Community support at heart of Toros Athletics strategy
Toros Athletics Director Eric McCurdy came to Dominguez Hills in October 2022 with one goal in mind: to build the university’s sports program into a powerhouse. Once he joined the Toro family, McCurdy began using his previous experience to help CSUDH create a better future for the college and its student athletes.
McCurdy excelled in sports as a youth. Growing up in Tulsa, Oklahoma, McCurdy would become a soccer standout and go on to take the pitch as a forward for the University of Alabama-Birmingham. After he had finished his career as a Blazer, McCurdy landed an internship in UAB’s athletics department. Under the tutelage of the late men’s basketball coach Gene Bartow, McCurdy developed an appreciation for the administrative side of sports.
“In college I found out I could be in an administrative role to oversee athletics and support students. Once I knew that I wanted to be an athletics director.” McCurdy said.
Bartow taught McCurdy that sports is a relationship-driven business and in order to improve a culture, everyone must believe in one another. McCurdy said CSUDH and UAB have a lot in common – they are both medium-sized public schools that do not necessarily boast the same levels of resources and funding for athletics as more prestigious universities.
McCurdy said that Bartow built UAB athletics from scratch in 1979 and eventually achieved success. Those successes included appearances in the NCAA men’s basketball tournament and moving the school’s football team from Division III to Division I. Bartow influenced McCurdy to make hard work the bedrock of the athletics culture at Dominguez Hills.
McCurdy wasted little time making changes to the athletic facilities at Dominguez Hills. In his first year as director, the university refurbished the softball and baseball fields to give teams a competitive advantage.
In the past year the sports teams have achieved milestones, such as the women’s basketball team making it to the Elite Eight in the NCAA tournament. The volleyball team earned the 2023 USMC/AVCA award for having one the highest GPAs as a team in the country and the dance team won the 2023 Division II Spirit Rally National Championship.
McCurdy also brought a sense of unity among athletic department staff to create a stronger connection with one another.
“I’ve been welcomed with open arms. McCurdy has created an environment where I am able to grow and help CSUDH,” said assistant athletics director Ebony Macias. “He has brought a culture for us to improve individually and collectively as a department.”
McCurdy hopes to grow the Toro fanbase by creating deals with local off-campus retailers to sell CSUDH merchandise. This would create more awareness of the Toro brand and foster broader support for the athletics program.
Building bridges with Los Angeles-area city officials and tapping into the Toro alumni network are also keys to McCurdy’s brand development strategy. McCurdy noted that Carson Mayor Lula Dalvis-Holmes, Compton Mayor Emma Sharif, and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass are all graduates of Dominguez Hills.
An aspiration McCurdy has is to grow the platform of CSUDH sports from every media aspect. He said The Bulletin plays an important part in raising awareness of Toros Athletics, since it’s one of the main news sources for students, faculty, and staff on campus.
“Whether it’s analytical, critical or any other way that is reporting on a season, those types of things people read.” McCurdy said “Not only the paper copy but the digital copy as well.”
McCurdy said he wants to launch a digital media network to better connect people with Toros Athletics. For example, he plans to start a weekly radio show featuring a group of broadcast students as sports reporters. The show would also serve as a platform for coaches to voice their opinions.
He also aims to branch out the CSUDH sports to as many people as possible as it will create popularity for Toro athletics.
The most important purpose for the athletic department is CSUDH to start winning championships. McCurdy wants CSUDH to be known for competing at a high level and consistently making appearances in tournaments.
He has the goal to win at an elite level as it will increase the publicity, attendance and reputation of Dominguez Hills sports.
Ultimately, McCurdy hopes the greater Carson and Dominguez Hills communities will show up to support Toros Athletics, which he said could be enjoyed at a relatively affordable cost.
“We want people to come out and know that you can pay less than $50 to get your whole family in and eat,” McCurdy said. “We want people to feel good about a Saturday, whether it’s win or lose. … When people follow winners it builds the brand that everyone wants to be a part of.”
