By Abigail Funk
Athletic directors are often both the face and the behind-the-scenes support of an athletic department, trying their best to keep things running smoothly. Decisions aren't always easy, and the pressure athletic directors feel on a daily basis often goes unnoticed by the public. Here, Athletic Management has put together a collection of links to recent newspaper stories featuring both high school and college athletic directors on the job.
When Beverly (Mass.) High School's search for a new athletic director was unsuccessful, two former athletic directors for Beverly in the 1990s stepped forward to share the duties and be named co-athletic directors for the 2007-08 school year.
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After a championship football game hosted by this Connecticut high school ended with visiting players urinating and defecating in locker rooms and spectators causing traffic jams, the town's mayor blames the host school's athletic director. He says the athletic director failed to adequately alert police forces to be prepared for the large crowd that also included athletes and fans of wrestling and swim meets the high school hosted the same evening.
Both of these high schools and one college have athletic trainers stepping in to lead their respective athletic departments. In the wake of the athletic director's surprise resignation at Mentor (Ohio) High School, Jeff Cassella, Head Athletic Trainer at Mentor for the past 17 years, will become athletic director. After starting the 2007 fall sports season without an athletic director, this Maryland school board has selected Todd Fuhrmann, its athletic trainer for the past four years, as the man to fill the position. And when the athletic director at Bluefield College quit unexpectedly, Head Athletic Trainer Ewell Vernon was asked to take on the athletic director’s job. He will continue to oversee athletic training as well.
With two student deaths due to alcohol-related incidents occurring in the last month, Minnesota State-Mankato Athletic Director Kevin Buisman has announced that the athletic department will stop taking ads from alcohol companies.
These high school athletic directors are not having an easy time on the job, and it's all happening publicly. After several admitted scheduling errors and a tumultuous financial period in his first two years on the job, this Indiana high school athletic director is now being fingered as the reason for a decline in the department's reserve funds. And this North Carolina high school athletic director was suspended—along with two football coaches—with pay while officials investigate a possible case of athletic ineligibility due to the use of a fake address for a standout athlete.
Dick Baniszewski, Athletic Director at Hamilton High School in Chandler, Ariz., has seen success as an administrator, coach, and player. In his second year at Hamilton, Baniszewski recently took a few moments to talk with The Chandler Republic about his role as an athletic director, his school's football program, and his career.
University of Wisconsin Athletics Director Barry Alvarez recently asked state lawmakers to help Wisconsin's athletic department avoid a potentially huge tax liability. The request came after the state's Department of Revenue threatened to start collecting sales tax on donations made to Badgers' athletics by fans trying to qualify for season ticket purchases. Alvarez says the athletic department would owe $400,000 in the first year and up to $2 million if the tax is collected retroactively back to 2001.
Clemson University Athletic Director Terry Don Phillips voiced his disappointment over a billboard apparently paid for by Clemson fans that glorifies the school's recent football victory over the University of South Carolina.
Have athletic directors recently made the headlines in your hometown newspaper? If so, we want to hear from you. Please submit links to: rja@MomentumMedia.com.
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