Marquette University coaches were seated to his right, and interested student athletes looked on from the back of room 227 in the Alumni Memorial Union. President Michael R. Lovell and other members of the university board and search committee stood behind him. Cameras were directed in front of him.

In this setting, Bill Scholl had a simple, clear message in his opening address as the university's new vice president and director of athletics:

"They do keep score for a reason, and I am a very competitive person."

He then added:

"And we will compete for Big East and NCAA championships."

Scholl comes to Marquette by way of Ball State University and will begin at Marquette in mid-October.

Men's basketball coach Steve Wojciechowski was hired on April 1, followed by Dr. Lovell in late May. Scholl's addition now firms up the leadership structure, at least athletically, at the university.

"I think it's a huge step for our athletics department," said Wojciechowski, who was one of many coaches who either talked to Scholl directly during the interview process, or provided insight to Dr. Lovell.

"Obviously the leadership that Bill will provide both our program and the rest of the sports programs involved is huge. I think we were all anxious to see who that new leader was going to be and I think we're all excited to move forward."

Prior to his two-year run at Ball State, Scholl was at Notre Dame for 23 years, where he finished as deputy athletics director.

He was responsible for administration of men’s basketball, football, baseball and men’s soccer, as well as fundraising and donor relations, budgeting and growing external revenue.

The latter area of expertise is important, as Scholl acknowledged that Marquette is "facilities-challenged, some of our programs are, so I certainly think that's an issue."

At Notre Dame, Scholl had worked with the advancement office to lead the athletics department in an $84 million athletics fundraising initiative.

This may also prove important as the NCAA and its biggest conferences move to providing a stipend for some student athletes.

"I think we would move in lockstep as a conference," Scholl said regarding how Marquette would handle the matter. "That would typically be the way that would occur. There is no question that the enterprise is probably going to get more expense in the years ahead and we will have to look at each time they pass new legislation, we're going to have to try to decide how important is that one and can we afford to do it.

"In general, I support he concept of providing our student-athletes with the things they rightfully deserve. I can't say that I can sit here and tell you exactly what those are, but i also understand that there's a cost related to that. If it's something that's important to do in order to remain competitive and to treat student-athletes the way they should be treated, we gotta find a way to do it."