Interview with Ted Leland : Stanford Athletics Oral History Project
Abstract/Contents
- Abstract
- Ted Leland, the athletic director at Stanford from 1991 to 2005, describes his family background, his education at the University of the Pacific and Stanford, his coaching experience, and highlights of his career in athletics administration at the University of Houston, Northwestern, Dartmouth, UOP, and Stanford. Discussing his tenure as Stanford’s athletics director, he speaks about budgeting and fundraising, working with John Arrillaga to plan the new football stadium, recruiting and admissions, and his relationship with Bill Walsh. He reflects on the philosophy of athletics at Stanford, his decision to leave the AD job in 2005, and being proud that most athletes had a great experience at Stanford.
Description
| Type of resource | text |
|---|---|
| Extent | 1 text file |
| Place | Stanford (Calif.) |
| Publisher | Stanford Historical Society |
| Date created | August 23, 2018 - 2018-11-28 |
| Language | English |
| Digital origin | born digital |
Creators/Contributors
| Interviewee | Leland, Ted | |
|---|---|---|
| Creator | Leland, Ted | |
| Interviewer | Marine-Street, Natalie J. | |
| Publisher | Stanford Historical Society |
Subjects
| Subject | Athletic directors |
|---|---|
| Subject | Stanford University. Department of Athletics |
| Subject | College sports |
| Genre | Interview |
Bibliographic information
| Biographical Profile | Ted Leland grew up in Northern California, graduated from Hayward High School, and later attended Chabot College. He earned both his Bachelor’s (1970) and Master’s (1972) degrees from the University of the Pacific, prior to adding a Ph.D. from Stanford in 1982 in education/sports psychology. In 1983, Leland became the Athletic Director of Dartmouth College. His other career stops have included Northwestern University, where he was a senior Associate Athletic Director from 1981-83, and the University of Houston as an Assistant Athletic Director from 1979-81. He was an assistant football coach and instructor of physical education at Stanford, 1978-79. He became Pacific's Director of Athletics in 1988 and served as the director until 1991. He made significant changes at Pacific, including the hiring of a strength and conditioning coach, the planting of sod on the new football practice field and initiating plans to build the Baun Student Fitness Center. Leland also transformed the department's budget, controlling the outflow of funds while adding staff and scholarships to non-revenue sports. Leland was the Director of Athletics at Stanford University from the fall of 1991 until 2005. At Stanford, his teams and coaching staff won 50 championships--more than any other school in the country--173 conference championships, and 11 NACDA Directors’ Cups. He helped raise more than $270 million in private donations and shepherded the construction or renovation of facilities worth $185 million, including Maples Pavilion, Stanford Stadium, the Smith Family Stadium, Avery Aquatics Center, and Taube Family Tennis Stadium. He has been inducted into the Hall of Fame of eight different organizations, including University of the Pacific, Chabot College, and Stanford University. Leland and his wife, Stefanie, have two adult children, Amanda and Bo. |
|---|---|
| Summary Part 1 | [00:00:00 – 00:31:12] Childhood in the Bay Area • Family history of service in the coast guard • Being a multi-sport athlete during high school • Football positions in high school and junior college • Coaches that influenced him, especially Chester Caddas • UOP tradition of sending players to the National Football League and Leland’s assessment of his own chances to make it as a professional athlete • Comparison of commitment required of college athletes then and now • Philosophy during his time as Stanford’s AD • Discussion of NCAA rules when Leland was in college • Decision to get a master’s degree • Leland’s desire to coach and UOP’s legacy of training coaches • UOP coursework, including sports psychology courses with Glen Albaugh • Connection to Bill Walsh via Albaugh • Leland’s master’s thesis on measuring aggression • UOP phys ed instructor Libby Matson [00:31:13 – 01:02:48] Vietnam War-era and draft status • Time at East Tennessee State University as linebacker coach and defensive coordinator • Decision to return to UOP • UOP athletic director and mentor Cedric Dempsey • Decision to pursue a PhD • Admission to Stanford graduate program and being hired by Bill Walsh to coach defense • Dissertation advisor Albert Bandura and expectation theory • Stress of coaching and influence on health |
| Summary Part 2 | [00:00:00 – 00:30:10] Moving to University of Houston as an associate athletic director • Athletic program at University of Houston • Efforts to recruit Black athletes at Houston • Recruitment by Dennis Green and Doug Single for associate athletic director position at Northwestern University • Athletic program at Northwestern • Becoming the youngest AD in the country at Dartmouth • Challenges at Dartmouth • Early personnel missteps and lessons learned • Family circumstances that led him to leave Dartmouth • AD job at University of Pacific • Birth of his children • Freeland Report and hiring process for the Stanford AD job • Donald Kennedy [00:30:11 – 00:58:42] Initial challenges: budget problems, facilities, and Title IX • Athletics as one of Stanford’s many excellences • Stanford’s approach to financing athletics • Budget pressures and solutions •New hires in athletics and his philosophy for staffing the department • Support from Bill Walsh and Jerry Porras • Philosophy of athletics at Stanford and admissions challenges [00:58:43 – 01:42:05] Budget and fundraising issues • 80/20 and 90/10 rules • Working with donors • Designing the football stadium and relationship with John Arrillaga • Corporate sponsorships; Nike • Working with coaches and viewing them as artists • Supporting student athletes academically [01:42:06 – 01:56:30] Goals and challenges for the Stanford football program • Why working with football coaches is different from other coaches • Trying to convince Bill Walsh not to retire • The story of how Bill Walsh returned to Stanford as head football coach • Decision to leave Stanford in 2005 • Being proud that most athletes had a great experience at Stanford |
| Audio/Video |
|
| Finding Aid | |
| Location | https://purl.stanford.edu/dr165mr4271 |
| Location | SC0932 |
| Repository | Stanford University. Libraries. Department of Special Collections and University Archives |
Access conditions
- Use and reproduction
- The materials are open for research use and may be used freely for non-commercial purposes with an attribution. For commercial permission requests, please contact the Stanford University Archives (universityarchives@stanford.edu).
- Copyright
- Copyright © The Board of Trustees of the Leland Stanford Junior University. All rights reserved.
Collection
Stanford Historical Society Oral History Program interviews, 1999-2022
View other items in this collection in SearchWorksAlso listed in
Loading usage metrics...