Binghamton University Athletic Director Joel Thirer knows a thing or two about what's going on in the minds of his student-athletes. After completing a PhD in sports psychology, Thirer spent nine years heading up the graduate program in physical education at Southern Illinois University, earning a national reputation for his research in sports psychology.

Thirer brought this academic and administrative background to Binghamton when he became athletic director in 1989. In his 18 years, the Bearcats have moved from NCAA Division III to Division II to Division I, experiencing both academic and athletic success along the way.

In 2006, the men's soccer team won the America East Conference title and pole vaulter Rory Quiller finished second at the NCAA Division I Indoor Track & Field Championships. Quiller was also named the 2006-07 scholar athlete of the year by America East. Earlier this year, the department was given an "A" by the Women's Sports Foundation for its gender equity practices, and Thirer was named the AstroTurf Division I Northeast Region Athletics Director of the Year by NACDA.

In this interview, Thirer talks about his school's move to Division I, defining expectations for coaches, and how to maintain high academic standards.

AM: How does your sports psychology background help you as an athletic director?
Thirer: Sports psychology plays a large role in Division I athletics, so I think my background is a plus. Every athletic director needs to be a psychologist sometimes. There are behavioral issues that permeate through sport, and knowing about motivation, anxiety, aggression, and personality development helps me in my role virtually every day.

Why did Binghamton move to NCAA Division I?
We looked at all our peer institutions across the country that are public mid-sized research universities, and saw that virtually every one was in Division I. We need to be on the same playing field as our peers, and part of that means competing athletically at the Division I level. It's really an institutional issue, not an athletic one, and that's how I've approached it.

Were there any critics of the decision?
Anytime you're involved in a program that's very public, there will be detractors. Mostly, there were typical scared reactions to the move from some faculty and some alumni.

The faculty were worried about the academic impact, and that came from a lack of understanding. They were responding to news stories about high-profile schools written up for academic and behavioral violations. I told those people that's not the kind of institution Binghamton is, and you don't find those issues at every Division I institution. Pointing out problems at schools that aren't similar to us isn't a fair comparison.

How did you counter the critics?
There was a very intense educational effort. We put out a lot of literature along the way and we met with faculty and alumni. By working closely with the president and administration, we also made it clear that this was and will remain an academically grounded athletic department.

Some people understood the reasons once we explained them. Some remained skeptical at first, but came on board when we started delivering on our promises. And for some people, there was no satisfying them. They had their minds made up and we couldn't change them. You just have to accept that there will be some people opposed to a decision and keep moving forward.

What are the biggest issues in Division I that you don't encounter at lower levels?
The finances and compliance issues involved in Division I athletics are dramatically different from Division II or III. At the Division I level, there are many expectations of coaches and staff, from admissions to financial aid. There are a lot of administrative details that go into running a Division I program that are not necessary at Division III.

As we moved into Division II and then Division I, we knew we needed a strong administrative foundation in place, and I set about establishing one from the beginning. We didn't do it on the fly. We set up a lot of programs gradually, like our compliance office and student services, and they've blossomed over the past 10 years. We felt the administrative infrastructure was critical to having a seamless transition.

In the past three years your department has received 17 coach of the year awards. How do you mentor your coaches?
My job is to give coaches the framework and support they need to run winning programs within the rules and regulations of the NCAA. I work with my senior staff to provide that support network--an umbrella above the coaches allowing them to be successful in coaching and recruiting. We also try to foster a pleasant work environment.

Another key is providing clearly defined expectations, and keeping those expectations realistic. We base them on the funding for their sport in comparison to the other teams in the conference. If our team is funded at the top 25 percent of the conference, then our ongoing expectation is that they'll be competitive in the top 25 percent. If they're funded in the bottom third, then that's pretty much all we can have as an expectation. We try to be fair with all our coaches and give them a network of supporting staff members that work for and with them.

What are the keys to hiring great coaches?
We look for integrity, both personal and professional. That's the starting point. In our seventh year in Division I, we also look for a certain level of coaching experience so it's not a learning process for them to be a coach at this level. Then, we simply try to hire the best people we can find.

You received an "A" in gender equity from the Women's Sports Foundation. How do you emphasize equity in your program?
We have always dedicated ourselves to building support for our women's teams. Our athletic department experienced a high level of competitive success in the '90s in Division III, largely because of our women's programs. I dedicated a lot of resources to enhancing our women's teams, making sure we hired fulltime coaches, and giving them full access to funding, support staff, and facilities. When we were building the program, we made sure the women were included from the beginning.

What kinds of things do you do today to support women's teams?
For the past several years we've led the America East in attendance for men's and women's basketball. Our men's team is typically a great draw, so we piggyback the women's program on top of that success. For fans who buy season tickets to the men's games, we offer a season pass to the women's games that's only $30 more. About 50 percent of our women's sales are people who have taken advantage of that.

Spectators who attend the women's games find that it's a lot of fun and different from the men's games. They tend to gain an appreciation of the sport and really enjoy watching the women compete. As a result, we have a good nucleus of local community members who come and attend the women's games.

How do you emphasize academics?
We focus on academics from the front end of the recruiting process and continue it until each student-athlete graduates. We take our academic mission very seriously, and perhaps it's exaggerated more so because of my academic background. The academic focus is always there, and we stress that we want student-athletes to make the most of their academic experience at Binghamton.

We support our academic success center in terms of how we fund it, the programs we run, how we involve our student-athletes, and the opportunities we give them to succeed. It's the absolute top priority for us.

In terms of recruiting, there are some pros and cons to our academic emphasis. We've had some recruits say, "I don't want to work that hard academically. I want to go somewhere else." But we also have student-athletes who pick Binghamton because of its academic reputation--it's a major selling point for them. As an institution, we are who we are, and we continually emphasize our commitment to academics.