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Tim Selgo is Athletic Director at Grand Valley State University, which has won six straight Directors' Cup awards as the top athletic department in NCAA Division II. He is Chair of the NCAA Division II Management Council and a member of the Division II Budget and Finance Committee. Selgo also served as President of the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference for the 2008-09 school year.

What three things you have control over that contribute most to your success at Grand Valley State?
There is no question that personnel is number one. In the words of the immortal Woody Hayes, you win with people in college athletics. Second is budget. You have to have control over your budget and prioritize within that budget. Those are clearly the top two.

And I would say the third thing is scheduling. In Division II, much of that is delegated to our coaches. But I think the athletic director needs to be able to step in and say there are certain games you have to play in order to have a successful program. Sometimes that might be a tough opponent a little further away than your normal travel distance, so that ties into budget as well. But you want to be able to control who you're playing in order to allow your programs to be successful.

How do you find the right people to hire for your program?
We're always keeping our eyes open for potential coaches. The pipeline can be Division I assistants or Division III and high school coaches. They could be other Division II head coaches or assistants or a junior college coach. We believe we need to keep all pipelines open at our level when searching for coaching candidates.

What's the right fit for Grand Valley State? What are you looking for?
Obviously we want someone who is going to be successful and not just competitively, but also with the student-athletes both in and out of the athletic arena. The other thing I think is important is finding someone who understands they have to be able to get along with people and share facilities. They aren't going to have the perfect practice situation here--it isn't that way for any of our coaches. So they have to come to grips with that and be able to be successful anyway.

The last question I ask myself about all coaching candidates is, "Would I want my son or daughter playing for this coach?" As the athletic director, the buck stops with me in hiring. And that's a critical question that I always consider.

You mentioned budgeting as the second item. How do you learn to budget?
Experience teaches a lot. One of the things I believe is important for an athletic director to do upon first getting a job is dive into that school's way of budgeting. Every school handles its budget differently, so you have to learn how it works at that school. And you have to get to know the people in the school's budget office really well. Have them explain it to you and have them help you develop the tools you need to effectively manage your budget.

Our budget office has created a spreadsheet so that once we get to the end of December, I can have a look at where we're at, and start projecting where we'll be on June 30. From January on, we go month by month. I get a new spreadsheet at the end of each month so I can track where we're at, make projections, and effectively communicate with my boss about the budget.

Unfortunately, there is no easy way to do this. You have to do it sport by sport, which took me a while to come to grips with--you cannot do it just by looking at one big number. The spring sports' budget process is different than the fall sports. The fall sports budget is pretty much spent by the time you get to January while the spring sports haven't even begun yet. They're going to spend their money from February through June.

Still, it's absolutely critical that you're able to project where you're going to be on June 30. By looking back at what happened in the previous two or three years, I can effectively project how the budget is going to come out. But I don't think you can go back beyond three years because things change so much from one year to the next.

Have there been times when you stepped outside your comfort zone to develop the program there?
Yes. I think most people have to step outside their comfort zone to fundraise, and I'd say that's true for me. It is not an easy thing to ask people to give you money, but you have to do it. The more times you do that, the easier it becomes.

The other area you have to step outside your comfort zone is with disciplinary matters--whether it involves student-athletes or staff personnel--because those are never easy. If you're generally a nice person, and most people in athletics are, then you have to get outside your comfort zone a little bit to discipline someone.

How do you manage your time and maintain a work-life balance?
It's not easy to do. When I got into athletic administration I made the commitment that two things were priorities in my life. And that was my family and our beliefs, and my work. I realized what might suffer along the way were my personal interests. For example, I love to read, but I never get enough time to read as much as I'd like. Still, you have to maintain a balance and that means taking care of yourself physically as well. So I try to make sure I exercise properly and maintain my health. I make that a priority.

The main thing I enjoy from a personal standpoint is bowling, which believe it or not, I still do. But from when I started my career out of college until the age of 45, I didn't bowl at all. Zero. During those years, my children were growing up and that was a sacrifice I had to make. But I now bowl once a week in a league and it's a tremendous way for me to maintain some balance in my life. I can be competitive, I enjoy the camaraderie with the guys, and it's a great release for me to get away from Grand Valley State athletics.

How much are you still learning on the job?
I'm learning all the time, and I want to continue to learn because your position in college athletics is changing all the time. The dynamics as a leader are different now than they were in 1996-97 when we were trying to become successful. I also happen to be serving my third year on the NCAA Division II Management Council, and this year I'm serving as Chair. I learn all the time from looking at thing from a national perspective.

How have you been able to make the time to serve as Chair?
To be successful at it, you must have a great staff on your campus. Secondly, I have the support of our administration. They feel that as a member of the NCAA, you take your turn to be of service in voluntary roles. And my children are at the age now where it's easier for me to do it because two of them are grown. I spoke with my wife and our youngest child and made sure they understood what this was going to mean for Dad and they said to go for it because they understood that professionally this opportunity doesn't come around but once.

What's been the biggest benefit of serving on the Management Council?
The biggest benefit is the number of increased relationships I've made. I have been able to get to know and develop relationships with so many more people around the country. You can't get any better professional development than to be around top college presidents and high-level athletic administrators from around the country.

How else do you continue to improve yourself professionally?
As I said before, I love to read. So try to find the time to read The New York Times or Athletic Management magazine or other periodicals out there. I also try to read books that I believe will help me as a professional.

The current book I'm reading is by Jim Collins, How The Mighty Fall: And Why Some Companies Never Give In. I saw it in the Times and wanted to read it because we've been pretty successful for some time now, so I'm at the stage of figuring out new ways to stay on top. For us, that's what's important now. I'm always searching the athletics world--college, high school, and the pros--as well as other professions to see what people are doing that cause them to be successful and how can we learn from that.

Dennis Read is an Associate Editor at Athletic Management.