Since the Barry University athletic department opened its doors in 1984, Michael Covone has been a driving force behind its success. As Head Women's Soccer Coach from 1984-1995, he compiled a 140-32-9 record and led the team to three NCAA Division II national championships. In 1988, he added the job of Associate Director of Athletics, then became Executive Associate Director of Athletics from 1996-1998, before being named Director of Athletics in 1998.

On Covone's watch, the Buccaneers have won 23 Sunshine State Conference (SSC) titles and two NCAA volleyball championships (2001 and 2004), and produced 53 All-Americans. In the Sports Academy Directors' Cup, Barry regularly finishes among the top 10 percent of schools in Division II. Equally successful in academics, Barry has boasted 40 Scholar All-Americans, two Walter Byers scholarship recipients, and two NCAA post-graduate scholarship recipients in the last eight years. Covone was honored with a GeneralSports Turf Systems Athletic Director of the Year Award in 2005.

Covone is a part of many campus, community, conference, and NCAA committees, currently serving as Vice Chair of the NCAA Division II Management Council and sitting on the NCAA Division II Identity Committee, the NCAA Community Advisory Task Force, and the Orange Bowl Committee. In this interview, he talks about committee work, promoting academic achievement, and how to maintain broad-based success.

AM: Why do you take on so much committee work?
Covone: As the director of athletics, I need to know and understand our institution, our community, and the NCAA. So I look for opportunities that will take me into each of those realms and allow me to interact with as many of our constituents as possible. It's valuable to our program that I know what's happening in the NCAA, within our division, and within our institution. I also feel I need to have a finger on the pulse of our surrounding community. I think that's extremely valuable to our student-athletes and to the future success of our program.

I actually really enjoy making a difference in our community and for our student-athletes, coaches, administrators, and peer institutions. Volunteering is gratifying, and I wish everyone in the higher education business would take advantage of the possibilities.

Tell us about your work on the NCAA Division II Identity Committee.
The biggest issue in Division II may be its identity. Two summers ago, presidents from about 150 Division II institutions assembled in Orlando to more effectively define and describe our division's role in college athletics. The outcome was a strategic-positioning platform that essentially describes what it means to be a Division II member. The group identified six attributes that characterize Division II schools: passion, balance, resourcefulness, service, learning, and sportsmanship. To be clear, nobody claims that Division II uniquely owns these qualities. Rather, Division II's leadership determined that those are attributes our members should exhibit--and most often, we do.

What's the biggest thing you have learned as an athletic director that you wish you had known from the start?
That anything can happen in the world of intercollegiate athletics at any time. Higher education has changed and will continue to change with new technology, rising costs, competition, and growth, and that demands constant decision making. As an assistant or associate athletic director, you are not making those decisions. Until you are a director of athletics, you may not fully understand or see the big picture. I quickly realized I don't have control of everything and I have to expect the unexpected. Anything, positive or challenging, can happen at any time.

What do you look for in the coaches you hire?
Leadership qualities, experience, fit, and the right philosophy for our institution. Kyllene Carter-Weiss, who was our Head Women's Soccer Coach from 2001 until this fall, provides a good example. I recruited and coached her, and she went on to get her master's degree from Barry and worked as a graduate assistant and then an assistant coach before we hired her as head coach. Because of her experiences and commitment to the institution and because she had lived our mission, we knew she was the right person for the job. Even though she lacked prior head coaching experience, we knew she had the other qualifications we were looking for, and it worked out wonderfully.

How do you get athletes to value academic achievement as much as athletic achievement?
It starts with the philosophy and mission of the institution. We support the student-first philosophy and we have a strong academic support system. In response, the university provides tremendous support for the intercollegiate athletic program, both academically and athletically.

Second, it is vital to be up-front and honest when recruiting students and their families. We have stringent academic policies for all student-athletes. They must attend class and study hall under the athletic department policy or they will not participate. The ultimate goal at Barry University is that every student-athlete graduates by the time they complete their athletic eligibility.

Have you had any mentors during your career as an athletic administrator?
Jean Cerra [Dean of Barry's School of Human Performance and Leisure Sciences, who served as director of athletics from 1991-1997] has been instrumental in my development. I was her associate and executive associate athletic director. She is a visionary, a leader, and a fair but competitive individual who has a tremendous amount of experience. She is also a person of character and values, and her mentoring has guided me for many years.

In addition, I have gleaned a lot of knowledge from other athletic directors in my conference, and now I try to pass that on. The athletic directors in the SSC have great relationships with each other and we are very proud of that. We have a mixture of youth and experience, and the young administrators ask for guidance and information from the more experienced. I think an athletic director seeking a mentor would do well to look within his or her conference.

How do you maintain success across an entire program?
We treat coaches and student-athletes from all programs equally. There is no tiering of sports, no stressing one over another, and we don't put a disproportionate amount of funds into one sport. Everyone receives the same per diem when we travel and all teams travel the same way. Everyone receives the same type of equipment and apparel. Our rule is that we treat people the way we would want to be treated, and I believe that accounts for the success we've had program-wide.

Also, all of our coaches are on one-year contracts. I have been here for 23 years and I have signed 23 one-year contracts. No one is given a more extensive contract than anyone else, and that stresses the equality of all our programs.

How has modern technology changed your job as athletic director?
Mostly, it has increased potential revenue streams. Accessibility to a wide range of audiences through technology has enhanced potential sponsorship and partnership opportunities, which have become extremely important to the financial stability of intercollegiate athletic programs. But at the same time, costs associated with technology have skyrocketed.

You launched the BUC-E-NEWS, an electronic newsletter for Bucs fans, and oversaw the start of broadcasting games on the Internet. How do you evaluate new technologies to distinguish the solid opportunities from the money pits?

The key for us is to integrate as much as we can with our institution. We have tremendous resources and people in our technology programs, and we work to develop those partnerships and use their expertise to evaluate new opportunities and minimize costs. Our Internet game broadcasts are a good example--we collaborated with the resources available at our university, and created something that reaches out to parents and friends of the program, both domestically and internationally. And the response has been great.

What about traditional media like newspapers and television?
We still work hard at developing relationships with print and TV media. Being in a metropolitan area of some five million people, and in a pro sports town like Miami, it isn't easy. The success we have had with traditional media has been primarily due to feature stories on our student-athletes, not only as athletes but also as students and as individuals. For example, we have had six NCAA Woman of the Year top 10 finalists. Across all three divisions, there is only one other school that has had more. We are one of two institutions in the NCAA that has had two Walter Byers scholarship winners. These are some of the stories that have garnered positive local media attention for us.

You have forged corporate sponsorship deals with Coke, Nike, Papa John's, and Boston Market. What is the secret to your success in this endeavor?

It's all about relationships. Everyone knows someone who knows someone who knows someone. You must develop those relationships, which can turn into partnerships. And that means being visible in the community and on campus. Developing friendships first is essential, as is maintaining and enhancing relationships with your fans.

Sometimes we can forget that our student-athletes and their families are very important to our programs, and we don't develop those relationships. We aren't just recruiting a student for a four-year commitment. It's a 40-year commitment. Every institution has students who succeed in the corporate world, and we're no different. We hope that because we have treated them right and developed relationships, they will feel good about partnering with us in the future when opportunities become available.

What do you hope your student-athletes take away from their experience at Barry University?
Our mission and philosophy is that our student-athletes are students first. We want to see them eventually be leaders in their communities, not just succeed athletically. They are not going to be professional athletes after their careers here. They are going to be professionals in other fields, and we want them to be productive citizens and do whatever they can to enhance other people's lives.