs. What was the vision behind these programs?
Speaker 2:Yeah, those two were really tied together, coach.
Speaker 2:So let me take the guarantee first, because that was so critical. At that point in time, we had come to realize that colleges and universities were continuing to increase their tuition and we just felt like, is there anything that we can do as a university that would at least help to stabilize the cost of a college education? And so I asked my team at that time the chief financial officer, the CFO and the provost to kind of do some research, look across the country and see if there are models out there that we might be able to follow. And one of the things that came across was a guarantee. And guarantees were done in different ways at that point in time, and the way we wanted to structure ours was simply to say look, if we can set the tuition at a rate, your freshman year and guarantee for you that it will be that rate for four years, you know, we thought that might help parents be able to budget more for their son or daughter's education, as well as to kind of create an incentive for a student to finish in four years, because at that point in time a lot of students were taking five and six years to finish. So we thought, ok, let's work at this from two vantage points. One, let's guarantee a certain tuition over four years. Then that would help parents to be able to budget more wisely for their son or daughter's education, but also it might motivate more students to try to finish their degree in four years. And Coach, as it turned out, both of them worked nicely. We found our graduation rates went up. We also found that more parents could budget. They could put money aside knowing that the tuition was not going to go up for the next three years that their son or daughter was in school, and ultimately that became a model that a lot of other universities across Ohio started to use. So what we would do for the next freshman class we may increase by the cost of living, maybe 3%, so that class, whatever that tuition was set at the beginning, would be there again for four years. Then we could budget accordingly, based on the fact that we knew that each year we could raise our tuition a little bit for the incoming freshman class, but we weren't going to raise it for the sophomore, junior or senior classes. So it was really, really. How do we help students? How do we help students? How do we help parents? How do we help students? How do we help students, how do we help parents? And it was a two for one. It increased the amount of time that that, I'm sorry, decreased the amount of time the students took to finish their academic program. At the same time, it created an opportunity for parents to create a budget for their son or daughter's education. So we got a lot of positive feedback from that from parents as well as from students our daughter's education. So we got a lot of positive feedback from that from parents as well as from students.
Speaker 2:Then, at the same time, coach, we felt like, okay, we've got to go out and raise more money for scholarships, because that was the other way to decrease the cost of an education is to start some scholarship programs. So we started something we call the Urban Scholars Program and the Appalachian scholars program and we wanted to, you know, feed money into other scholarship programs that already existed. And so we sought to create what we call a capital campaign, an opportunity to go out and raise as much money as we possibly could for scholarships, for academic programs, for facilities, for anything that we could raise money for. That would help make the institution better but at the same time to lower the cost of an education at Ohio University. So we were very, very fortunate.
Speaker 2:The previous campaign, before the one that we started, had raised about $220 million, and so we started out saying let's try to raise.
Speaker 2:About $450 million was our goal, and so we were just very, very fortunate enough to raise over half a billion dollars in the campaign. A lot of that money went to endowment that's still being used at Ohio University. Some of that money went for facilities. Some of that money went to improve and upgrade academic programs. But, coach, it was really, really focused on how do we help to make Ohio University a better place and how do we help to raise money that could help students from the standpoint of decreasing their debt for a college education, and so we were able to increase significantly the amount of money that were in scholarship funds. So both of those initiatives were aimed at helping students in different ways. One was helping to make the university a better place through a capital campaign and the other was through helping to stabilize the cost of education and increasing the or decreasing the amount of time that it took students to finish their education, and we were able to accomplish both.
Speaker 1:I wish he was present when I was there. I would have done my four and ran. I hear you. I know that college diversity on campuses is very important to you and you mentioned a couple of those scholarship funds the Urban Scholars Scholarship and Appalachian Scholars. Why is diversity so important to you?
