On Thursday, Brandeis Athletic Director Jeff Cohen -- in the midst of his 15th year at the helm of the school's Division III athletic program -- sat down for an exclusive interview with the Justice. Cohen discussed the preeminent issues that dictate the direction of Brandeis sports, as well as future initiatives that promise to mold the department in 2003 and beyond. Topics included Brandeis' commitment to the University Athletic Association (UAA), improved recruiting, potential capital projects such as the construction of a more spectator-friendly soccer complex, men's basketball head coach Chris Ford's future in Waltham, and the oft-discussed issue of school spirit.

The former Boston Celtics executive is confident that, despite reports of a severe financial crunch at Brandeis, Judges athletic teams will continue competing with the country's elite D-III schools.

"We have not been told that our future in the UAA is in jeopardy or that team travel is going to be restricted," he said. "So, knock on wood, that won't happen. So, we don't know, that's all to come. I think the UAA is a great thing, and I think the University recognizes that it's a great thing, so I hope we'll be able to sustain everything. What I'm a little worried about will be our ability to do the capital projects that we need to do, like a new soccer field with a running track and a refurbished, if not a new, pool."

"I think that may be a tougher row to hoe," he continued, "But, that may be driven by donors."

Cohen isn't bothered by critics who argue that a school of Brandeis' size should join a conference like the New England Small Colleges Athletic Conference (NESCAC), which includes the likes of Tufts University, Williams College and Trinity College. The perks of the UAA, he remarks, far outweigh its disadvantages, like the annual neutral site conference tournaments that are often the only time Brandeis teams face off with their distant rivals.

"My feeling is that what we're doing is unique and a real plus for us," he said. "We spent 40 or so years of our history doing what teams like Tufts do, scheduling bus rides to Vermont and Maine and playing that type of schedule, and while that's fine and New England has terrific schools, I would much rather see us playing a national schedule, and that's what we're doing."

"This year in basketball, for instance, we're playing the number one and two-ranked teams in the country (the Washington University Bears) and in volleyball we've played the number-one-ranked team in the country (Washington University, undefeated at 20-0, is the top team in the NCAA D-III Central region)," said Cohen, "It's an amazing conference; everything about it is wonderful, except that it costs money. But it costs money that has been in our budget now for a long time, for almost 50 years, and was not a huge pile of money when it started and hasn't grown a lot, so we're able to do it without breaking anybody's back."

Our local rivals, says Cohen, are somewhat envious of the facilities at Brandeis, as well as our standing as the lone New England representative of the UAA. But bitter sentiments, remarks Cohen, haven't deterred high school athletes from being attracted to Brandeis. "I think we're doing a pretty good job of recruiting, I think we're getting good kids," he said, "So that must mean that we have a pretty good reputation. I honestly don't know how other schools look at us. I always thought that there were some schools that were jealous of the fact that we had the UAA, that we have this facility (Gosman). Now, how jealous are they we have a basketball team that's 3-7? But that's cyclical, that changes. And there's every reason to look at, for instance, our soccer program is getting much stronger. I think on both sides of basketball we're getting much stronger."

"I could see with the addition of one kid to our men's basketball team they'd be a killer," continued Cohen, "That's all we really lack is a pure outside shooter. If we hadn't lost Mike McGlynn (who transferred to Tufts after his freshman year, where his grandfather is the mayor of Medford), we'd be knocking people dead right now."

Cohen discussed the state of men's basketball at Brandeis, particularly the prospect of a third season with Chris Ford. The former Celtics coach (1988-92) has lost consistently thus far at Brandeis, where the Judges are still experiencing the aftershock last year's starting point guard C.J. Enere's sudden transfer to Babson College due to what Cohen calls his desire for a "business curriculum." "I think there's more than hope that Coach Ford will be back," Cohen said, "I think he's enjoying himself, having a good experience despite the losses. I think he knows that we're within a kid or two of being very good and he's in a position to recruit that kid. He's recruited some very good freshmen who just need a little time, as almost all freshman do. It's a pretty rare kid who just steps in and takes over like a Rashad Williams '02. With one shooter who could draw the defense out, we'd be a very hard team to beat."

Like most academically-oriented D-III schools, coaches at Brandeis are rarely dismissed for their team's failures on the field of play. This is not, and will never be UMass or the University of Cincinnati, where zero percent graduation rates among athletes have historically taken a back seat to ESPN appearances and Final Four appearances.

For example, the combined tenures of men's soccer coach Mike Coven and women's tennis skipper Judy Houde add up to nearly six decades in Waltham.

Cohen is a proponent of that stability. "Many of our coaches have been here pushing 20, 30 years, but some of them happen to be the best coaches we've got. I think that being a comfortable at a place like Brandeis and understanding it is incredibly important. I don't think young, wildly ambitious coaches will be happy here, because this place is what it is, and we're not going to change that. We shouldn't change it. Brandeis is Brandeis, and God love it for that. I'm very proud of my degree," Cohen said.

"I think it's possible that sometimes a coach can go stale," he added, "but, sometimes a coach goes stale and then gets excited again. So, it works both ways. I'm very happy with our staff, I think that they work very hard and do an excellent job. It's true that we shouldn't be firing coaches for their performance. My main criteria for judging a coach is does he or she create an atmosphere in which the kids can produce and be happy and have a fulfilling experience. And that's basically what all of our coaches do, from the most successful to the least. Sure we'd like to win every game we play and if our recruiting gets a little bit stronger, that very well may happen too."

New facilities, Cohen said, have been placed on the department's long-term agenda. "There are plans," he said, "But they are not imminent, because there are no donors. So, we don't know what will happen. We have hopes for the future, though, because the University is in a capital campaign and who knows who might surface during that time, so we're always hopeful. The buildings that are being built now are being built because the right donors came, so there's no reason to think that that couldn't happen for us."

A full-fledged arena or workout facility across the street on Brandeis' main campus, Cohen said, just isn't feasible. "There is no place right now. In my day there was actually green space over there, now all there is is Chapel's Field," he said.

"There's always been this kind of 'We wish we weren't across the street' feeling, but that's just the way the physical layout of the school worked. When you look at the buildings on main campus, everything is built on a slant over there, so it's hard to build athletic buildings on a slant, so that's a little tough. We hoped that the Napoli Room and the bridge and some other things that we did down here would pull folks down, and to some extent it has. The use of the building is ten-fold what it was before and the turnout for basketball games, for instance, is two or three times the best that we've ever had. So it is working and the kids are coming across the street."

Cohen said he is lobbying Aramark to extend their food service to Gosman, so students don't have to make the trek all the way up to Sherman or Usdan for their post-workout meal. The department's biggest need right now, Cohen said, is a modernized soccer field to replace the current one that the athletic director called "old" and surrounded by an "unusable" running track.

Cohen said he does not blame Brandeis sports fans who reserve much of their passion for professional franchises. Outdoor athletic contests in the frigid New England air are often a tough sell. "Basketball is the one sport that we're ever going to have significant crowds for, because it's in the winter at night. Baseball being played at two or three in the afternoon in cold weather is not going to draw a lot of folks, and the same with soccer.

"We always had crowds," he said, "It's not like we never drew any people, but now we're doubling and tripling the size of our crowds and I think that's in recognition of how hard the kids work and how they close they are to being really good. I remember sitting down and having lunch with a girl on the student senate, and I said to her, 'Why don't you go down to the gym, I've never seen you in the gym,' and she said, 'It's awful down there and I hate to go down there.' Well, that's not true anymore; it hasn't been true for 10 years.