When people think Brad Sutton, they think the voice of the athletic department and the go to guy for all things media related. That idea however, would be somewhat of a miscue. Brad Sutton has been on the SMU campus for ten years now and there are several things that may come as a surprise to many.
“My undergraduate degree is actually in vocal performance and musical education. And I went to college and was a singer, had a lead in an opera and gave that up to work in this field.”
There you have it. Brad Sutton the opera singer. That may have been what he was then, but now Sutton is a man of passion and focus towards his job. His official job title is Associate Athletic Director/Public Relations and Marketing. Brad oversees 17 Division 1 athletic teams and his job encompasses much more.
“My job is to do everything to put SMU’s best foot forward, to make game experience the most enjoyable, to help portray athletics in the most positive light and get the word out on SMU athletics.”
That is exactly what he has done; helped produce a 52 percent increase in football attendance since 2006. But he also says, “by no means are we where we want to be, until we are selling out every home game, we have work to do.”
And Sutton sure does work a lot, as he works in an athletic office that has weekend games, and has to work with academic schedules. He spends just about as much time with his co-workers as he does with his family.
When it comes to passion in something larger than himself, Sutton definitely has it nailed down.
“I am passionate about my family” said Sutton. He added, “most of my life outside of work revolves around my wife and kids.”
Sutton displays a rare passion when talking about the SMU student body. He understands the importance of a supportive student body when it comes to athletics, and their success. Sutton says many times students underestimate their importance to college athletics, “it is what makes college athletics unique,” Sutton said.
“We need student support and student by-in, that means coming to games, and wearing SMU gear…that is what we need. There is a passion and spirit that students bring and we need that support”
Sutton is apart of a big family who work together in order to better the experience of athletes, fans, and spectators alike. His role in the SMU community is valued and his work is often underestimated.
Sutton recalls the last ten years with a positive outlook.
“When I started working on football we lost our fist 15 games. The culture has changed significantly,” he said.
“I think a lot of that has come with winning. We were not where we needed to be, and now we are knocking on the door of being a top 25 team.”
