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Times are changing—and this notion is evident in the way colleges evaluate athletic directors during the hiring process.

The College Sport Research Institute (CSRI) at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill in early May featured a variety of presentations that discussed recent changes and new trends in employment patterns of athletic directors.

The Influence of Isomorphism

In one of several  sessions about the current state of athletic directors in big-time college sports, Jimmy Smith and Marvin Washington, both from the University of Alberta, presented  “A View From the Top: Athletic Director Experiences in Relation to University Characteristics.”

The study, which relied on information from the resumes of 99 collegiate athletic directors on the Division I, II, and III levels, revealed the changing workplace expectations for athletic directors and the evolution of the hiring process.

Smith and Washington reported that an increasing number of university officials suggested that future athletic directors should possess a business-centered career background instead of the traditional coaching-centered career background. This conclusion—drawn as a result of the growing business side of the college sport industry—focused on the increasing responsibilities of maintaining and building an athletic program.

While many people consider the athletic director position to be equivalent to the CEO of a business, Smith and Washington indicated that many athletic directors who participated in the study do not have the basic business backgrounds that a CEO would usually have.

Smith also discussed isomorphism, which is the process when one company is pressured to resemble another in order to adapt to the latest changes in the workplace. He said that this process is applicable to athletic directors as they face pressure to fit in with athletic directors at other schools. Smith concluded that this practice is becoming more common today as rapid hiring changes continue to sweep throughout college athletics.

Normative Career Model: No Longer the Standard Practice

A research team from the University of Arkansas under the direction of Steve Dittmore presented “Predicting Career Patterns for Becoming an NCAA Division I FBS Athletic Director: Revisiting the ‘Normative Sequence’”, which highlighted several details and statistics showing the education backgrounds of today’s athletic directors at Division I FBS schools.

Dittmore and his colleagues pointed out that the normative career model for FBS athletic directors used to be a pattern in which they would work their way up the ranks from high school to college, with various coaching jobs along the way. They believed that the normative model, while it still exists, is no longer the standard for FBS athletic directors. The “new” normative model is one that places a stronger emphasis on the experiences and apprenticeships administrators have had in college athletics.

The University of Arkansas study offered one likely reason why Smith and Washington concluded in their respective study that today’s athletic directors don’t have the business background: Many current athletic directors were hired and have been around since the original normative model.

The U. of Arkansas presenters also offered statistical percentages to help others gain an understanding of the FBS athletic directors’ career backgrounds. Out of the 18 athletic directors in the study that did not previously work in sports, three (3) of them were employed as lawyers before they became an athletic director and four (4) had worked in corporate America. According to the research, 73 percent of the current FBS athletic directors in the study had earned at least a master’s degree and 43 percent are former coaches. This is compared to a 1994 study, “Career patterns of athletic directors: Challenging the conventional wisdom” when 65 percent of NCAA Division I athletic directors had experience coaching at the collegiate level. 

From Pizza to Pigskin

One recent example—at the University of Michigan—exemplifies the above research findings of hiring business-oriented athletic directors and the potential for isomorphism.

In the past, Michigan’s former long-time athletic directors—Fielding Yost and Bo Schembechler—simultaneously served as both athletic director and head coach of the football team.  David Brandon, previously the CEO of Domino’s, was hired as the athletic director at Michigan in 2010. While Brandon played college football at Michigan, he did not have any experience working in the sport industry prior to landing the top athletics position at Michigan. However, he did possess vast business experience working as a CEO (at Domino’s and Valassis Communications); he was also the co-chair of the fundraising campaign to build the Mott Children’s Hospital. Additionally, Brandon was elected to the Board of Regents at Michigan, a powerful governing board at the university. According to the Bentley Historical Library, the board “[has] the power to determine the course of university events.” Brandon sat on the board with University of Michigan president Mary Sue Coleman, who just happened to hire him for the AD position.

In an official January 5, 2010 press release announcing Brandon’s appointment, Coleman stated, “With his widely acclaimed leadership skills, business acumen, long-term involvement with the university\ and personal knowledge of the challenges and rewards of being a student athlete, David Brandon is an ideal candidate for athletic director.”

Michigan clearly viewed Brandon’s business and fundraising experience—though somewhat unorthodox—as sufficient qualifications for the AD role, which proves that the skills and requirements of the job are being perceived differently than in the past.

Predicting the Future

Perhaps the key takeaway message from these related CSRI presentations was how each made sure to touch base on the suddenly evolving job patterns and expectations when it comes to hiring an athletic director. As big time collegiate athletic programs continue to grow, the number of schools with business-centered athletic directors is expected to increase. One of the reasons why this is important news is because the original normative model was in place for so long and people are not accustomed to the new changes.

The next step researchers will take in learning more about the patterns of athletic directors will be to determine whether the patterns will continue to trend in the same direction. This will take time as the statistics become clearer and the patterns continue. While the statistics may not yet be totally transparent, schools, such as the University of Michigan, have made it known through recent hirings that they have plans to favor business-centered athletic directors. These plans should be reflected in further studies of the same kind.

President Coleman concluded her thoughts on the David Brandon hiring with this statement: "I am confident that he will carry on the tradition of excellence in U-M athletics as we enter a new era." Though she was specifically speaking about her respective university, she could have been referencing any other institution. As new athletic director positions open up, a “new era” of candidates may follow.

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Matt Tracy is a junior sport media major at Ithaca College. Kyle Woody is an instructor in sport media at Ithaca and also serves as editor of the Sport Management and Media blog at icsmmblog.com

References

Fitzgerald, M., Sagaria, M., & Nelson, B.  (1994).  Career patterns of athletic directors: Challenging the conventional wisdom.  Journal of Sport Management, 8 (1), 14-26. 

Smith, J., & Washington, M.  (2011).  A view from the top: Athletic director Experiences in relation to university characteristics.  Paper presented at the College Sport Research Institute Conference, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC.

White, E., Gates, E., Martin, D., Sanders, C. J., & Dittmore, S.  (2011).  Predicting career patterns for becoming an NCAA Division I FBS athletic director:  Revisiting the “normative” sequence.  Paper presented at the College Sport Research Institute Conference, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC.