John Raffel
Sports Scene
Athletic directors across Michigan have one thing in common. Most of them have quite a hat collection, and when it comes to their job duties, they wear many different hats.
In the age of cuts in school districts and sports programs, many districts have either given their athletic directors additional duties or have given the additional duties of an AD to another member of the staff.
Either way, most athletic directors have more than they can chew with their various duties.
“I believe schools would have full time ADs if the financial situation was different,” said Big Rapids’ Nick Scheible. “ I don’t think the AD as a dual role is ideal in any situation, but it is a sign of the times. Hopefully, it will get back to a position that is a stand-alone, full-time position.
“It would be great to just be the AD,” said Rich Kimball of Lansing Catholic Central. “But at a small Catholic school, everyone has more than one job. It’s the only way we can survive.”
Another example is at Lansing Everett, where Cindy Short has been athletic director for 13 years and also teaches two hours in the school’s Advanced Path program.
“It’s like having two full-time jobs,” she said. “I feel like I am being pulled in two directions, and it is difficult to do both jobs justice.”
DIFFERENT SITUATIONS
Area athletic directors have been in their positions for varying lengths of time.
Ithaca’s Terry Hessbrook coached the football team to the state title in 2010. He also teaches physical education, and for five years was assistant athletic director under Paul Hornak.
“I know that the way it is now worked for many years here at Ithaca,” Hessbrook said. “ I just hope that I can make it work again.”
Joel Wilker is in his first year as athletic director at Belding, where he is also the head football coach and a teacher of two classes. In the past, the school had a full-time AD, which Wilker said would still be preferable.
At Bay City John Glenn, Troy Lynch has been AD four years, teaches two personal fitness classes, is in charge of athletic facilities, and maintains the swimming pool. He said being a full-time AD would be the best deal, and he’s able to fulfill his duties by being “selectively negligent on other obligations.”
Scheible is in his second year at Big Rapids as an athletic director. He is still finance director and absorbed the AD duties.
John Kearney was formerly principal at Central Montcalm and currently is athletic director, head boys basketball coach, and community education director. He has tried to come up with a unique way to cover all of his duties. “You create a list of jobs for the day and work hard on that list,” he said. “I find myself doing one to two hours each night at home.”
At Lowell, Barry Hobrla has been athletic director for 26 years. He is also the middle school athletic director. He notes that he is responsible for game management at home high school events at which a paid crowd is present.
Tim Erickson has been athletic director at Rockford, one of the state’s largest schools, for five years. He also assists with lunch supervision and discipline.
Clark Huntey, the football coach at Morley Stanwood, has also been AD for seven years. He’s presently the elementary principal at the district. “I’m not sure what the perfect situation would be,” Huntey said. “I can dream about that, but until school finances improve, those dreams will never happen.”
John Helinski has been athletic director four years at Montabella. He’s also a full-time teacher. “I do a lot of work at home and on weekends,” he said. “I work during lunch, before and after school hours, and on weekends. I would just like more time to get the AD duties done.”
Ryan Cunningham at Farwell is also assistant principal and wrestling coach. He works after hours.
Ditto for Aarron Bukovich of Beal City, who has been AD there for five years. He also teaches three classes and is facilities director.
Chris Ervin at St. Johns has been AD there for six years and 18 years overall. Presently, he’s also activities director in charge of all clubs and activities and fine arts. He also assists with student discipline when necessary and supervises three school lunches per day.
Ryan Sklener at Breckenridge is also Dean of Students. The previous two years, he was business manger and AD. The way the AD’s role is currently set up at his school seems to be working, Sklener indicated.
Rich Kimball has been an athletic director 15 years and at Lansing Catholic Central five years. He’s also assistant principal for discipline.
Dave Pancini is the AD at Lansing Eastern and also teaches two classes. To get everything done, he stays late at night and sometimes skips lunch.
Peter Ryan is the athletic director for the Saginaw Township Community Schools and is also assistant principal for Heritage High School. “You figure out a way and merge and delegate,” noted Ryan, who said having a full-time AD would be the perfect solution.
Mitch Bohn has been the AD for the past 14 years at Meridian Public Schools and teaches four math classes. Prior to this, he was an assistant principal/AD.
At DeWitt, Teri Reyburn has been athletic director 11½ years. A duty for Reyburn involves lunch-room discipline and related matters. “There’s nothing specific in the job description, which is AD only.”
Eric Albright is in his second year as AD at Midland and also teaches half time. He’s been a teacher for 15 years. “It takes time management and organization,” he said. “At times, one has to juggle many balls at once.”
Bob Bullock is AD at Okemos. It’s his first year at the high school, and he has been middle school athletic director for 18 years. This is the second year of the present setup. He also has some supervision duties in the high school building when other administrators are gone.
“The job is set up as well as it can be at his particular time,” Bullock said. “Next year might see an AP/AD combination job which I would need some relief with scheduling of events and fundraising responsibilities.”
