His job, as the University's newly hired athletics director, consists largely of grasping those dreams and using them to breathe life into a sports tradition that has been dormant for 23 years. It's a daunting task.
Expectations are high and building a program from scratch is an enormous undertaking.
But Viola doesn't appear worried. The raw materials for a successful program are here, he says, and what's done today will lay the groundwork for a tradition that will extend decades into the future. That, he adds, is an exciting prospect. For the past four months, Viola has been meeting with various community and civic groups, sharing his vision for Islander athletics. At the same time, he has been carefully laboring behind the scenes to construct the framework for a successful program.