Athletic directors have tough, thankless job

By Rudy Coggins
Published in Sports on April 18, 2015 11:06 PM

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Writer's block occurs at any time and causes frustration, especially when you're on deadline or writing a feature that takes time to process your thinking and organize your notes.

Columns are the same way.

Some days the ideas flow freely like the Nile River.

Other days you wait for that one little chip to fall away from the iceberg, splash into the ocean and maybe provide some sort of inspiration. While the river overflows (if you live in Wayne County) and the icebergs remain intact (somewhere other than Wayne County), the thoughts just aren't coming.

Until this past Wednesday morning.

Just hours after a torrential thunderstorm rendered conditions unplayable at numerous schools in our readership area Tuesday afternoon and evening, the phone calls, text messages and emails began to come in with regularity.

Of course, all those changes ... well ... changed as the morning progressed into the early afternoon hours.

Some games we had on the schedule had been moved or cancelled without our knowledge. One caller let us know their concerns about a game on our schedule that didn't get played. They drove to the game site, saw an empty stadium and left disappointed that they didn't get to visit with an old friend.

We apologized.

That's how it goes in our business.

Communication is important. The more you inform the public, the better the result. That's the theory, at least. I can honestly say that our area athletic directors, some who are also coaches, do a fantastic job of informing us about either times changing or games getting moved.

Sometimes, a rescheduled game slips through the crack. And the phone rings the next morning from that coach, who apologizes for not giving us the change.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that when you're dealing with seven sports, some schools have JV teams in the spring, it's nearly impossible to "cover all of your bases." You have to check your calendar along with the opposing school's athletic director, make sure you have transportation available and follow procedures set by either your conference by-laws or those stated in the N.C. High School Athletic Association when it comes to making up games.

It's not an easy job -- and is one that oftentimes goes underappreciated. People would rather complain than understand the pressure associated with a position that offers a stipend -- at times -- that couldn't either cover a mortgage payment or car payment after taxes.

Just like any business, it's easy to point fingers and lay the blame on other people. However, I don't know of a single athletic director in our area who doesn't hold himself accountable for making an honest mistake.

They're great people to work with and I consider myself lucky to know them -- as professionals and friends.