Roger Thomas has yet to see his first University of Mary sporting event, but the school's new athletic director knows a bit about the Marauders' programs.

"If I'm an outsider looking at Mary, you ask anybody around the state, they'll say, 'Those guys are good. They have good teams,' " Thomas said. "It's a culture of success."

The way Thomas sees it, his job is to enhance that culture for the Marauders, who are in the early stages of trying to translate NAIA success to the NCAA Division II level. Despite his years of experience as a coach and administrator, most notably at the University of North Dakota, Thomas said the first step is find out some more about his new home.

"Every day you learn a little something and find another piece," Thomas said. "I really just need some time to listen and learn. I like to keep my big yapper shut for awhile and listen to what other people say on campus, and that will help me understand what to do."

Because of that Thomas didn't elaborate on specific plans, but he already knows what it takes to build a winner. The Chicago native spent nearly three decades coaching football, including a highly successful run at UND from 1986 to 1998. After leading the Sioux to a 90-49-2 record in 13 seasons, he resigned to take over as the school's athletic director.

Giving up coaching was not an easy decision for Thomas, and he says he still misses it, but he said the time was right.

"It's a job of energy, every day during the season, seven days a week," he said. "Then you go into recruiting, then you've got spring ball, so on and so forth. You do that 30 years a row, it's a lot."

Thomas made a smooth transition to administrator _ UND won national championships in hockey and football while he was at the helm. After six years as AD, in 2005 Thomas became the commissioner of the North Central Conference.

By working in a variety of capacities, Thomas gained insight into what constitutes a successful program.

"You're trying to match people with your backing, your commitment, your facilities, your weight room, your recruiting," he explained. "Can we provide the structure, the ingredients, to allow a good coach to recruit the right kids to put them in a very competitive position. If you don't have a place to play the games, or if you don't have enough coaching staff or a budget, you just make the job a lot harder. Even a great coach can get buried alive in those kinds of things.

"I think the job is to work on that commitment and to provide as many reasonable ingredients so that a good coach can get the job done."

Thomas said his primary duty will to be prioritize what U-Mary needs the most. In that regard, he said he will turn to the man he replaced, Al Bortke. In his 35 years at the school, Bortke essentially built the athletic department from scratch. Bortke is staying on for one more season as a consultant, and Thomas says Bortke's insight will be invaluable.

"Al is a blessing. Just in the short time we've worked together, he is such a great guy, and he has done so much," Thomas said. "He has done so much to build this base for this institution, to springboard into this new world of Division II."

Thomas said the building process will come in stages.

"There's three steps. The one is to be - in conference, in as many sports as possible - a competitive team, a championship team," he said. "Then of course, that pushes you right away into regional play. Then to think of getting in those regionals and hosting regional playoff games.

"… With the shifting powers, and teams coming and going, do you ever just utter the words, 'Let's play for a national championship.' Is that something you would ever put on your wish list? … I think everybody's got to look at that as a step-by-step process. Let's grow and build and see what types of things we can get done, and think and dream and plan for the next step."

Thomas is coming from a background where UND was the focal point of the sporting world in Grand Forks. With its shorter history and smaller enrollment, U-Mary doesn't yet occupy the same standing in Bismarck, but Thomas would love to get the Marauders there.

"That's one of the goals. You want people here, locally as well as regionally, to say, 'This is our school.' And they have an attachment and an affinity for the school, to come to the games and support it in any way shape or form that they can.

"They are proud to be known as a booster and a backer of that institution, because of the good things they are doing academically and athletically."