Senior Associate Athletic Director, Sport Administration

Pay Grade: 32E

Context Of The Job

The Senior Associate Athletic Director (AD), Sport Administration at the University of Delaware is a valued member within the University and Department of Intercollegiate Athletics and Campus and Community Recreation (DACCR), upholding and embracing the departmental mission of ”Achieving Excellence Together”.

Under the limited direction of the Deputy Athletic Director (AD), Sport Administration and Student Success, the Senior Associate AD, Sport Administration will be responsible for collaborating with department leadership on all facets of sport administration for UD Athletics’ 22 varsity athletics programs and Spirit teams.

The Senior Associate AD will lead the Sport Administrator team, Coaches and other Athletic Department leadership regarding the design, establish and evaluate shared and sustainable visions, plans and standards for all varsity programs. The focus of this position will be to create and manage an environment conducive to both academic and competitive success and the best possible student-athlete experience. Driving a culture of analytics and assessment to pursue continuous improvement in all responsible areas. Leadership of sport administration will include helping to enforce the rules and regulations in college athletics, especially those designed to protect and champion for student-athletes.

Other responsibilities include developing and implementing coaches learning and development programs, supervision and evaluation of assigned coaches, supervision and evaluation of sport administrators, regularly evaluating needs and resources of coaches and sport programs, and ongoing assessment of success for varsity programs in collaboration with Head Coaches, Sport Administrators and DACCR Executive Team.

The Senior Associate AD is responsible for proactively building and maintaining positive and collaborative working relationships with colleagues across campus to enhance the Athletic Department brand and the University of Delaware mission. In addition, this position has extensive interactions outside of the University with institutional representatives from conference offices and/or visiting institutions, outside group representatives, parents, alumni, fans, and the public.

Major Responsibilities

Sport Administration

• Serves as a sport administrator for 2-3 varsity sports and as an active member of the CARE team for assigned sports.
• Attend home events regularly, travel to away competitions on occasion, and travel for all post-season competition/championships for assigned sports.
  
  

Personnel

• Provide strategic insight and recommendations for sport administrator assignments. Which includes but is not limited to managing the professional development opportunities for current and potential future sport administrators.
• Develop and maintain systems for documenting, tracking, and evaluating coach and team performance; determine methods and seek opportunities to implement proactive strategies to enhance performance of coaches and/or teams.
• Partner with Internal operations and the Divisional Director, Talent Management on salary and retention strategy review for coaches.
• Partner with the Athletic Director, the specific sport administrator, and the Divisional Director, Talent Management on execution of strategy for head coach searches and onboarding. Assist sport administrators on assistant coaching search execution.
• Serves as a member of the sports programs celebration committee, which is responsible for ensuring we are consistently celebrating the success of all sports programs, coaches and staff.
  
  

Operations

• Establish, implement and evaluate processes and procedures to ensure suitable communication and execution of requests from coaches/teams.
• Establish, implement and evaluate policies, procedures, protocols, and/or practices to align with Athletic Department, NCAA, and conference policies, procedures, protocols, and/or practices as needed.
• Partner with Facilities, Operations and Event Management team to provide recommendations regarding home game administration and inclement weather practice schedules; assist with monitoring adherence to standards.
• Responsible for the execution and department wide summary for season ending pulse surveys for all sports programs, including the exit interview process. The summary will be shared with the FAR/FBA, University leadership and the DACCR Executive Team on an annual basis.
• Responsible for the annual review and update of the Blue Hen Expectations and sports program team rules.
• Responsible for the strategy and execution of the Coaches’ and Operations monthly Team meetings.
• Review playing season and coaching declarations; scholarship renewals, non-renewals, and cancellations.
• Partner with Sr. Associate AD, Governance & Compliance, Deputy AD, Sport Performance & Deputy AD, COO to Identify and maximize other operational efficiencies for all sport programs, to include preseason, other university break periods, housing, and dining.
• Partner with the Internal operations team in the management of annual establishing sports team objectives, key results and initiatives.
  
  

Student-Athlete

• Partner with the office of student conduct, coaches and other athletic department or university leaders on student-athletes' failure to meet Blue Hen expectations or team rules to ensure consistency across all programs.
• Responsible for working with the athletic awards committee that determines all department wide student-athlete awards criteria, selection and distribution.
  
  

Learning & Development

• Responsible for the development, implementation and evaluation of learning and development opportunities for all coaches. This work will be done in partnership with the Talent Management and Student-Athlete Leadership team.
• Responsible for the planning and execution of the annual Head Coaches retreat.
• In partnership with Talent Management implement and evaluate the annual individual development plan for all coaches.
  
  

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in sports management, athletics administration, or related field and six years related experience, or equivalent combination of education and experience.
• Experience working in NCAA Division I Athletics. Knowledge of rules and regulations governing intercollegiate athletics as well as knowledge of overall student-athlete experience.
• Experience leading coaches as a Sport Administrator, including sound judgment that involves a high-level of confidentiality and discretion.
• Experience in designing and leading coaches learning and development programming.
• Experience working collaboratively and effectively with a wide range of constituencies in a diverse community.
• Experience developing, implementing and evaluating programs/projects.
• Ability to prioritize responsibilities, operate analytically, strategically with a solutions oriented mindset.
• Exceptional interpersonal and communication skills.
• Experience working successfully in a fast-paced, growth oriented and performance driven environment.
• Experience working in an environment where understanding and consideration of the differing needs and concerns of individuals with varying identities, cultures and backgrounds.
• Demonstrated understanding and consideration of the differing needs and concerns of individuals with varying identities, cultures, and backgrounds.
• Committed to fostering a workplace culture of belonging, where diversity is celebrated, and equity is a core value.
  
  

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience as a student-athlete and/or coach preferred.
• Master’s Degree in Sport Administration preferred.