Joe Frandina, BS '78

An old dream redefined 

Joe Frandina, B.S. ’78, has always been a football aficionado and Buffalo Bills fanatic. Like many young boys, he dreamed of becoming a member of the team that was larger than life and which boasted of players that left him awestruck.

“In 1964, when the Bills won their first AFL championship, I was 9 years old, and when someone asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up, I said that I was going to be a Buffalo Bill,” he says. “And oddly enough, in a different capacity, I guess I am.”

Frandina’s dream of a career as a Bills linebacker ended after high school. However, it was his skill in engineering rather than chasing down quarterbacks that led him to become a very important part of the team. Today, Frandina serves as the Bills’ director of stadium operations, and possibly the only P.E. (professional engineer) in the National Football League.

A part of the team

Once Frandina completed his degree in civil engineering from UB he found a job waiting for him at MSR Engineers, the company he worked for part-time during his summer breaks. After 13 years with the company he left to establish his own private engineering company, Frandina Engineering. Business was good and in the early 90s Bill Munson, assistant general manager of the Bills, approached Frandina concerning a feasibility study for stadium renovations. That initial approach segued into a working relationship where Frandina’s firm regularly conducted and assisted with various projects ranging from further stadium renovations to the design and construction monitoring of suites. In 1995, after Frandina sold his company, he was offered a full-time position with the Bills as their director of stadium operations. He accepted and became a part of the team.

Man in motion

Frandina’s job, like that of most engineers, involves the details that usually go unnoticed. In this case it’s the thousands of things the average football fan doesn’t see but have to happen to successfully put on an NFL game. Preparation is what it’s all about, but as Frandina says, “The game’s going to happen whether you’re ready or not.”

Frandina oversees facility renovations and supervises the stadium’s operations department of 24. The department manages the 200-acre campus, supports the other departments in the organization, maintains buildings and grounds and provides a safe, comfortable environment for fans and employees.

Game day

Game day preparation is a weeklong process for Frandina and his staff. The pre-game meeting happens on Tuesdays to map out operations activities; Wednesdays are marked by an operations department staff meeting where additional responsibilities are assigned, and a working game plan is created. Thursdays and Fridays are spent fulfilling the duties assigned on Tuesday along with each staff member’s regular duties. Saturdays both commence and end with tying up the loose ends so that when the doors open the next morning the chances of something not being done, or going wrong are pretty slim, unless it snows.

During games, Frandina is on the sidelines. He’s responsible for the coaches’ communications system as well as radio communications between the coach and quarterback, who is equipped with a radio receiver in his helmet.

There’s also very little time off. During the season Frandina also travels with the team and maintains the sideline communications system. The job is seven days a week every week. “Plus, with your cell phone it’s a 24-hour day,” he says. And even though he’s a huge football fan, during the regular season there’s only one time during the week he gets to watch a game for fun. “Monday nights from 9 p.m. until about 10 minutes after 9,” he laughs.

Although football season is the highlight of Frandina’s job, he also tends to other events that the stadium hosts. Events such as parties, weddings, camps and concerts (the Rolling Stones show was one of Frandina’s favorites) ensure that Frandina, and his staff, never face a dull moment on the job.

UB engineering is in the genes

Staying in Buffalo was a deciding factor for Frandina as he considered his options for college. “Born and raised in Buffalo, I didn’t want to leave the area,” he said. By choosing to attend UB Frandina was upholding a tradition that began with his father, Phil (B.S. ’64), and carried on by his brother, Frank (M.S. ’74 & B.S. ’73) and his sister Rosanne (M.B.A. ’83 & B.S. ’81).

In 2001 the Frandina family received the UB Engineering Alumni Association’s Engineer of the Year award, given annually to an individual who had made exceptional contributions to the engineering profession, public interests, and/or human kind. In Frandina’s case, the whole family was distinguished.

Frandina’s memories of his experience at UB are peppered with recollections of his intramural football team, the “Eulers” (a combination of Euler’s equation and the Houston Oilers football team), intramural ice hockey and the summer jobs he took with his friends, many of whom he is still close to. Most important, however, he recalls meeting his wife, Lynda. “The education I received, while very important,” Frandina said, “pales in comparison to the fact that I met my wife who was also a student at UB.” They celebrated their 26th wedding anniversary this year.

Unfortunately this could be the end of the line for UB engineering and the Frandina family. “I wish I could tell you my four kids were following our footsteps,” Frandina said, “but one son is in computer engineering at RIT and one daughter’s at Geneseo. Our other daughter will graduate from high school this year and is considering Fredonia, while our other son is still in high school and hasn’t yet selected a college.”

Written by Sarah Heiermann

Portions of this profile are reprinted from an article by David Siegel, in the December 2004 issue of Engineering Times, a publication of the National Society of Professional Engineers.

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