In just his second full year as Stanford’s Athletic Director, Bob Bowlsby has already made waves. After last year’s horrendous 1-11 football campaign, he pulled the plug on second-year coach Walt Harris and hired upstart Jim Harbaugh, a move which already appears to have paid dividends. Bowslby, 55, seems to have a knack for big-time football hires: while at Iowa, he was responsible for hiring Kirk Ferentz.

Bowlsby sat down recently with The Daily for a question-and-answer session, discussing various topics ranging from life on The Farm to Mike Montgomery to Jim Harbaugh.

Stanford Daily: Try to describe the pressures of working as the Athletic Director at the big-time, Division I level.

Bob Bowlsby: I don’t know. I’ve been managing a Division I-A athletics program for most of the last 20 years. The things that go with it are the things that go with it. It has its pressures like any other thing on campus, or any other job. I don’t spend much [time] thinking about it to tell you the truth.

SD: What was the change like coming from Iowa to here? What motivated you to come out West?

BB: There’s some things that are a little different about living in California. We live on campus — we really enjoy being close to campus and close to the activities.

More than anything else, what attracted me to Stanford was the merger of world-class academics and world-class athletics. Our programs are comprised of outstanding students and it’s a new set of challenges. Some of the things that were easy at Iowa are difficult here and some of the things that were difficult at Iowa are relatively easy here.

SD: What major changes, if any, have you enacted since taking over for Ted Leland in April 2006? What is the biggest difference about Stanford now that you’re around?

BB: I wouldn’t say it’s radically different. What I found here was a culture of high achievement, a culture of doing things the right way. Those are both difficult to create if they’re not already there. That’s a great foundation for a program, and it probably existed before Ted got here, but he certainly enhanced it and nurtured it. We’ve made some changes to fundraising and the business aspects of the program, but fundamentally, there haven’t been radical changes required.

SD: What changes would you still like to see made?

BB: There are lots of things we’re working on. I don’t believe we’re as good technologically as we need to be. I don’t think our Web sites are as good as they need to be. I think how we interface with various publics needs to be improved. I think some of the services we provide to our various publics could be more efficient.

It doesn’t matter how good the organization is: there are always ways it can be made better...Even as successful as we’ve been, there are ways we can get better.

SD: Talk about Jim Harbaugh. What was it about him that made him the right guy for the job?

BB: He made the considered decision to move from professional football to learning how the college game worked with his move from the Raiders to the University of San Diego.

What I heard repeatedly about Jim was that he was a person who made everyone around him better. I think that’s about as good a trait one could ask for in a coach. I liked his energy and the success he had. More than anything else, I kept hearing he was a guy that made everyone around him better, and I think we found that to be true.

SD: Where were you during the USC victory? What was your initial reaction and how do you view the win now?

BB: I was at the game. Part of the time I was in the press box, the second half I was [watching] from the sideline. I was about 30 feet from Bradford’s catch in the end zone. It was a huge win. Some have called it the biggest upset in the history of college football, so it’s significant from that standpoint. It was fun to be a part of that — I think it gives us hope for the future with what Stanford football can be, but it still leaves us with a lot of work to be done.

I was happy for our players, particularly, and obviously for our coaches. The players have been through a lot the last two to three years, and some of them longer than that. It was nice for them to have a chance to get some positive feedback.

SD: Comment on former Stanford basketball coach Mike Montgomery’s role in the Athletic Department.

BB: Mike’s a big part of Stanford athletics history. We’re very glad to have him back and he’ll be working with our staff on fundraising activities and working on a public relations standpoint. I expect he’ll be serving on some NCAA committees and providing them with the benefit of his years of experience — his years of experience will serve well as a resource to draw upon.

SD: The recent Brook Lopez suspension raised the ever-present issue of college athletes and their place as students. At a school like Stanford, how do you balance between promoting big-time athletics while keeping intact the fundamental motives of the University?

BB: I think that’s what makes Stanford special; we don’t compromise in any area. We demand that every one of our student athletes is competitive in the classroom. It’s one of the things that appeals to me about Stanford, [and] it appeals to our coaches and our student athletes. I think our standard doesn’t change much from sport to sport or season to season or person to person. We expect high achievement in both areas; when that doesn’t happen we have to take the necessary steps.

SD: Is your position at Stanford the pinnacle for you in terms of your career? Do you have loftier career aspirations?

BB: I certainly don’t expect to be going any place. I’m 55 and I don’t know how much longer I’ll work, but I expect that it’ll be at Stanford. I hope that it will.

SD: Comment on your thoughts about life at Stanford as a whole.

BB: This university is an extraordinary place. I think that anybody who comes here — whether you’re the AD or a faculty member or a student or somebody affiliated in some other way — it’s important that you embrace what Stanford is.

You can’t come in and resist what Stanford is, you have to embrace it. It’s an extraordinary place populated with amazing people doing some remarkable things. From the athletics perspective, it’s very unique in the way we go about what we do. Our student athletes graduate at the same rate as the rest of the student population, our student athletes take on lots of extra time in the pursuit of excellence of their sport but they are expected to do the same thing in their classes.