Meet Zac Selmon

Zac Selmon was named Mississippi State’s new athletic director on Jan. 13. Former Dispatch sports editor Theo DeRosa sat down with Selmon at the end of February to discuss his transition to the new position.

How is Starkville? How has it been getting acclimated?

I love it. It’s been good. This is the first time since my freshman year in college that I’ve gone somewhere that I didn’t really know anybody. That’s been an adjustment — trying to get to know people’s names; trying to figure out the basics of where we’re going; house shopping. These things happen so fast. You’re closing out things with your previous employer and also making sure you’re leaving the right way. But it’s been great once we got here. I’m starting to figure out which direction is east, which way is west. I really just like the people. That’s one of the things that I felt in talking to Dr. Keenum initially on the phone — the people that we have. The food is fantastic. I haven’t had a bad meal. I’m going to have to probably get like seven gym memberships, though, to work off all the caloric intake I’ve got. It’s been really good. I’ve really enjoyed getting to meet and work with all of our head coaches, getting to know them. Getting to meet and know our teams, that takes time — just building relationships — but I’ve really enjoyed that. I’m really excited and opportunistic on what we can do here moving forward.

Who are some of the most interesting people you’ve met since you got here?

I’ve been a fan of and seen Coach (Jackie) Sherrill’s work from afar. He was able to stop by and share some of his stories. It’s a blessing to have a gem like Coach (Ron) Polk who’s still here, just to be able to sit and hear how we got to where we are. I think most importantly, it shows how special this place is, the love that people have for Mississippi State. Also people on our staff who have been here for quite some years and just hearing their stories about how we got to where we’re at has been very special to me.

I saw a quote from you that said it’s never been a better time to be at Mississippi State. What makes you confident in that assessment?

I think it starts with the leadership at the top. We’ve had great support from our board through Dr. Keenum. It’s good to have the opportunity to join an organization that has the leadership and stability with Dr. Keenum. I think in this world, there’s so much uncertainty, but when you’ve got a great, integrity-filled leader like Dr. Keenum, you have the ability and stability to play, compete and be a member of the best league in America from a collegiate sport perspective. We’ve also got a great collective group of coaches. I think it’s been proven you can come here and you can win. We’ve got two basketball programs under first-year head coaches on the cusp of both going to the tournament. There’s no better college baseball environment in the country than right here at the Dude, so as a baseball student-athlete, you’ve got that opportunity. Really from every sport, every facility, we’re set up where you can be competitive and you can be successful. I think post-COVID, one of the things that we all look for in life is connection. Our community, our campus, our student-athlete body is set up where you can come here and be rid of a lot of distractions that come along with other things. Also, you’ve got a fan base. Women’s basketball averaged 5,000-plus fans. We saw the Dude have 14,000 fans (Feb. 25 vs. Arizona State.) We saw over 8,000 fans this past Saturday night (Feb. 25) for (men’s) basketball. You want it to be supported. You want it to be recognized. Each of our sport programs, you can come here, you can get a great education and be set up and have the tools for life. It’s been proven you can master your skills here and really use this time to take your game to the next level. Whether it’s professional sports or wherever you’re going in life, you’ll have the opportunity to be masterful in what you’re doing.

Rylee (aka Meatball), Rachel, Zac and Shayne visit with MSU president Mark Keenum.

What did you know about Mississippi State before you began the interview process?

Everybody knows the brand of Mississippi State, some of the great players. Clearly, everybody knows Dak Prescott and the history of baseball here. I just always thought it was a place where you could come and you could attract great players, and also just the state of Mississippi — I always knew just from coming up in the football world how many great players came from the state of Mississippi. I’m of the lineage of a bunch of defensive linemen, so I’ve always looked at the trench guys. I’ve always been a big fan. You can be in Mississippi, you can recruit, and you can get kids to come in-state. I knew that much about it. I had heard of Dr. Keenum just from a lot of his work with the College Football Playoff. We’ve got some mutual friends and colleagues there. I’ve worked with a couple people who have worked at Mississippi State. You always got a sense of pride and feeling of Starkville whenever people said, “Mississippi State.” (South Carolina football coach) Shane Beamer’s wife Emily Beamer is from Starkville, so we crossed paths at previous stops. We would do Thanksgivings together. Every time she talked about Starkville, she lit up about her experience here. It’s always felt like Starkville was a special place just because of the people that I’ve met.

It’s been reported that NIL contributions at Mississippi State have lagged behind some of the other schools in the SEC. How important is it to you to close that gap, and what strategies have you honed at Oklahoma for doing that here?

Every stop I’ve been at, fundraising has been a key component and element of my role. The hard part with NIL is, yes, is there a reported gap or a perceived gap? Nobody exactly knows what the gap is. There’s so much misreporting going on out there, and it’s hard to know which is the truth, which is false. What I will say is at Mississippi State, we’ll be in a good position to be successful in NIL. We’ve got great people who have done a very good job helping our NIL construct get to where it’s at. Our fan base is passionate about the success of our student-athletes. Any way that our fans can continue to do what they can in the NIL space, I’m very supportive and encouraged. I know our coaches are. That’s where we’re at in college athletics right now. I’ll always be an advocate for what’s best for our student-athletes, and so I fully understand that there’s always going to be work to be done. I’m bullish about where we can go.

There’s been so much done lately or ongoing with renovations for basketball, softball and baseball. When you look at this campus and the athletics facilities, is there anything you might want to upgrade, or is it too early to start thinking about that?

It’s early to know for sure, but I will say there’s been some ongoing projects that are still going that we’re just putting some tweaks on. Some of it is at Davis Wade — some of the west side there. There’s also a project that’s looking at the South End Zone facility. There’s a couple locker room-type projects. From a master plan or a big picture standpoint, still just trying to learn when was the last time this facility was touched, what we can do, what we can’t do — get the needs of the program. With the NIL space and the changing landscape, we’re trying to make sure that if we’re building, we have scenario-based plans, knowing that we can only control what we can control. Our plans will be adaptable and nimble enough to conform to whatever the next model of college athletics looks like.

You mentioned at your introductory press conference to ask your daughter Rylee how she earned the nickname “Meatball.” For those who can’t ask her, how did that come about?

Meatball was born in Chapel Hill, North Carolina at the hospital on campus. She was born about 11:52 p.m. New Year’s Day. We’re in the hospital all day. She was supposed to come; she didn’t. But she decided, ‘Hey, I want to be a New Year’s baby,’ and I think it’s because she likes to party. She loves to throw a party. She came out with a lot of hair on her head. She had no neck. The weight she put on, she was just like a little ball. And then she had this spicy attitude from the second she was born. It was like, ‘She looks like a little meatball.’ It just stuck. I still ask her, ‘Do you still want me to call you Meatball?’ and she says, ‘Yeah. Call me Meatball. That’s my name.’ She’s really excited. She’s got another week and a half or so and they’ll be out here full time. You’ll see a lot of Meatball running around.

INTERVIEW BY THEO DEROSA

PHOTOS BY MSU ATHLETICS