Essay On Athletic Director

Inside the world of college sports, athletic directors are often overlooked, yet valuable assets to managing events. An athletic director covers several important aspects of an athletic event and is a necessity at any level of organized, school-sponsored amateur sports. The requirements and commitments to enter into this career field are very strenuous and can often times be overbearing. Among other things, the job description can be very intimidating and often involves very specific organizational tasks. Athletic directors at the high school level often have an easier time finding a job and running an athletic department. Collegiate directors tend to need more education and often times need to have previous experience in order to receive a

position. As a whole, athletic directors tend to face a great deal of controversy and conflict, but often times the satisfaction of athletes full filling their dreams is enough to motivate an athletic director to continually work towards the success of an athletic department as a whole.
Directing athletics can come in three major areas: youth sports, high school sports, and for collegiate sports. Collegiate sports is the highest paying and possibly the area in which the most work and effort is required. Many schools look for candidates with a Master’s of Science in Sports Administration or a Master’s degree in physical education hopefully with a bachelor’s degree in a sports related field. Colleges and universities also tend to hire personnel with prior experiences as a coach or an administrator, such as an assistant athletic director or intern. Having experience in an absolute must if you are applying for a Division I or II athletic department because of the importance of sports programs to the universities and their students. A post-secondary institution will not turn a multi-million dollar athletic department over to the hands of an inexperienced rookie when they have plenty of options for experienced clientele. Mike Pitts, the Director of Athletics for Southwest Baptist University, explained how he “… started in the position of media relations, then moved to assistant director of athletics, and then up to the position I’m in now” (Personal Communication, November 3, 2014) For this reason it is an absolute must to give yourself enough experience to stand out amongst a field of qualified competitors.
As a whole, gaining experience in the field of sports can be a very difficult task and often requires starting at lower level and climbing up the ladder of success to your eventual end goals. The job outlook for collegiate athletic directors is incredibly small because of a high-level of experienced individuals and a majority who cannot get the experience they need because of a lack of opportunities. Many prospective contenders will start their careers in a high school or elementary school and learn how the basis of athletic events actually works. Then they will use their accumulated contacts, such as other athletic directors or those who saw how successful their programs were, and propel themselves into numerous opportunities. Pitts also says that his most “…beneficial relationships were those with the department and cabinet heads of the university…” and with “…the committees at the conference level” (Personal Communication, November 3, 2014). These connections will help you “learn how it all works,” according to Pitts (Personal Communication, November 3, 2014). This process can be a long and drug out but if you are committed to your career then you can eventually be rewarded with a satisfactory job. Many athletic directors will never pass beyond the high school level but those that do tend to take a few years to learn the general flow of the system and, with apparent success in their previous position, move on to a position as a small college or university athletic director or even assistant director of athletics. From there, the possibilities depend on who you get to know and how well you perform. If you have people that will vouch for how good of a job you do, then you will always have the upper edge in a career field, especially in the sports administration career path. Overall, receiving a prestigious position as a collegiate director of athletics is a difficult undertaking, but it can yield some substantial rewards for all of the hard work and dedication.
Once you reach these upper-level positions, you begin to see the real profitability of being an athletic director at the collegiate level. The highest paying athletic directing jobs occur at the division one level of athletics. These individuals can make upwards of $1,000,000 in a given year, depending on the quality of their work. The highest paid athletic director is David Williams of Vanderbilt University at $3,239,678 during the calendar year of 2013 (Martin, 2013, 1). On the lower end of the pay scale is Louisiana-Monroe’s Bobby Staub who made $109,923 during the 2013 calendar year (Martin, 2013, 1). This large difference in pay can be affected by a majority of situations, including the director taking another job in addition to his directing role and based upon how well the duties have been performed over the course of the year. Athletic directors for schools smaller than the division one athletic level tend to see a much smaller pay scale. The salary can range anywhere from slightly below $50,000 to upwards of $100,000 depending on the athletic program of the school (NACDA, 2012, 2). Other contributing factors to the salary of an athletic director can be location, cost of living, and how much of the athletic work is directly associated with the director of athletics. A director of athletics at the collegiate level can easily earn a substantial income, but mostly the amount of cash flow will depend on the quality of work and all of the duties and responsibilities that fall upon the individual.
Due to the opportunity for an incredibly high paying career in athletic directing, many individuals will take on the extreme challenges of directing an entire athletics program. There are a multitude of tasks and responsibilities that directors of college athletics have to perform and oversee throughout the course of a year. One way to lessen the burden of these tasks is to distribute the individual tasks among the assistant athletic director, director of compliance, and the coaches and administrators involved in the department. Pitts describes each college as a “…different scenario…” and that the jobs will be divided up “…differently based on the strengths and weakness of the director and staff” (Personal Communication, November 3, 2014). The general tasks that the director of athletics must do or delegate cover a wide array of areas. First, there must be a master schedule that is continually kept and updated. This task can be delegated to numerous individuals but generally either the head director of athletics or his assistant will maintain this role. Next, the director of athletics is responsible for representing the entire athletic department at NCAA regulatory meetings and in a general business fashion. Pitts also described himself as the “biggest cheerleader” for the university because he attends as many games as he possibly can in order to be a good representation (Interview). The athletic director essentially sets the direction of the entire athletic departments and the programs within in. If the director has a positive outlook and puts forth effort and passion towards the coaches and the university then that attitude will transfer over to the players, and then in turn the fans. A director of athletics stimulates excitement and energy and, along with the administrative staff around him, makes up the backbone to college athletics on an institutional level.
A director of athletics is responsible for a category of sports that greatly involves the constant pursuit of more fans.

This opens up the door for criticism and speculation to come from both the fans and even from the coaches and athletes involved. Dr. David Hoch (2005), a prestigious director of athletics at Loch Raven high school in Maryland, says that all athletic directors have several “Deadly Sins” that will hurt their prestige and accomplishments (p. 12). “Someone will usually be unhappy with some or many of our decisions, efforts or position on issues. This is natural and we can’t let it interfere with doing what is right” (Hoch, 2005, 13). In addition, any negative publicity that the coaches or athletes create while they are at the school directly reflects back upon the director of athletics because they are responsible for all actions within an athletic department. This consequence often causes many prestigious directors to resign or can even lead to them being dismissed. These concerns can oftentimes be overbearing and can lead to “Taking actions before thinking things through,” and to start “Lacking in professional courtesy” towards everyone (Hoch, 2005, 12). These signs are often a red flag to administrators of the college or university and will often lead to swift and harsh actions. Among other downfalls, athletic directors tend to be under the most scrutiny and observation when it comes to the administrating side of collegiate sports. Being the lone figure that represents an entire department of men’s and women’s programs can be daunting, but the motivation behind many athletic directors drives them to keep performing even under the most strenuous

pressure.
Athletic directors at the collegiate level have already proven themselves to others in order to receive their position, but they may continue to prove to people their abilities throughout their career. This can be a very rewarding job if it is something that the person enjoys doing and is closely tied with their core values. Besides the monetary gain from upper-level advancement, athletic directors get the satisfaction of helping student athletes to pursue their athletic dreams and get to help in their growth and development, although indirect. Many directors also manage to maintain their positions for long periods of time. Bob Byrnes, a current retiree from Manhattan College, has been a director of athletics for 26 years. This shows true dedication to the sport and proves that a long career is possible with enough effort and support. Directing athletics is a dangerous and difficult career that has numerous tasks and responsibilities but can provide true satisfaction to an individual who sees it as an opportunity to help better the sporting world.