If Debbie Chin has a headache from all of the times that she has knocked on opportunity’s door, who can blame her?

In 2000, Chin used one of the original Division II Strategic Alliance Matching Grants to hire Eric Wood, an African-American who was completing an internship at the NCAA national office.

Wood excelled in his new assistant AD position, so much so that Wake Forest University quickly hired him to serve on its compliance staff. After that, Chin found Demetrius Lezema, another African-American male, to replace Wood. He stayed a while but returned to coaching to head the University of Hartford’s women’s volleyball team.

After that, the process repeated itself another four times. Seven years after the position was originated, Shamaree Brown is now the sixth African-American male to fill the job.

By now, New Haven has no obligations remaining under the terms of the matching-grant program. Chin could hire anybody to fill the role, including a white male, but she has continued to conduct aggressive national searches to identify African-American males, mainly to balance a female tilt to her administrative team and to provide a role model for New Haven’s black male student-athletes. The searches have always been inclusive, but a black male always has emerged as the successful candidate.

"Each time that I had to search, that was like purgatory, to be honest with you," she said. "I called more people than Carter’s has pills just to try to find potential candidates.

"I did everything that I think I was supposed to. I mailed letters to historically black institutions. I called the minority leadership within the NCAA. I’d get some leads, and I’d make some calls."

Half of the individuals who filled the New Haven position no longer appear to be in college athletics, which may make Chin’s efforts seem quixotic. But her resilience has been noted — and appreciated.

"A lot of people could have given up on it," said Wood, the original hire who now serves on the Atlantic Coast Conference staff. "But Debbie is calling Stan Wilcox (with the University of Notre Dame), she’s calling the HBCU conferences. She’s not waiting for somebody to land in her lap, and that’s what I really admire about Debbie.

"She’s a tough cookie, but she made a commitment to that position."

Former Division II Management Council Chair Clint Bryant echoed the thoughts.

"She’s replaced it with a minority male every time," he said. "That was her commitment, and she said that from Day One that her goal was to provide an opportunity for an African-American male. She has not wavered from that, and there have been six different individuals in that position."

But that revolving door has yielded abundant opportunity. Counting Brown, Lezema and Wood, Chin’s single assistant director of athletics position has led to intercollegiate athletics careers for three young black men.

While the comings and goings have been occasionally painful for Chin ("When Eric left, I wanted to kill him," she said, mostly kidding), the outcome has been good for the overall culture and for the individuals who benefited from the opportunity.

"You know what?" Wood said. "If it hadn’t been for that grant, I would have found myself an awesome coordinator position. I would not have found an assistant AD position paying $40,000-plus had it not been for the money that the Division II membership set aside to get that applicant pool more balanced."