Speaker 2:You know, I always felt, like Coach, that one of the primary purposes of a college education is to help prepare students for the future, students for the future, to help prepare students for not so much the environment that they came from but for the environment that they were going into. And my sense at that point in time was that, you know, as students go through their college education, they're going to work for 30 or 40 years and we live in a society in the United States that was becoming much more diverse and that diversity really started way back before 2000. And it has consistently increased, so that we have become a nation that is much more diverse than it was 30, 40 years ago. So the sense that I had was we ought to be working hard to create the kind of environment at Ohio University that students are going to find in the, in the, in the world of work when they leave the university. So our motivation for creating a diverse campus was to try to create a kind of a model of a society that students would be working and living in in the future, that students would be working and living in in the future. So during the years that I was honored to be the president of Ohio University, we really had diversity at the centerpiece of our goals, and we were fortunate enough to be able to increase diversity significantly during those years Again, not just for the sake of making it a more diverse campus, but for the sake of creating an environment where students could learn to work with people who were different from them. Because if they can learn to socialize and work with students who were different from them on campus, the hope was that when they left campus and went into the world of work, they would be better prepared to work with people who were different from them different from them.
Speaker 1:You know, off campus, you started an initiative, the Interlink Alliance, a partnership with Ohio University and several HBCU schools. How did that partnership come about first off, and what was the mission and the goal of that partnership?
Speaker 2:So. So we thought that, again, with diversity being a focal point, we said that with our location it was difficult to build a lot of diversity just in southeast Ohio. So we thought if we could engage in some partnerships with some historically black colleges and universities, it would do a couple of things. It would give our students a chance to go to visit some of those colleges and universities and it would give the students on those campuses an opportunity to come and visit us. So we started with the notion of creating this link, this partnership, if you will, between Ohio University and historically black colleges and universities, and we had about 10 that we had in the Interlink Alliance and Coach. The whole purpose of that was again to form partnerships to see how can we help each other. You know, can we help each other with technology, some things that we learned about technology? Can we pass that on to the HBCUs? But also, because those were smaller campuses, were there some things that they were doing with their student services that we might use because of the you know, the work that they were doing with first gen and other students on their campuses? So it was let's learn from each other. The idea was let's mutually engage in this partnership so we can learn some things from each other. So because our faculty got together, our students got together, we tried to exchange ideas but ultimately coach.
Speaker 2:The other part of this was that if we had those relationships with these HBCUs across the country, that we could recruit some of those students to come to our graduate programs, to come to our medical school, to come to us as students. And we were fortunate enough to be able to recruit some students from those institutions to come to our graduate programs as well as to come to our medical school. So it was a win-win situation. I think the institutions benefited from the knowledge that we were able to share with them. We benefited from learning from them but also recruiting students from those institutions. And so conceptually, the idea was how do you create kind of a win-win relationship with a group of institutions that you can help but also can help you? So it was a win-win type of concept that we started with.
Speaker 1:It truly was. You are truly a visionary, I can tell you that, and I think you just don't do things just to do them. There's a method behind it, there's a reason.
Speaker 2:There's a purpose behind it, coach, and again, I think that the thread that runs through my career, from the other time that I was in college, all the way through graduate school, all the way through the University of Florida, university of Arkansas, vcu and Ohio University is how can I help students? I always felt like I wanted to try to leave the situation that I was in a little bit better than it was when I got there. So when I was a dean, you know, in both Arkansas and Florida, you know what could I do there to make those colleges a little bit better? When I was at Virginia Commonwealth University and I'll never forget this when I was there the first couple of months that I served as a provost there it was an urban institution, so it was in the city, and I used to walk on campus the first few months just to kind of meet people and to meet some faculty and staff and students and get to know people, and I noticed that nobody was talking to each other. People would walk by each other and they wouldn't speak.
Speaker 2:So I thought, coming from a more residential campus, we spoke to each other. You walk on campus, you say thought, you know, coming from a more residential campus. We spoke to each other. You walk on campus, you say hello, you say good morning, you say good afternoon. And so I got with the staff council, the folks who were the leadership of the staff, and I said you know, let's start a campaign, let's start a campaign and call it, just Say Hello and Coach.
