Brian Barrio knew he might be onto something after he met with a search committee from UMBC, which was seeking a new permanent athletic director, in late November.
Then the athletic director at Central Connecticut State, Barrio later expressed his excitement about the opportunity that may come his way with his wife, Katie.
“I came home and I told my wife that I just loved the vibe, the optimism. You could feel the optimism, kind of the growth mindset here, which is in contrast to a lot of places in higher education right now,” Barrio said after his formal introduction as UMBC’s new athletic director Dec. 17. “So it stood out to me. It was really just about which one of these many paths in the future are we going to take. It wasn’t, ‘The sky is falling.’ It was, ‘How do we get better and bigger?’ That’s exciting to me.”
His excitement was well-founded. Barrio, 42, visited the Catonsville, Md., campus on his next trip, and on Dec. 10, UMBC announced his hire. Barrio, who called the pace of the hiring process “an impressive feat of organization,” is the fifth athletic director in UMBC history. Prior to his stint as the athletic director at CCSU from 2018-2019, Barrio held positions at Nevada, Pepperdine and Southern California.
Barrio follows in the footsteps of Tim Hall and takes over a 17-sport athletic department at UMBC, which has had plenty of reason to display the enthusiasm Barrio noticed during his first meeting with the school’s search committee. The men’s basketball team scored the first-ever 16-over-1 upset against No. 1 overall seed Virginia in the NCAA Tournament in March 2018. The softball team won the America East for the first time ever in May 2019. The men’s lacrosse team won the America East in surprising fashion last spring, too. The swimming program remains one of the crown jewels of UMBC.
Now, the task is to build on that success — and Barrio plans to hit the ground running.
“I know the one area I want to get going on is we have to raise money and generate revenue, so we’ve got to figure out corporate partnerships,” Barrio said. “We’ve got to figure out relationships with donors. That stuff’s the top priority. But while we’re doing that, we have to figure out what the strategic plan looks like and what are our priorities in terms of needs.”
That strategic plan will likely include improved facilities across campus for the school’s athletic programs. The UMBC Event Center opened in February 2018, replacing the Retriever Athletic Center. The Event Center hosts men’s and women’s basketball games, volleyball matches, commencement ceremonies and concerts.
Retrievers men’s soccer coach Pete Caringi, who led his team to the Final Four in 2014, would like an upgraded facility, too. In 2018, UMBC was No. 17 in the nation in attendance (1,346), but many fans have to sit on a hill angled toward the pitch because there’s not enough seating. In fact, when the Retrievers drew 3,766 fans for a match against Maryland in September 2017, they had to turn fans away because there simply wasn’t enough room.
Caringi said the lack of improvement in the facility has hurt his program in some respects.
“One of the things that we’re looking for in a new athletic director is someone who understands that we need to continue to build on success,” Caringi said. “We beat Virginia in basketball. We got to the Final Four in soccer. We can’t just sit here and talk about the past. We have to continue to upgrade and improve and get the facilities. From a soccer standpoint, that’s what we’re definitely looking for.”
Softball coach Chris Kuhlmeyer, who this spring led the Retrievers to their first NCAA Tournament appearance since 2002, understands the importance of improved facilities, too.
“Anytime you can get a facility upgrade, whether it be dugouts or lights or a new backstop or whatever,” Kuhlmeyer said, “it’s only going to continue to enhance what we’re doing in trying to build ourselves into that consistent winner in the conference. It’ll especially enhance our recruiting, for sure.”
With no football program, UMBC will depend on its men’s basketball program to be the primary driver of revenue in its effort to make substantive improvements throughout the athletic department. Under head coach Ryan Odom, the men’s basketball program has experienced a remarkable turnaround after winning no more than nine games in any season from 2009-2016.
Since Odom was hired ahead of the 2016-17 season, the Retrievers are 73-43 overall and 32-16 in the America East. The attendance figures, however, represent room for even more growth; last season, UMBC drew 1,753 fans per game, fifth in the nine-school America East. The UMBC Event Center holds 5,000 fans.
“We certainly want to compete for championships every year. We want to be a consistent participant certainly in the NCAA Tournament. That’s something we all aspire to do,” Odom said. “But the next level could mean simply filling this place. All the sudden, this becomes a destination for our community here in Baltimore. There are a lot of different aspects where we can continue to improve the program. Success is never final.”
Barrio echoed those sentiments.
“The sky is the limit,” Barrio said. “And the question is just how creative can we be, how hard can we push it to kind of take it to the next level. I’m not satisfied. Ryan and I have talked a lot, and I know Ryan’s not satisfied. We want to take it even further.”
That, of course, will be made more complicated if and when Odom leaves UMBC for a bigger job in the coming years. Last offseason, Odom was connected to the Virginia Tech opening, which ultimately went to Mike Young.
“When you have great coaches, that’s what happens. So I don’t worry about having great coaches. I’d worry if I had coaches nobody else wanted,” Barrio said. “So I think it’s great. The day may come where Ryan moves on, and when that happens, we’re going to be in a position to keep moving forward in a tremendously successful way.”
Photo Credit: Luke Jackson/PressBox