How Oklahoma AD Joe Castiglione left a lasting impact on Florida State AD Michael Alford

ORLANDO – Before Michael Alford officially received word from the Cheez-It Bowl, the Florida State athletic director had the Seminoles’ bowl destination spoiled to him in an amusing way.

His wife, Laura, texted him about dinner plans with longtime University of Oklahoma athletic director Joe Castiglione and his wife, Kristen, in Orlando.

Laura knew before Michael that No. 13 FSU (9-3) received a bid to play the Sooners (6-6) in the Cheez-It Bowl, which will be held at Camping World Stadium in Orlando at 5:30 p.m. Thursday (TV: ESPN).

“She goes, ‘Kristen is texting me, and we are setting up a dinner,’” Alford told the Democrat. “I’m like, ‘Honey, they have not called me yet. I don’t know if we are going to Orlando.’”

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Though they are technically reuniting this week, Alford and Castiglione have remained close since spending six years together in Oklahoma's athletic department.

Castiglione, who has been the Sooners’ athletic director since 1998, hired Alford as his senior associate athletics director for development and administration (2012-17). Alford most notably helped with their $160 million capital campaign for the renovation of the Gaylord Family – Oklahoma Memorial Stadium and the university’s football facility.

Now leading his own athletics department, Alford still leans on Castiglione. He considers him to be one of his biggest mentors in the industry.

“If I make a major decision, he is one of the first phone calls I make to get his advice,” Alford said.

At the beginning of their time together, Castiglione remembers Alford making his intentions known that he aspired to be an athletic director.

Alford had spent his career in a variety of leadership roles across intercollegiate athletics and professional sports. He left his position as the Dallas Cowboys’ senior director of corporate partnerships and sales (2008-12) to join Castiglione.

While working under Castiglione, Alford had the opportunity to learn from one of the more renowned athletic directors in the country. Castiglione also embraced the idea of grooming Alford to be an athletic director one day.

“I was mindful of that and helped him, worked with him,” Castiglione told the Democrat. “There were opportunities for him to get involved in sport oversight. So we had a lot of interaction with the external side, as well as dealing with operations, coaching and hiring. 

“I tried to give him as broad of an experience, an addition to his primary role, as I could.”

In his first year as the Seminoles’ athletic director, Alford has been busy leading the charge on various developments for the football program.

Within one week on the job, Alford gave FSU coach Mike Norvell a one-year contract extension through the 2026 season. The Seminoles then significantly expanded their support staff, updated their locker room and replaced their playing surfaces.

There are multiple plans in the works as well, including the standalone football operations facility, the Dunlap Football Center, breaking ground earlier this month and the renovation of Doak Campbell Stadium.

Ask Alford, and he will tell you that he learned from the best.

“I like to do it my own way. But they mirror his way with my twist on it,” said Alford on Castiglione. “I’ve learned so much from him.

“The care he has for the student-athletes, his relationships with coaches and the communication he has in that department is something I admired and learned a lot of how to run an organization but also be yourself. 

“It is an honor to be in this game against him.”

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Castiglione helped Alford, FSU with Dunlap Football Center plans

In the summer of 2021, Castiglione opened his doors to the Seminole football program.

Multiple FSU representatives, including then-athletic director David Coburn, Alford and Norvell, toured various football operations facilities across the country to inform their process with the Dunlap Football Center.

They visited Oklahoma on that tour, along with the Dallas Cowboys, Green Bay Packers, Los Angeles Rams, New York Giants and the University of Alabama.

“These are enormous investments,” Castiglione said. “People can always tell you, ‘This university did this thing, and this university did that.’ But until you go, put your eyes on it and walk through and experience it, you really don’t have that good of an understanding.

“So I think most people are very open to sharing with each other.”

The construction of the Dunlap Football Center, a 150,000-square-foot facility that will cost approximately $100 million, is expected to be completed within the next 18-24 months.

Position meeting rooms, a locker room, offices for the football coaching staff, strength training and weight room centers, virtual reality/performance enhancement areas and nutrition/fueling stations are among the expected amenities in the new facility.

Alford said their tour helped them learn what tends to work and not work with football facilities.

“We got this, it is shiny, but kids are not into it,” said Alford on a common theme that he heard during those visits. “OK, don’t spend money on that. That is what coach and I really wanted to sit down and (discuss). Everything we are doing, we want it to be their benefit. To learning, to rehab. 

“We are going to have a player’s lounge, but there is not going to be any lazy rivers or putt-putt courses. This is going to be about their growth, everything we put into this facility.”

Norvell played a major role in the discussions throughout the facility visits and Dunlap Football Center process.

The ideas for the facility now look much different compared to what they were when the project started to receive funding in 2018. Norvell said there have been “a lot of adaptations” to the original plans.

“We wanted to be completely open with him, so he knew he would gain as much from the visit as possible,” said Castiglione about Norvell. “He was very engaged. Very personable. Very classy. Very, very impressive. I really enjoyed getting to meet him. 

“I look forward to saying hello to me when we hopefully cross paths at one of the events leading up to the game.”

More on the Dunlap Football Center:Florida State breaks ground on standalone football operations facility

Castiglione endorsed Alford coming to Florida State

Castiglione remembers Alford initially not having a strong interest in the Seminole Boosters CEO vacancy in 2020.

Alford left Oklahoma to be the athletic director at Central Michigan University (2017-20). So if Alford joined Seminole Boosters Inc., the fundraising arm of FSU athletics, he would have removed himself from his ultimate goal.

“But I guess they must have called him more than once,” Castiglione said.

As Alford learned more about Seminole Boosters, he increasingly became more interested in the opportunity. Alford liked how the role had some of the same responsibilities as an athletic director, including fundraising and engaging with student-athletes and coaches.

It also helped that Castiglione endorsed the decision.

“I don’t make any move without talking to Joe Castiglione and seeking his advice,” Alford said. “If I’m looking at something internally, or budgetarily, or game-wise, or a national issue, he is a phone call away to get feedback from.”

As a Fort Lauderdale native, Castiglione knows the Seminoles well. His father attended FSU, though he prematurely left school to join the Navy. He also knew legendary coach Bobby Bowden, who owned a condo in a Panama City resort that employed his father.

So Castiglione understood what the move would have meant.

“Florida State is such an attractive place to be, a wonderful university, a special area to live and really has such a high ceiling for a program,” Castiglione said. “You are moving at least to the type of program that you want to be associated with for the rest of your career.

“So if it didn’t materialize as athletic director there, he was going to have such a special experience. He felt like at some point, somebody might be looking for an athletic director. 

“Staying so close to it, especially at such a wonderful institution like Florida State University, that would help position him the right way.”

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Continuing the breakfast club tradition

For approximately three decades, Castiglione has brought members of his staff to breakfast the morning before road games.

Castiglione now wonders if he should write a book about his signature gameday tradition, because it has taken on a life of its own. Many of his former staffers, including Alford, brought it to other institutions and have barraged him with pictures of their gameday breakfasts throughout each season.

There is only one rule.

“We don’t go to the chain restaurants unless that is the only alternative,” Castiglione said.

On the morning of the game Thursday, Alford and Castiglione won’t be able to fit breakfast together into their schedules. 

But Alford still expects to partake in the tradition. It could be a chance for him to reflect on his time with Castiglione at Oklahoma and all that has happened since. Alford certainly knows how much Castiglione has continued to impact him.

“The biggest thing that I ever got from him is his decision-making process,” Alford said. “He sticks to his core values and what he believes in. Learning, hey, sometimes at first, that is not going to be popular. 

“But you know it’s the right thing to do, by your core values and what you are trying to get accomplished in the department.”

GAME INFORMATION

Who: No. 13 Florida State vs. Oklahoma

When/Where: Thursday 5:30 p.m.; Camping World Stadium in Orlando

TV: ESPN

Live game updates: www.Tallahassee.com; @CarterKarels on Twitter; @Ehsan_Kassim on Twitter

Reach Carter Karels at ckarels@gannett.com or follow him on Twitter @CarterKarels. You can also follow our coverage on Facebook (NoleSports) and Instagram (tlhnolesports).

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