The NCAA News - News & Features

Broad range of talents required for today's athletics directors

BY SALLY HUGGINS
Staff Writer

Marketing expertise, financial acumen and effective human resource talents -- the ever-changing world of intercollegiate athletics is demanding new skills of the men and women who direct those programs, making the job description for a college athletics director sound more like one for a corporate executive.

These days, when universities look for AD candidates, they are looking for business and marketing skills and the ability to work well with various college constituencies, such as coaches, alumni, corporate sponsors, parents, student-athletes and faculty.

The job description is a far cry from the days when the athletics director filled the position after his days as a coach were complete.

Andrew Sorensen, president of the University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, said the requirements have changed drastically in the last several years.

"In the old days with a nationally prominent college program, the head football coach often became the athletics director, sometimes while continuing as the football coach," he said. "The ability to understand accounting, liability, those kinds of things, was not required. Now the AD is, among other things, the head of a multimillion-dollar corporation at universities with nationally prominent programs."

Alabama, with a $22 million athletics budget, recently hired a new athletics director after an extensive search. Sorensen said he was seeking business knowledge, appreciation for the balance between academics and athletics, an understanding of gender equity and related issues, and respect for the rich traditions in academics and athletics at Alabama.

When Coastal Carolina University began a search for a new athletics director, strategic planning, marketing and fund-raising were major considerations, said President Ronald R. Ingle.

"I needed somebody who could ... make realistic projections, both financially and for the role of athletics in this institution and this culture," Ingle said. "Our new AD has been a coach, but that is not as important as it once was."

University of Wyoming President Terry Roark cited fund-raising and integrity as requirements in his quest for an AD.

"We wanted to rekindle interest that we felt was waning, and we felt private giving needed to be increased," Roark said.

Wyoming also wanted someone with integrity and a strong fiscal manager.

"Wyoming hasn't had any serious infractions for a long time and we wanted to keep it that way," Roark said. "And Wyoming operates in Division I-A with one of the lower budgets, so he needed to be fiscally responsible but also creative."

Vincent J. Dooley, athletics director at the University of Georgia, said the broad range of requirements means that today's athletics director often join the profession from far outside the athletics community.

"They are coming from a variety of areas -- which is good and bad," Dooley said. "The good is that they have backgrounds in business, banking, the corporate structure. The bad is that they don't have the experience in coaching, and so they don't have some of the understanding of the coaches."

Ingle agrees with Dooley, placing management skills near the top of the list of requirements. Every coach believes his or her program is the most important, he said, and an AD has to be able to balance the resulting demands.

Dooley added that an athletics director must be strong, because in today's environment, the AD is the point person for criticism.

"The AD is out in the front on almost every decision that is made," Dooley said. "In the past, the ADs were off to the side or in the back. They kept a low profile. No one is letting ADs keep a low profile anymore."

Athletics directors once stayed in their jobs for years while universities went through several presidents and coaches, he said. Now the turnover rate among Division I-A athletics directors since the beginning of the decade is more than 80 percent. Of the 107 Division I-A ADs in 1990, only 24 have retained their jobs, Dooley said.

Amid such pressures, athletics directors themselves recognize the need for new skills. Robert Beaudine, president of the executive search firm Eastman & Beaudine, said he has made presentations at the request of the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics (NACDA) twice in recent months to help ADs prepare for the future.

"It's important for ADs to get a relationship with the president and the rest of the university," Beaudine said. "A proactive AD is involved with all of the university.

"He goes to MBA courses for increased skills in finance and marketing. The AD and the president need to get together outside of the university so they can understand each other better. Also, by serving on university committees, ADs develop a relationship with the rest of the university so the athletics department isn't so isolated."

Dooley, who is first vice-president of NACDA, said the presentations were intended to give athletics directors insight into what colleges are looking for when they hire an AD.

An informal survey of Division I-A college presidents conducted by Eastman & Beaudine revealed characteristics that presidents seek in athletics directors:

* Strategic thinking -- the ability to develop, evaluate and implement short- and long-term plans.

* Knowledge of and sensitivity to gender-equity issues and regulatory procedures.

* Ability to manage complex financial issues and budgets.

* Capability to direct a large and diverse staff, including coaches.

* Marketing expertise.

* Strong public speaking, writing and media relations skills.

* Creativity and problem-solving abilities.

* Effective human resource talents for dealing with parents, students, faculty, alumni, booster groups and sponsors.

* Loyalty to the college president.

Ultimately, Beaudine said the success of the AD may depend on how well he or she is able to integrate athletics into the overall university mission.

That expression can mean different things to different people. The University of Oklahoma made an unconventional move when it hired former Sooner Heisman Trophy winner Steve Owens, even though Owens had no background in athletics administration and was a few hours short of his undergraduate degree (which he plans to complete).

However, the head of the search committee said Owens, a highly successful businessman, had the attributes necessary to integrate the athletics department with the campus at large.

"The search committee recognized that Mr. Owens did not have the technical qualifications originally set out for the position, including previous work as an athletics director," said search committee chair E. Murray Gullatt. "However, the committee concluded that Mr. Owens demonstrated commitment to the university and knowledge of the athletics department and its supporters. His business experience and the fact he will enjoy instant credibility with the university's alumni, supporters, students, faculty and staff made him a unique and excellent choice."

Indeed, while there is no one-size-fits-all mold for athletics directors these days, it certainly is safe to say that the old mold has been broken.

Qualifications that were essential in past years now are merely desired. Presidents prefer candidates with an understanding of athletics, but they insist on candidates with strong marketing and fund-raising skills who can show an ability to manage the program with integrity while integrating the athletics program with the university as a whole.

These days, it is a big job.