What Oklahoma President Joe Harroz Said at Joe Castiglione's Retirement Press Conference

University of Oklahoma athletic director Joe Castiglione announced his retirement on Tuesday during a press conference at Oklahoma Memorial Stadium. Here's everything OU president Joe Harroz said in his opening remarks:

“I think we all feel it. It's this moment of sort of poignant celebration. It's the mix of both. When Joe came in and told me it was time, I started off with denial. And then, flashback, because sometimes it's always, you always think about it through your lens. And to me, the flashback is when he started in April of ’98, I was on the steps of Evans Hall when he was being announced. Here comes this beautifully mustached man. Looked a lot like Joe's (Jr.) mustache, little bit darker, and Kristen. And I thought, ‘This guy has no idea what he's getting into.’ I had seen the books. They weren't good. We had about a $23 million budget, $22 million budget. We were in the hole about $18 or $19 million. I asked him, ‘Joe, appreciate you coming in.’ And he goes, ‘Oh, it's gonna be great. Oklahoma's great.’ And I thought, ‘You have no idea what you're about to see.’

“And it's amazing how quickly 27 plus years go by. And it's always interesting, especially starting off as such a young person here, and now being at this stage, and you look at friends and colleagues that become family, and it does have that celebratory component, because you're so excited for them and they deserve it. And then there's also the poignance, sort of, I can't believe it's already been 27 years. I think you measure those that are truly great in these roles by a few factors, and to me, one of those, obviously, is can you keep the budget where it needs to be? That's a tricky thing. And if you look at what's taken place — and I won't belabor it all here; the purpose here is to make the announcement. Believe me, there will be celebrations of Joe to come. I'll be Fedora-adorned as we celebrate him. But when you look at what that looks like, we started off 18 million in the hole on a $23 million budget, and today we're about a $235 million budget as an enterprise — controlling costs, growing revenue in ways that I’ll get to in a minute, that require immense creativity, and all the while building excellence while inside of that. Where we're standing right nhear it's a testament to that. It's one of the physical manifestations of what excellence looks like. It's choosing the right coaches. We got a number of them that are here right now, including two legends and Sherri and Bob.

“And there's a temptation to catalog all of those successes, and they gave me a bunch of talking points about him, but I'm not going to go through every one of them. I’ll tell you just a couple as an example. And almost everybody here knows these by heart. But during his time, over half of the National Championships in our 135-year history as a university have been earned. When you look at them, since his arrival in ’98 we've had 26 national championships, 117 conference championships, 26 consecutive bowl appearances for football, which is the second-longest streak in the country. Men's and women's basketball’s, five Final Fours. The list is really long. Softball hasn't done bad either.

“And when you look at the physical component of this, you see this East Side suite? When I was General Counsel, Joe C came to me, along with Larry Naifeh, and said, ‘We want to build the East Side stadium.’ I said, ‘You've lost your mind. Nobody would ever pay those rates for these suites.’ I made them sign the document on the financials to make sure they were standing behind it. And he was right, and they were right. When you look now at the south end zone, you look across the entire enterprise, most recent example being Love’s Field. This place is fundamentally different than it was 27 years ago. When you used to walk across the east side, underneath here, when he showed up, it was gravel and dirt. It's matured a little since then. Our women had just left Reeves Park to come play softball. Here on this campus, it is a fundamentally different place.

“You know, Bob's often connected with the idea of being a program guy. Well, Joe, you built this program. And I think we have to all understand that and appreciate that. Those are measures, right? Those are measures. The budgets, the performance, the accolades — four Heisman Trophy winners. We can list them, and they're easy to chronicle, so I'm not going to belabor those anymore. That is the sign of an accomplished athletic director. That is the sign, and those are the indicia of an athletic director that has performed in their space.

“But there's a difference between being a high performer and being truly great, and that is to understand the true mission of the institution and be a complete part of that. And that's the difference. Joe C hasn't just performed. He has become a part of the very fabric of this university. Whenever we recruit student athletes, we always talk about you’re coming into a family. And a lot of places say that, in a lot of places, it is just hollow words. The difference is it's meant and it's believed and it's lived, and Joe does just that, and Joe's family's done that. I can't tell you how many games they've been to.

“He went ahead and got his master's degree while he was here as AD, and I can tell you how many options he has had to go to higher paydays. A lot of folks like to leak all the times they get a job offer. That isn't the case with Joe C. Blue chip program after blue chip program has come calling for Joe, and every time he's told them no, clearly and quietly. The last one I know about those was just two months ago, and I won't say the name of the program, but they came and said, ‘There’ll be no search. We'll just name you. The position is yours.’ And Joe — when I found out about it, I said, ‘Joe, I understand they're coming at you’. And Joe looked at me and said, ‘This is home. I'm not going there.’ I didn't see KJ until just now. Talk about national champions.

“To me, that is what great looks like, not just a high performer, but a leader of the family, someone who is an indelible part of that. As Joe said, Whenever he arrived, I was already here for a few years, and I left for a couple years. You find out, after you gone for a couple years, and nobody thinks you're coming back, what they really think about you. And what I was absolutely blown away by, was there are those precious few who call you anyway, who reach out to you, who check on you, who want to know what's going on in your life. That was Joe C in the two years that I was gone. I was gone from ’08 to ’10 and every major holiday, every major instance, Joe C was checking on me, asking that genuinely caring and interested. And we've all felt that and seen that, right from his employees to the press to everyone. He treats all of us with respect, all of us like we matter.

“It's easy to separate and have athletics be over here be its island. He went on a bended knee to the faculty senate exec, and has met with them every year, and doesn't have to do that most years, twice a year. There's a humility with excellence that is leadership by example, and that's a rare thing. We've enjoyed that now for 27 years in this role. When he said ‘It's time,’ I said, ‘Not yet.’ Of course, he wanted to allow for an orderly transition. But I also asked if he'd stay on for at least a couple years. Get him to his 30th anniversary — which, I didn't realize today was THE 30th anniversary. But get him to 30 years at the university. We're not done yet as a university. East side is done. South side of this stadium is done. West side’s not done yet. Across the sports. We're finishing up a redo on gymnastics. We've got baseball — not sure if you knew about that, Skip. And when you look across the enterprise, basketball and all of the sports we have so much more to do. And I asked Joe C if he would stay on and help us with that. Help us raise the resources to get that done. Yes, you can have your life back, but can you still give us a piece of it so we can keep this moving forward?

“The Great Ones leave when the organization is in a place that it was better than before they took it and it's poised for excellence. That's what Joe is doing. Had the same conversation with Bob Stoops when he made the decision to leave while on top, while the program couldn't be any better, while it was best to continue a transition at a time when it can reach new heights from there. That's hard to do. It's hard to do, but he's doing it, and that is special. And once again, leading.

“Joe C is a remarkable person. I've been with him when we've been in a ditch a few times. We got to go through two major infractions cases together, where I was lead counsel and he was leader of the program. I've been with him during Great times, celebrating National Championships. Got to do one recently. Thanks, KJ. So many lows and highs. And that's where you find out the true measure of the person, not just are they good at their job, but are they great people? He's never turned on anybody. He's been fully committed in every way. You go around and ask anybody in this industry who they respect the most, who's the Godfather — and not just because of his Italian heritage — and they'll tell you, it's Joe Castiglione. Every time there was a hard — he has to go undercover for the selection committee for the CFP, right? He has to go undercover for the …. NCAA championships, spending a week or nine or 10 days away from his family. So many areas of service he's given where the shiny lights aren't there, but he's doing the hard work because it's the right thing to do. That's character.

“I’ve not met a finer person of character in my life. It is an honor to work with him all of these years, and it's going to be an honor for the next three as we go through this he's handing off this lead role at a time when it's on top in the most Joe C way possible. There for the orderly move, staying on to help.

“I can't thank his family enough. I've watched them grow up. We've sat with Kristen an innumerable number of times. Family sacrifices. People walk up to me, and they'll say all the time, over the last three decades, they're like, ‘You know what, I'd love to be AD.’ They have no idea what being AD means. They have no idea it's 24 hours a day. It's seven days a week. It's like a head coaching job. You live it.

“There's a reason he's the longest serving in the country in this role. It's damn hard, it's really hard, and it's hard to do under any circumstances, but it's hard to do and perform at this level.

“Joe, we're going to be honoring you over the course the next year. I'm going to try and talk you into going beyond your 30th anniversary to stay associated with this. It is a poignant celebration, as I said when I started. It’s a celebration. You deserve it. You've accomplished so much. Your family deserves it. We're all better because of you. And we're not just better in terms of athletics. This entire institution is better because you never made it about just athletics. Because you knew athletics was bigger than just athletics. It is the connective tissue for a great institution of higher education. We look at our strategic plan, and we've talked about where does athletics fit? In its highest state, athletics is not something ancillary to the university, but it's something that connects everybody, where everyone sees play out on the fields, on the courts, they see playing out miniature versions of struggles and success and failure and hopefully struggles. But what they also see is excellence, that they can be a part of, that they can feel a part of. You perform well as a student or as an alumnus when you're accepted by the university, but you don't perform at your highest level unless you feel like you belong. Unless you feel like you belong.

Under Joe Castiglione, OU athletics has shown us not just excellence, but it's shown us that we belong, and he's made us feel that, individually and collectively. And every time he's turned down a position somewhere else for more money, including just two months ago, when he said no to a wonderful program, it's because he doesn't — this has not just been a job to him. It's been a passion. It's been an all-in commitment. And we talk about our purpose being to change lives. I can tell you, Joe Castiglione, you have changed lives. Love you. Thank you.”