Erin Quinn provides insight on his first semester as AD

Author: Simon Keyes

With a view overlooking the climbing wall and indoor tennis courts in the Nelson, newly appointed Athletic Director (AD) Erin Quinn '86 takes a seat at his desk. It is only his fourth month on the job, but what makes many confident he will handle his work soundly is that he brings a valuable perspective to the position.

Quinn approaches his new role armed with experience in Middlebury athletics. As a student at the College, he captained the football team. After graduation, Quinn took on short stints at other colleges before returning to Middlebury as an assistant coach for both the Panther football and lacrosse teams in the 1990-1991 school year. He became head coach for men's lacrosse in the spring of 1992, a role he would not relinquish until this year.

Using this experience, Quinn now emphasizes communication between the Athletic Department and the rest of the College. Increased communication, he believes, helps to avoid possible conflicts between classes and sporting events, or professors and students. Last Wednesday, Quinn moderated a forum in the Charles A. Dana Auditorium on the representation and integration of athletes into the student body.

The forum, "Athletics at Middlebury: Finding the Right Balance," stressed that academics and athletics need not be exclusive, and that the two can co-exist to the benefit of students, coaches and faculty alike. Even though complete solutions were not offered, Quinn said that providing answers to questions was not the main goal of the forum.

"We just wanted to raise issues and give people the opportunity to talk about these issues," said Quinn. "By that standard, it was a great success and there was a great student turnout."

So, with his first semester as AD almost over, The Campus sought an interview and an insider's perspective on what his job is really like:


The Campus: Can you give a brief description of the job of an Athletic Director?

Erin Quinn: There's one role of keeping the trains running on time - making sure that there is transportation for teams and making sure that there are officials for the teams. It is important that the sporting events are staffed and set up to run smoothly and efficiently. We have to make sure our athletic contests go off smoothly, both home and away.

Some of the work is simply reactive - answering questions, not necessarily problems or issues, just questions. The proactive part of it is to be available for the alumni, faculty, students, parents and the community. I'm there to run the contests, but it's helpful when the AD is visible and available at contests to say 'Hi' to alumni, parents, and to interact with them. Honestly, that's something I want to do. That's why I love being in education, for those interactions with people.

Campus: What is a typical day?

EQ: I come in pretty early in the morning. I'm kept a bit honest, though, because we have a puppy. I can't wake him up too early. Otherwise I'd be here before daybreak.

When the day ends is somewhat relative to the events we have. If it's a weekend, there are some long days with events, but that's fun. It's a lot easier to be in the stands than on the sidelines, so I'm not complaining about that. There is not a typical day in terms of what happens. There are just so many different elements on the job: traveling, meetings, whatever. It's constantly changing.

Campus: Where do you eat your lunch?

EQ: I eat at my desk a lot more than I have in the past.

Campus: How has the transition been from coach to AD?

EQ: As AD your roles are campus-wide and department-wide. Coaches wear a lot of different hats with advisors, students, coaches in other sports, teaching physical education, within their own coaching realm, their recruiting, contacting alumni and advising students. All those different roles apply to the Athletic Director, but you are doing it for all the teams.

You lose the day-to-day interaction with the athletes that you coach, and there is no way to get that. When you coach, it's the full season, everyday, with the full emotions tied into sports. You get to know them well, and see them in the most intense scenarios. You watch them grow, especially if you have them for four years. As a professor, even in an active class, it's only for a semester, and you never see that student again.

I've traded the coaching interaction for a kind of interaction that is less regular and in-depth, but that has a wider constituency. You have some interaction with all of the teams when you talk with all of the captains. You recognize athletes and introduce yourself and just discuss the programs - an interaction that I would not necessarily have as a coach of a particular team.

What I have enjoyed most is watching colleagues coaching their sports that I have not had the opportunity to see in the past.

Campus: Do you ever seek help from Russ Reilly, former AD?

EQ: All the time. Obviously I could call him on the phone, but he lives nearby. I seek his counsel on a regular basis.

On one hand, we lost Russ Reilly, but we also lost Gail Smith, associate AD. Those two people obviously did a lot of the operation aspects of the department. But there are people who remain who have been invaluable advisors.

Campus: What are you looking to improve on as you move forward?

EQ: I think, Russ Reilly and Tom Lawson before him, the coaches in the department and the administration have done a great job. It's a strong department. It's not a feeling that I have to come in and make drastic changes in day-to-day operations or overall cultures. It's not changes per se, it's just trying to build on what is a strong department with a really good perspective on what our mission is, how that fits with the overall mission, and the college's mission. I don't see anything so broken that it needs to be fixed.

Campus: What are you most proud of?

EQ: I certainly can't take credit for all of the success of the teams, but as an alum and longtime department member, and now as the AD, I'm certainly proud of the results on the field. I'm also proud of the students and coaches, who are attaining these results. I don't have any impact on their success, but I will say that sitting where I sit, overseeing all of it, I do take a lot of pride in their success on the field in knowing what else was going on while they did that. The coaches teach lessons to their athletes that are bigger than wins and losses and the teams are engaged in community service projects, while being outstanding students, as well as winning on the field. I am incredibly proud of that.

Campus: Are you looking to expand the number of varsity sports at Middlebury?

EQ: We have 30 varsity sports, with which we try to create opportunities for different people. I would not think that doors are closed for other opportunities, but I'm not far enough along on the job to be faced with any of these decisions.

Campus: Are you still going to coach lacrosse in the spring?

EQ: No. I think that there is too much to this job to do justice to both the department and the team. Both jobs are too demanding.

Campus: What is your favorite sport to watch?

EQ: I coached lacrosse here for 17 years, 15 as a head coach. I never played lacrosse. In my high school career I played football, basketball, baseball and ran track. And at various times of my life I swam competitively as well. I like sports, and have always liked sports, and have been active in a lot of different sports, so to me, the fun has been not only overseeing sports, but being able to be a fan of those contests. I've played or coached football for the past 33 years, so that's probably number one.