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If nothing else, the Fair Labor Standards Act and the NCAA National SAAC’s focus on time commitment of athletes should have brought into focus an ongoing challenge of every athletic department across the country. That challenge is simply the fact that we have lost perspective on the value of time. When you think about time, it has incredible value because once it is expended it is gone forever, and our time on earth (our most valuable resource) can never be recaptured. Just last week, hearing Craig Sager at the ESPYs discussing his terminal condition and the importance of one’s time on earth, just reinforced the value of time and put the entire concept into perspective.
Athletic departments have pretty much run on the concept of “put in as much time as necessary to get the job done.” I have probably been the biggest offender of just expecting people to work as many hours as was needed with no regard for nights, weekends and holidays. Because we play games at night and on weekends, athletic departments have fallen into the trap of ignoring the workload of many staff members. Athletic departments by their very nature have traded efficiency for long work hours. Athletic departments tend to be a haven for water cooler discussions about all the latest happenings in the world of sport, irrespective of the impact on the job. I believe the reason for these non-productive gatherings is the impossibility of maintaining intensity for the 60-80 hours that athletic department staff typically work.
To further complicate the issue, we run into another conundrum. Coaches’ seasons are exactly that – seasonal – while support staff seasons are all year. Thinking about athletic training staff and academic advisers, they are forced to work hours based totally on the schedule of coaches. Their work hours are determined after the coach establishes times for practice, strength and conditioning, team meetings, specialty meetings, individual meetings, and most important, class time. For example, I just saw a schedule for pre-season football camp where players start their day at 7 a.m. and their last requirement of the day is study hall starting at 9:30 p.m. Do you think there is anything wrong with this picture? Once school starts, the player lifts at 6 a.m. and does not finish practice till 6:30 p.m., leaving the remaining time for study and academic support. This is a long day for the players, but even longer for the athletic training staff and academic staff.
Another athletic director relayed his situation to me where his head football coach plays golf every day starting at 11 a.m. for the two months preceding the start of practice, knowing that once practice starts, he will have long and difficult hours. When practice starts he expects the entire support staff to be “part of the team” and put in similar long hours. What he forgot was that while he was playing golf, the support team was working eight hours a day.
Everyone needs to remember there are 86,400 seconds in a day and we have to value each and every one of those seconds, not only for our benefit but to be fair to all of our staff and student athletes. Understand the value of time and include that concept in your strategy when planning and making decisions. Understanding the value of time will pay dividends in the long run.
The value of time is the reason that the ETSU Global Sport Leadership Doctorate was designed to be totally completed in 2.5 years. By moving expeditiously through the curriculum, our graduates’ career will be on the fast track and their opportunities will be increase significantly in a relative short time frame.
If interested in earning an Ed.D in Global Sport Leadership, check out the website here or contact Dr. Brian Johnston (johnstob@etsu.edu) for more information on ETSU.
About Dr. Richard Sander
Dr. Richard Sander, led Virginia Commonwealth’s athletic program for 20 years, and was introduced as ETSU’s Director of Intercollegiate Athletics in 2013. Prior to his time at VCU, Sander served as Assistant Athletic Director and was responsible for athletic fundraising at Memphis State University (now The University of Memphis). Sander earned a B.S. in Business Administration from the University of Tennessee-Chattanooga in 1968. He received a M.S. in Physical Education from Xavier University in 1974, and a Ph.D. in Education from the University of Cincinnati in 1980.
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