When Garnett Purnell began his tenure as Director of Athletics and Recreation at Wittenberg University in 1999, he had his work cut out for him. There were four coaching vacancies, he couldn't find any written job descriptions for staff members, and the policies and procedures manual hadn't been updated in 10 years.

But when asked if that workload seemed daunting at the time, Purnell chuckles. Compared to his previous job as Athletic Director at Morgan State University, where he was charged with turning around an NCAA Division I program on probation because it had committed 15 major rules violations, Wittenberg was a piece of cake.

One of less than a dozen African American athletic directors in NCAA Division III, Purnell chairs the North Coast Athletic Conference Diversity & Inclusion Committee. He is also a member of the NCAA Division III Management Council.

Purnell's background includes stints as an assistant football and men's basketball coach at Central State University, Assistant Athletic Director for Compliance and Student Affairs at the University of Cincinnati, and NCAA compliance representative before joining Morgan State in 1996. At Wittenberg, Purnell was the men's golf coach from 2003 to 2007, and even served as an assistant field hockey coach. In this interview, he discusses goal setting, hot issues in Division III, and fostering rivalries.

AM: Why did you leave Morgan State for the job at Wittenberg?
Purnell: It was the best decision for my family at the time. Living in Baltimore, we were robbed three times and the third time was about all I could take. My youngest daughter was eight years old, and she said to me, "Dad, I don't want to live here anymore." I had to think about the safety and welfare of my family.

Would I have loved to find a Division I job at that time? Yes, because my professional aspiration was to be a Division I athletics director. However, there were no Division I vacancies. I knew Wittenberg had a good athletics program and at that particular point in time, I just wanted to remain an athletic administrator. So I applied, was offered the position, and 10 years later, I'm still here.

What did you find to be the biggest differences between Divisions I and III?
Besides the budgets, which you can't even compare, there is a big difference in the duties of the personnel. In Division III, we have compliance, academic services, and sports information departments just like in Division I, but the compliance person is also the baseball coach and the academic services person is also the assistant basketball and volleyball coach.

In Division III, people tend to be more accountable for their actions because they are engaged in many different responsibilities. In Division I, there are so many rules and regulations, it's hard for coaches and sometimes even administrators to be accountable and know everything they're supposed to know. Also, in Division III, the legislation is more lenient and therefore allows us to operate a little more freely.

What were your goals when you started at Morgan State?
I knew going in that I wanted to change the culture of the athletics department. I needed to be an educator and help people understand that the NCAA legislation is there to help them, not hinder what they were trying to do. Another goal was to convince everyone that a school coming off 15 major rules violations could successfully complete the Division I athletic certification program. It took us three years to do those things, but it takes time to change a culture and get people to understand what's right and wrong.

How did you go about accomplishing those goals?
I went in with a three-year plan. I immediately shared with the department what I was going to do in my first 100 days. Then I shared with them what I hoped to have done by the end of my first year. I did the same for year three. This gave the staff a roadmap of how I was going to address the issues we faced. I wanted everybody to see the journey that we were going to take together and how we were all going to end up at the same place.

How did your strategy change when you moved to Wittenberg?
I used pretty much the same approach. I was an outsider--no one knew me very well. So I did my homework to find out where the program needed enhancement and then put my 100-day, one-year, and three-year plans in place. Once again, I was able to get buy-in from the staff because they saw the direction we were headed.

How did you figure out what to put in those plans?
When I interviewed at Wittenberg, some of the things I asked coaches were, "What do you want from an athletic director? What do you see the needs of the program being?" The responses helped me develop a plan with everyone's input in mind.

What items were on Wittenberg's 100-day plan?
I called it establishing a strong foundation. First, we really needed to improve staff development. The administrators weren't getting together very often, so we established weekly senior staff meetings and quarterly all-staff meetings. I wanted to be very transparent in my decision-making and let everyone know why we were making the decisions we were. The meetings allowed me to do that.

Then, I reviewed all the responsibilities for each athletics department staff member. One of the perceptions the staff had was that some people were doing a lot more than others, and they felt that was unfair. So at the end of the first year, we made sweeping changes regarding who was responsible for what. Along with my associate athletic director, I met with each person individually to explain why duties were changing and discuss any questions they had.

Next was departmental organization. When I came on board, there were no job descriptions for anyone, so my first year I wrote my head off developing job descriptions for my staff. The policies and procedures manual hadn't been touched in about 10 years, and we had to update that. We also dealt with facilities and equipment issues, institutional compliance, and individual goals for teams.

