The start of a new school year brings a host of new beginnings. From students to teachers to staff, people are embarking on new ventures. It’s a safe bet that few athletic administrators are facing bigger changes than Robb Vessely. After spending the last 13 years as an assistant athletic director at several Midwestern colleges including Ball State University, Indiana University, and Illinois State University, Vessely is now the Athletic Director at Eastern Hancock High School in Charlottesville, Ind., enrollment 345.
Not that the small-town life is completely new to Vessely, who grew in a small town in northern Indiana and whose father is the athletic director at Indiana’s North Judson-San Pierre High School. Still, Vessely’s work day promises to be a lot different at Eastern Hancock than it was at Illinois State. In this interview, Vessely talks about why he made the move, the differences between high school and college athletics, and what he hopes to accomplish in his new setting.
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What are some of the other differences between high school and college?
I really believe in the high school setting you can have more of a positive impact on kids’ lives. You have more of that direct interaction with the kids and more influence on them. So I was really looking forward to that part of it.
Plus at the high school level you’re more directly involved with almost every aspect of the department. At the college level, it’s segmented. One person does media relations. Another does marketing. One does fundraising and someone else does security. But here, you’re kind of involved in all of those areas.
What was your specialization at the college level?
I was a little bit into the marketing and promotions side of things, but in my later years I was more focused on internal operations, such as events and facilities.
How will your college background affect your approach to this job?
I think there are some things I can bring here that I’ve learned at the college level and aren’t typically applied much at the high school level, such as promotional activities or providing special arrangements for donors to the program—preferential seating or parking and those types of things. I think that can help grow our donor base.
What were your first priorities when you took over at Eastern Hancock?
Any time you start a new position you want to set things up your way in terms of office organization. The next thing was making sure we had all the game contracts and officials’ contracts set to go for the fall, followed by the winter and spring sports. That’s been my primary focus, along with getting together with coaches and getting everyone on the same page regarding the direction I’d like to see the program go.
Are you leaning on any veteran coaches for help in any particular areas?
I view all the coaches in the same light. I expect them all to do the same things. I want them to preach class, sportsmanship, responsibility, hard work, and team work. Those are the five things I always talk about. I tell them, “Don’t focus on winning. Focus on developing those five characteristics in the team and if you install those five qualities a natural by product is success.”
How much have you talked with your father about making the transition?
Over the years we’ve talked, and he’s a great resource. When something comes up here I give him a call say, “What did you do in this situation?”
Back in May I actually spent a day at his office just shadowing him and reviewing IHSA documents and learning things that I have to be prepared for. Plus, the athletic directors in the area have been great. There’s a very tight-knit community of athletic administrators here. They’ll give you the shirt off their back, and it’s such a comforting thing knowing that you’re not alone. Any issue that comes up in my office, there’s a good chance that they’ve experienced it as well.
How are you approaching this first year?
The first year in any job is a learning process, and I just want to get my own system in place. My most important thing is scheduling. I want to get all the schedules set for three or four years down the road. I also want to have all the game officials scheduled and event staff, like concessions workers, ticket takers, and so on set for the whole year. That way, I can really start looking at a long-term vision for the department. With coaches, I want to emphasize the importance of teaching the kids about the right way to do things as opposed to just focusing on winning. And this is a great place to do that. The community has been so supportive and the school board, too. You hear horror stories about school boards, but they’re fantastic here.
Was that something you looked at when deciding where you wanted to work?
Absolutely. There were other places I looked at that had horror stories about the administration and school board being very involved and not letting the athletic director do their job. I also have give a lot of credit to our principal for making we want to work here. Dave Pfaff has been the principal here for almost 30 years, and we hit it off from the first interview. When he asked me about taking the job, my first question was “Are you going to be here for a while?” and he said, “Yeah, I’m going to be here for a while.” He was very influential in me being here.
What are your career goals now?
From a career standpoint, this is probably it for me. The only other thing career-wise that I’ve considered was getting a teaching degree and becoming a teacher or maybe a professor of sport management at a university. Because I’ll have high school and college experience, I think I would be pretty qualified to teach a sport management program. But I’m in the position I’ve been shooting for since I finished college, so I see myself being a high school athletic director for quite a while.