Speaker 2:To this day, I think that dramatically changed that urban campus into a place where people now speak to each other when they walk across campus. And again, the idea wasn't to try to form friendships, although if that resulted from it, that's great. The idea was to break through and to say you know, we're all in this together, you know, and every day we show up on campus, let's at least speak to each other, let's at least have the comfort level of saying we can speak to each other. So again, it's always been about how to make a place better. For me and how to help students. Fundamentally because that's why colleges and universities exist is really to help students. Yeah, it definitely is.
Speaker 1:You know I read once in the message, your message you want to say you want Ohio University to be known as more than a party school place yes, more than just a place to have some fun, but also to receive a quality education, and this was pivotal for me. Where you want to come back to, you know where you're proud of that. You want to come back. Can you talk about doing your tenure? What were some of the academic?
Speaker 2:accomplishments. So I think there were several. There were several. We increased in the, the, in the, in the rankings of the, on the academic side of things we were able to, I think, coach, one of the key things that we were able to do is to strengthen academic programs because of the work that the faculty and the deans did in their colleges. So one of our primary purposes was to get better with what we were doing on the academic side of the, of the ledger.
Speaker 2:And the thing that I would always say to people during my tenure is that everything at Ohio University is important, whether it was academics, whether it was the band, you know, whether it was the Marching 110, whether it was our athletics. I wanted everything to get better. And you know, the whole notion of a rising tide lifts all boats was for me very, very important at Ohio University. So we tried, one step at a time, one college at a time, was to make our academic programs the best they could be. College at a time was to make our academic programs the best they could be. Now you know there's always room for improvement, but conceptually that's the way we went about. Our business was to say how do we make our academic programs better so that, first and foremost, students would get a better education. Secondly, it would attract more students to come to Ohio University.
Speaker 2:And one of the reasons we went after the party school coach was not because I didn't want students to have a good time. I felt like, hey, I had a great time at Ohio University as a student and I didn't want to take that away. But what was happening when I got there is that what Ohio University had become known for was just being a party school, and I knew it was so much more than that. So my sense was, if we can bring down the rankings of the party school, it'll maybe bring up the rankings of the other things that we were trying to do. So again, my message to students was hey, I want you to have a good time, but have a good time in a way that we don't get known for just being a party school.
Speaker 2:And my sense of it was, Coach, that while we did decrease the rankings on the party school side, that students still had a good time when they came to Ohio University, and I really wanted them to do that. So we were proud of the fact that we were able to decrease our party school rankings so that people across the country could see the other great things that were going on at Ohio University. And so a lot of people thought well, you know, McDavis is anti, you know anti-social, he doesn't want students to have a good time. It wasn't about that at all. What it was about is that, just on a national level, you want to be known for more than students having a good time when they come to your university.
Speaker 1:Oh, you did a great job with that. I'm a business graduate. I'm a business graduate and now when I go to Copeland Hall, I don't even recognize the place. Like what happened.
Speaker 2:And our son actually went to it and, by the way, that was one of the colleges Coach that really rose, I think, in the rankings significantly during the time that I was there. Very proud of that, yeah, very proud of that, yeah.
Speaker 1:Our son. He's a business major, a county major actually. Yeah, so it's a. He's a business major, a county major actually. Yeah, so it's definitely like it wasn't the same place when I was there I know that. That was great. That was great. You know this is a legacy podcast. When you think about that word legacy, what does that mean to you, don?
Speaker 2:You know, coach, I mean, for me, a lot of people would ask me you know, what do you want your legacy to be when you leave Ohio University? And I go back to something I said a few minutes ago I never had a specific legacy. If you will, in quotes, that I look back and say that Ohio University was a better place on the day that I left than it was on the day that I came. If that meant that we were a more diverse community, that was great. If that meant that our academic programs went up in rankings, then that was great. If it meant that our athletic programs were better than they were the day that I left, that was good.