Do you have any goals left to accomplish?
We set goals as a department every year. At the end of our academic year, we have an all-staff meeting during which I ask our coaches for goals we should set for the upcoming academic year. For example, one of our big targets is to finish in the top three in our conference's all-sports trophy race each year. This past year, one of our smaller goals was to establish a meal plan and provide housing for our interns.

The objectives vary from year to year, but the important thing is that we're all working together. Staff members know these are not just my goals--they're ideas that we've all come up with as a group. That ensures everybody has ownership.

What did your job in compliance at the NCAA involve?
It was one of the best job experiences I've had. My co-workers were fantastic, which made going to work every day very enjoyable. From a professional standpoint, I learned to speak in front of large groups and provide people with information that was clear and concise. I learned how to write and understand legislation. And I learned that, contrary to many peoples' beliefs, the NCAA is actually there to help member institutions.

How does that compare to your work on the Division III Management Council?
Sitting on the other side of the table, I see things in a very different light. When I was an NCAA staff member, I was there to help facilitate what the committee members wanted to get done. I was a listener and a facilitator. Now, as a committee member, I still listen, but I'm also able to give input on how I think we can enhance our division. I bring items to the table, make suggestions, and offer observations.

What are the big issues currently facing Division III?
We are trying to get a good grasp on how we administer financial aid within our division. We also just finished our pilot drug testing program, and we'll be talking about whether to implement year-round drug testing. Finally, the growth of Division III continues to be a concern. Last year, the membership decided not to subdivide or create a new division, but it's still an issue because we're getting larger.

How did you end up coaching the field hockey team at Wittenberg?
Oh boy, that was a learning experience! When I began as athletic director, I was able to get three of the four coaching vacancies filled right away. The fourth one was field hockey and I just could not find a coach. So I decided to coach the team myself, although with the title of assistant coach so I didn't have too much on my plate. A friend of mine served as the head coach and took care of the day-to-day duties.

I was honest with the team and told them, "I'm sorry you're in this situation, but I do have previous coaching experience. I may not know the intricacies of the sport, but I'm a quick learner." I asked them to have faith in me.

Well, we lost four of our first five games by one goal--all in overtime. Needless to say, the faith was starting to wane a little. I was conferring with different people all the time, including Betty Dillahunt, who had coached field hockey at Wittenberg for 20-some-odd years. She agreed to talk to the girls and that gave me instant credibility. Then we went on a tear, winning seven of our next 10 and finishing the season 10-9, which allowed us to sustain our streak of consecutive winning seasons. Immediately after the season, I fired myself and found a good head coach.

What did you learn through the experience?
I learned that women are resilient. They will give you everything they have in order to be successful. I also learned that the approach to take when critiquing women is different than with men. I've seen guys get chewed out and respond by giving a better performance. That's not the case with the majority of women. You don't need to yell and scream at them because they get the message in a much more subtle way.

As one of the few African-American athletic directors in Division III, do you feel pressure to lobby for more employment opportunities for minorities?
One of the things I try to do is look for opportunities when I can educate other athletic administrators on the aspects of hiring minorities and women. For example, I've helped do some workshops within our conference on this.

And here at Wittenberg, we try to serve as an example. We used an NCAA strategic alliance matching grant to hire our full-time tennis coach, who is a minority. And we have our second ethnic minority and women's internship position opening up this year, which is also funded through a grant from the NCAA.

I'm trying to not only talk the talk, but also walk the walk by showing people how to use programs out there to attract more minorities and women to athletic administration. I do feel that I have a responsibility to help others get to where I am, especially in Division III because there are not very many of us.

Wittenberg and The College of Wooster are arch rivals. As an athletic administrator, how do you foster a great rivalry?
It has to extend beyond the athletic field. For example, our two schools' Student-Athlete Advisory Committees put together a blood battle to see who could get more blood donated. The losing athletic director had to wear the other school's hat for the first half of our annual Wooster-Wittenberg basketball game.

That kind of off-the-field effort has helped a lot. It also allows us as administrators to develop closer friendships and relationships. Although we still want our own teams to win, there is a respect factor there when we engage in activities other than athletics. And our fans got a kick out of the Wooster athletic director putting on a Wittenberg hat!

Are you thinking at all about retirement?
I've talked about retiring, but that doesn't mean I'm going to ride off into the sunset and not do anything. I would love to continue to work in the college setting, just not as an athletic director. My passion is to help young people--maybe as a coach, or in academic services. Another idea I've had is to establish a mentoring program that connects young people with alums. After being a manager for over 20 years, I'm ready to do something different.