Its nascent beginnings harken back to the ’70s, where fidgety kids played PacMan and Pong in dimly lit corners in pizza parlors and bored teens sat in dark basements playing Space Invaders. But between then and now, video games — and those who play — and watch them, have leaped by Mario Kart-like bounds into the mainstream, recognized by professional sporting institutions, colleges and universities. The International Olympic Committee is currently in serious discussions to add esports as a recognized competitive olympic sport for 2028 — and, in fact, is hosting Olympic Esports Games in Saudi Arabia in 2025.
None of this is news to Dr. Chris “Doc” Haskell. Doc, as everyone calls him, founded the esports program along with Dr. Brett Shelton in 2017 and is the program’s head coach. Part of the program’s meteoric rise is because Haskell was able to convince then-President Bob Kustra that esports was going to be as huge on the university level as it was professionally. It was important to “get in early and dedicate resources and get the best talents,” Haskell said. “We were one of the first 30 or so (higher-division) schools that announced we were going to deliver an esports program.” When you do that, “you can become the Alabama of esports.” It was “a gold rush moment,” he said.
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