GAME OF PERCENTAGES
Scheible estimates athletic director consumes 40 percent of his time at Big Rapids. It’s between 70 and 80 percent for Sklener at Breckenridge, 95 percent for Bullock at Okemos, 100 percent for Reyburn at DeWitt, 95 percent for Panici at Lansing Eastern, 60 percent for Bohn of Meridian, 50 percent for Cunningham at Farwell, 100 percent for Hobrla at Lowell, 75 percent for Ervin at St. Johns, 90 percent for Erickson at Rockford, 25 percent for Huntey at Morley Stanwood and 70 percent for Kimball at Catholic Central.
As he shuffles around his priorities, Huntey notes, “It depends on what the highest priority is. When the day slows down, I work on athletics, or prior to the school day starting.”
At smaller schools like Vestaburg, athletic directors are likely to have more duties. Matt Walderzak has been athletic director six years there and also is a high school social studies teacher. He figures 80 percent of his time is as a teacher, 20 percent as athletic director. “I understand that in these economic times, we have to make sacrifices and combine efforts,” he said. “I believe that combining assistant principal positions with AD positions makes more sense than combining the AD job with teaching. It makes more sense for a lot of reasons.”
Bukovich estimates at Beal City that he spends 50 percent of his time during the school day and 85 percent of after-school hours on AD duties.
At Midland, Albright said that he spends about 60 percent of the school day on AD duties and many hours outside the school day. “A 100 percent athletic director would be perfect in my eyes, but I understand the need to find financial savings in every corner,” Albright said.
“I spend more hours before and after school until all requirements are complete, [have utilized] prioritization, and careful planning,” said Bukovich, when asked how he’s been able to fit in all of his duties. “The athletic director position, along with all other positions at our school, have continuously been asked to do more with less,” he said. “It is the trend going on in the area and across the state right now. I am not sure there is such a thing as a perfect situation at this time, but the current situation at Beal City is manageable.”
“It is a challenge with the size of our school to operate with three administrators: a principal, assistant principal, and activities director,” Ervin said about St. Johns. “But we have been operating with just three for a long time, whereas other schools our size either still have four administrators or have just recently cut down to three.”
At Catholic Central, it’s taken long hours and working weekends to get the job done, Kimball indicated.
Zach VanDuinen of Ashley is another small-school athletic director who takes on other duties.
“DeWitt is still very fortunate to have an AD-only situation,” Reyburn said. “This lends to more time to be more efficient for our athletic programs.”
At Alma, “50 percent of my time during the school day is spent as AD,” Eric Huff said. “After school is an additional five hours on average.”
EXTRA HELP
Various athletic directors receive help from valuable sources. Scheible said he has an athletic secretary and game manager for each season at Big Rapids.
Eric Huff, the athletic director at Alma, is also a teacher, but he feels a full-time AD with a secretary would be a better situation.
At Lowell, the middle school assistant principal provides game management at high school events.
Erickson doesn’t get help during the day at Rockford. “But I do have an event manager to help with nights,” he said.
Huntey has two game managers that help him throughout the school year at Morley Stanwood.
For Helinski at Montabella, “secretaries help with some paperwork and do cash boxes and programs for games. I do get some help with game management as well.”
At Ithaca, “I have a fantastic athletic secretary, Deana McDaid,” Hessbrook said. “She is a real lifesaver. We have also hired game managers to assist with the many different functions in the past.”
Cunningham said he wishes he had some type of an assistant at Farwell.
At Beal City, “we have an administrative assistant who primarily works in athletics; however, also splits time with the elementary, high school, and counselors’ offices as needed,” Bukovich said.
At St. Johns, Ervin said he has a full-time activities secretary.
At Breckenridge, Sklener has a secretary in the office to help out with clerical duties. Kimball at Catholic Central receives some secretarial help.
In Saginaw Township, Ryan gets help with game management.
At Central Montcalm, Kearney noted it’s the first year the school hasn’t had an assistant principal/athletic director. “You need someone in the building to seek out athletes, coaches, and any other issues that come about,” Kearney said. He added that the district does have a middle school secretary who works with middle school athletics.
At Lansing Everett, “we have no secretaries to help with phones and daily work,” Short said. “We do have assistant ADs that assist with event coverage.”
“The use of the laptop and email have helped greatly,” Bohn indicated. “It is difficult to dedicate the time the job needs.”
Jim Conway, athletic director at Mount Pleasant, said the AD duties fill about 90 percent of his time. “Full-time AD is the way at a Class A school, but money dictates,” he said. “I am fortunate to have [Central Michigan University] students serve internships/field studies with me. I do have a full-time secretary.”
At Belding, “I have a great athletic secretary and the other building administrators help if needed,” Wilker said.
Reyburn said DeWitt has an athletic secretary who is half time with those duties, while also working with other duties.
At Midland, “I have a full-time office professional and a faculty manager to help cover events,” Albright said.
At Okemos, Bullock has a part-time secretary for three days a week plus a student supervisor who helps recruit workers and supervises many of the events.
At Bay City John Glenn, Lynch has a game manager to assist at all major events when he’s not available.