School URL
University of Utah
ACHA M1 • WCHL
Date: May 2, 2025
Would Recommend
Tags
Not a former athlete, but a former employee at the University of Utah. I was there when Mark became the AD from USF and honestly, when the hire was made, my coworkers and I were very excited. Working on the external side of the athletics department, we had very limited resources to invest into our fans, student-athletes and the overall game experience. We lacked key departments and personnel that every other P5 school had and it showed. Due to this, we were asked to do more or “Other duties as assigned” to make up the gap. During COVID, we were working on a ‘Mask up Utah’ campaign with BYU and Utah State and due to our lack of creative department, BYU pulled out of the campaign because we couldn’t provide a quality of production up to their standards. Despite this, the internal units continue to get resources to grow their staff and exceed KPI’s and this was we had to anything and everything for the student-athletes. I’m not saying the SA experience isn’t important, it absolutely is, but a part of that experience is to an increased presence on social media, digital production and a in-game experience filled with Utah fans. There was ZERO concern about the investment in the fan experience. We were very underpaid, which is normal in college athletics, but I’ve never had to work a second job at a hotel at anywhere else in my career but Utah. During COVID, things changed. We all understood that we all had to be flexible because we didn’t know what was coming next. I remember that July, the B10 canceled their football season and the butt sniffers of the PAC did the same 24 hours later. This concerned everyone because our jobs depended on it. We knew if we played, we’d have to find other sources of revenue, but not playing would take away the limited revenue. It was a Thursday during an all staff that Mark said “we’re going to make more cuts in department budgets but NO ONE WOULD BE LAID OFF. He was very firm on this and reassured us multiple times in that meeting. Furloughs were likely, but no one was losing their jobs. That upcoming Monday, I was 1 of 25 total that week to be laid off. Mark and his administration couldn’t be further from being honest. I get that things changed daily, but let us know that sadly job cuts were going to have to be made. In the last 4-5 years since, I’ve continued to watch this man embarrass the university, athletes, fans and students. Utah deserves better. Student athlete college athletics working staff, stay away from anything Mark Harlan involved with.
