Crook picked to follow legend

When the Hoopfest board found out it had to replace the only executive director the event has ever had, the members knew they were not going to find a clone of Rick Steltenpohl.

Nor did they want one.

They picked Brady Crook, who was Washington State University’s Associate Director of Athletics.

“We went through a pretty regimented process,” Hoopfest founder and board member Rick Betts said. “There were lots of qualified people applying. We really wanted to make sure we picked somebody who was really good with people.

“We felt that Brady emerged out of that process as someone who knew athletics, had the passion, had work experience there, had experience managing people and had great results in his relationships. That’s what got him the job.”

Crook, 37, has an athletic background. A graduate of Pullman High, he played baseball for Bobo Brayton at Washington State, and stayed connected with sports and the school by working in athletic administration, mostly in a fund-raising role. Besides WSU, Crook worked at the University of Oregon and the University of Nevada, before returning to Pullman in 2000.

Since then, Crook headed up fund-raising efforts for the Cougars’ indoor practice facility and the Bailey-Brayton Field renovations.

“I had been in intercollegiate athletics for 15 years, so I certainly felt those skills I had developed during those 15 years transferred over very well for what Hoopfest needed,” Crook said. “I had never run anything to the degree Hoopfest is, but I had run some big events, our football games over in Seattle was a big piece of that, so the responsibilities seemed to fit well with what I had done in my 15 years.”

Crook and wife Melissa have three daughters, Sierra (10), Kylee (8) and Courtney (6).

Sierra and Kylee will become the first of the family to participate in Hoopfest, as their father has never seen or played in the event.

Why did you take this job?

“It turned out, after looking at it, to be an absolutely awesome opportunity. It was a chance to stay within the area and close to family. I didn’t know that much about Hoopfest – haven’t played in it, haven’t seen it – so I talked with a few people who were close to the organization and after talking with them realized I may have to look into it, to see if could be fortunate enough to get the job. It is so intertwined with the community, it’s amazing. The amount of volunteers, what Rick (Steltenpohl, outgoing executive director) has done with staff, building up this event in Spokane, is just amazing to me. So it was apparent it would be a great opportunity to be a part of the organization.

What type of challenges do you see in this job? It is, after all, probably different than any job in the history of the world.

“(Laughing) Any job has challenges, I think the challenge here is to make sure that it stays at the level that it’s at. I think every year we can look at improving it, but I think you’ll see small, incremental improvements because this thing is a tremendous event. So what I think we want to do is move forward and have an even better experience for everyone involved, whether that be the volunteers, the participants, the spectators. If we can make it better every year from the experience standpoint, I think we will be doing well. What we need to take a good hard look at is to see where we go from here. To put together a strategic plan that says, OK, we’re going to go and either expand off into X or focus in on the three things (Hoopfest, AAU and Midnight Basketball) that we do right now and make sure those are the biggest and best that we can be. Really, the sky’s the limit. We will go through a strategic planning process in the fall to determine where we go from here.”

Have you seen something you thought could be improved or have you seen something that you’ve thought, ‘Boy, I can’t believe someone can do that so well?’

“Much more the latter. You look at it and you see the processes that have been put into place – and I’ll get to see them firsthand Friday night when we put out the site – what’s been done to make the site setup go so smoothly. What’s been done to get 6,200 teams to Spokane, Washington and make it the biggest 3-on-3 in the world. Those type of things. I’m never one to say it’s as good as it can get, that will never be in my vocabulary. At the same time I just have tremendous respect for Rick and all the others who have gotten it to where it is. I do think, as we go through the strategic planning process, we will definitely see things we can improve on, that we can expand on and, if we want to go into other directions. But right now, no, I’m just being a sponge and soaking everything up and just being thoroughly impressed with what has been done so far. And I’m sure, as Rick moves on and goes down to Phoenix, and I get more settled, I’ll put my mark on there. I’m just going to take what’s already been built and try and make it better. We won’t be doing any major surgery, so to speak.”

So when are you going to start playing?

“I’ve been asked that quite a bit actually. I likely will not play. It’s not that I don’t play basketball, it’s just a different style between Rick and I. We want to get Rick back up here and make sure he plays, being he is one of only less than 100 now who have played in every Hoopfest. My time during Hoopfest will be focused on, especially early on, every aspect of the event and just being available. I don’t anticipate that I will actually play in it. That’s way, way down the road.”

You’re replacing a Spokane legend, in a way, so do you feel a little like Gene Bartow?

“(Laughing) I’ve got UCLA’s Web site up right now, and he had a pretty good career himself, it was just he was saddled by the legend (of John Wooden). It’s difficult. That’s one thing, having been in college athletics, and having played for a legend and watched somebody try to replace him, I’m not going to be trying to fill Rick’s shoes, I have a different set of shoes. Nobody can fill what he’s done. I mean he’s been Mr. Hoopfest. I’m not even going try to fill those shoes. I hope to take what he’s built, make it better, and then bring to the table what I can bring to the table.”