She watched her first Los Angeles Lakers game on television at 5 years old. ?That?s what did it,? Victoria Sun said. From that moment on, basketball was her game. If she could make it her life, all the better.
She started watching Syracuse games on ESPN a few years later, and her passion became more pointed. She loved college basketball in particular, and SU most of all.
?I decided, ?I?m going to Syracuse because I want to watch basketball,? ? Sun said. ?That?s why I decided I wanted to go there: not for journalism, but to watch Syracuse basketball.?
This is why you?ll find her today working as director of operations for first-year Eastern Michigan coach Rob Murphy, a former Orange assistant. Sun is there because her love for basketball would not allow her to walk away from the sport even when it wasn?t always loving her back and because her connection to Syracuse was deep enough to open the doors necessary to make her one of the few women on a Division I men?s basketball staff.
On the way to this place, she worked part-time as an usher at the Los Angeles Sports Arena when it was home to the Clippers. ?You show five people to their seats,? she said, ?then just stand around and watch.?
She graduated from Syracuse in 1997 and then worked as a sportswriter at the Las Vegas Sun and then the Cincinnati Post. She covered the Kentucky Wildcats for the Post and was pretty much right where she wanted to be ? until the paper went out of business on New Year?s Eve 2007.
Sun fought tenaciously to remain around the game in the years since. With newspaper jobs rapidly disappearing, she worked freelance writing jobs. She ran several AAU-type tournaments, including the first two Fab 48 events in Las Vegas, for promoter Dinos Trigonis. She did some smaller events for others, including Nike.
After more than a decade of adult freedom, she moved back in to her parents? Southern California home.
?I get along with my parents. And I missed them when I was away,? Sun said. ?And you can?t beat the rent. It was an adjustment, but it wasn?t as bad as I thought it would be.?
She briefly considered a move to Washington, D.C., and trying to use her language skills ? she is fluent in Cantonese, speaks Shanghainese and has a working knowledge of Mandarin ? to land some sort of government job.
?I knew I?d probably not be as happy,? Sun said.
Lately, she began to consider the possibility of working in a basketball office and began checking with contacts to see what might be out there for her. When Murphy got the Eastern Michigan job in the spring, she saw an opening.
?She was a huge supporter of Syracuse, so I got to know her,? Murphy said. ?Throughout the years, watching her work, her understanding of the game, love of the game, her professionalism, I thought she would be a good hire.?
It is not uncommon for college coaches to use the director of operations position as a launching spot for young coaches. At Butler, for instance, Brad Stevens was once an ?ops? guy.
At Syracuse, though, Murphy noted Stan Kissel was an administrator whose first priority was to coordinate the Orange?s academic efforts and whose career track was toward an athletics director job. So that?s what Murphy wanted at Eastern. And that?s what Sun will do for him.
?She?s been around the game, and if she wanted to become a coach, I think Vic could,? Murphy said. ?She has a really good understanding of the game. She?s coming to it with an open mind, understanding how important academics are, overseeing the budget, getting our team camp going and making it one of the best camps here in the state of Michigan.
?If she has suggestions, something she?s seen, I?m sure I would listen.?
Sun said she is extremely grateful to Murphy for giving her the opportunity in a job he easily could have positioned in another direction.
?I?m not going to be stabbing another guy in the back because I want to be a coach. I?m happy doing travel, being the academic liaison, helping things to run smoothly. That?s fine with me,? Sun said.
?It?s felt like a long time to get here. A really long time.?
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