Speaker 2:So for me, again, it was kind of a holistic approach. It was looking at all segments of Ohio University and saying you know, if I looked at how they were in 2004 and I looked at how they were in 2017, would I be able to say that the institution is a better place on the day that I left than it was on the day that I came in? And so, for me, legacy is all about how do you leave an organization, how do you leave an institution. Do you leave it better or do you leave it worse, and so, for me, legacy is all wrapped up in a multitude of things. It's not one or two things, it's more conceptually. Is it a better place than it was the day that you came?
Speaker 1:Yeah, good. Speaking about legacy, Ohio University board of trustees decided to name a dorm on the new South Green the Roderick J McDavid's Resident Hall. Can you talk about what that honor means to you and your family?
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's. It's the second greatest honor in my, in my career, coach. Certainly the honor of being named the 20th president of Ohio University just stands out as the major achievement of my, of my career. To have that then capped by having a new residence hall named after me was just I still can't find the words to describe the feeling. It's an honor.
Speaker 2:It's an honor for my family, it's one that we take seriously and it's one that I hope will inspire again students who might wonder you know, can I get through this university, can I graduate?
Speaker 2:I mean, for me this is all about inspiring that next generation, and so the honor is not, hopefully, just for me, but it's for other African-American students, other students of color, who might come to Ohio University and say you know, can I make a mark in life? And this is just, you know, one example of you know, if you get up every day and you try to do the right thing and you work hard, it does pay off. And so, from my sense of kind of really sort of taking all of this in, it's a big deal to have any building named after you, much less honoring your family, and so for me it's kind of a recognition that there are people at Ohio University who felt like we made a difference when, you know, my wife and I were there and when I was there in service. So it's a huge honor, one that I'm grateful for and still humbled by.
Speaker 1:Awesome as we wrap up. Lastly, can you bring the podcast up to date on the work you're doing now with AGB Search?
Speaker 2:Sure, sure. When I left Ohio University, I went to Washington and decided to serve as the managing principal and CEO of AGB Search. And what that is? It's an executive search firm. We look for presidents, provosts, CFOs, all of the various vice presidents in a university, as well as deans. So we are an executive search firm only working in the higher ed space. We help universities find presidents, provosts, other cabinet level officers and deans. That's our work. Been doing it now for eight years. Really, really am excited about that work, Feel good about it, and just again, it's another honor for me to be able to help find the next leaders of colleges and universities, certainly at the president and chancellor level, as well as the support staff that presidents and chancellors need in order for them to be successful. So that's the work I've been doing, Coach, since I left Ohio University and I'm very happy and proud of that work as well.
Speaker 1:Well, Doc, I want to thank you for your time. Thank you for being a guest on today's show my pleasure. Most importantly, I want to thank you for answering that call to come down to Athens, Ohio, and blessing the campus and just the great things that you've done for our students. I also want to thank you for your commitment to students and truly. You know, my son was there when you were president and it was just awesome, Not only for me seeing an alumnus as president, seeing an African-American male as president, but most importantly, seeing someone who was getting the work done. You know, it wasn't just a simple promotion, so to speak. It was actually a lot of work been getting done, you know, in a positive way for students. So I want to thank you for that, for that commitment, and I'm going to wish you, wish you well.
Speaker 1:This is Coach Tim Brown. I want to thank the audience for listening to Be A Baller podcast. I want to thank our special guest, the twin president of Ohio University, Dr Roderick McDavis, for being on the show today. I want to remind our audience to continue to listen, continue to share and listen to the podcast on all platforms and continue being a baller, being intentional about giving away your wisdom. Thanks again, Doc. Appreciate you. Be blessed Pleasure my pleasure. Thank you, coach.
Speaker 3:If you enjoy our show, please share this podcast with your family and friends. Be a Baller podcast is available on all major podcast stations. Be sure to come back next week as we continue to discuss on how to build a lifelong legacy. Until then, don't forget to be a baller. This podcast was created by Coach Tim Brown.