Athletic Administrators Research Articles

The influence of servant leadership on athletic performance: a self-determination theory perspective

PurposeTo give a full understanding of how servant leadership impacts organizational performance and needs satisfaction of followers, two unique populations were sampled (i.e. college athletic administrators and coaches) to weigh the importance of leadership on different elements of a sports organization. The purpose for this two-sample design was to enhance the external validity of the results through replication and convergence of conclusions.Design/methodology/approachThis study utilized a two-sample structure that consisted of intercollegiate coaches (N = 223) and administrative staff members (N = 176) perceptions of their leader’s servant leadership to better understand its influence on sport organizational performance. From the study’s hypotheses, data were collated and subjected to correlation and step-wise regression analysis.FindingsThe results indicate a relationship between servant leadership and organizational performance from both a sport coach and administrative follower perspective. Furthermore, in the administration sample, servant leadership’s relationship with organizational performance was mediated by competency. This study also expands upon the literature by demonstrating that servant leadership had a positive impact on organizational performance beyond tenure effects.Practical implicationsFor an athletic director, implementing behaviors from servant leadership could be valuable tools to enhance the performances of the teams within intercollegiate athletic departments.Originality/valueThe results indicate a relationship between servant leadership and organizational performance from both a sport coach and administrative follower perspective. Furthermore, in the administration sample, servant leadership’s relationship with organizational performance was mediated by competency. This study also expands upon the literature by demonstrating that servant leadership had a positive impact on organizational performance beyond tenure effects.

College Sport Communicator Leaders’ Perceptions of Sport Information Operations

Recent research indicates College Athletic Communicators (CACs) could benefit from more staff in the communication department (Elliott et al., 2023). However the request may not be supported by administration as additional staffing may not fit in the budget. Therefore, it appears imperative to evaluate no-cost options to alleviate the feelings of being under-appreciated and overworked. The College Sport Communicators (CSC) professional association may be a strong advocate for the profession and may have the ability to provide needed resources for those serving in CAC positions. Therefore, the research presented in this study aims to explore the perspective and experiences of CSC leaders to evaluate how to better serve the CAC profession with an understanding of limited resources. In this study, semi-structed interviews with CSC leaders were conducted. Data provided by the participants indicate ways for CACs to avoid burn out and how athletic administrators can work to support the profession.

Leading from reactive whirlwind to integrated strategy

PHILADELPHIA — In the midst of all the change and challenges facing higher education and college sports, it's common for athletics administrators to feel like they’re rushing from one of many most urgent pressing tasks to the next, leaving little time to intentionally focus on strategizing for the future. It's a conundrum all‐too‐familiar to Lynn Akey, Ph.D., Chancellor at the University of Wisconsin Parkside. But she's found a better way, which she discussed in her presentation at the Society for College and University Planning's annual conference.

Review rulings involving torts and athletics

An overview of the key topics faced by college athletics administrators with citations to noteworthy cases, statutes, regulations, and additional sources.

National Initiative Pivots Amid a Global Pandemic: Lessons Learned From the InSideOut Initiative.

SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) caused disruptions and challenges across the globe, and many public health interventions focused on addressing immediate and emergent needs directly related to COVID-19. At the same time, other community health needs persisted, and intervention collaborators faced new challenges with reaching their communities. One such intervention was the InSideOut Initiative, a systems approach aimed at creating more supportive cultures for school-aged athletes by assisting school leaders, athletics administrators, and coaches with developing social and emotional competencies. Formerly, an initiative dependent on in-person trainings, as a result of COVID-19, InSideOut needed to pivot their approach. InSideOut executives and intervention collaborators were interviewed to better understand what adaptations were made and what lessons were learned to continue their mission. Findings point to three primary themes: prioritizing the community, implementation innovations, and being open to content additions and adaptations. Future public health interventions could benefit from incorporating community assessment, remaining open to social innovation, actively looking for new solutions, and integrating formative, process, and outcome evaluation processes.

Campos Continues to Set Precedents in Athletic Administration

Campos Continues to Set Precedents in Athletic Administration

An Antitrust Analysis of the NCAA Transfer Policy

The National Collegiate Athletic Association (“NCAA”) is no stranger to antitrust law. As a trade association composed of nearly all U.S. colleges offering competitive sports, its rules are regularly challenged under antitrust law. In the past 40 years, the NCAA has faced challenges to rules limiting televised game broadcasts, curtailing assistant coaches’ pay, and restraining players’ compensation, among other issues. Restraints on college athlete transfers also could subject the Association to reasonable legal scrutiny. Restrictions on the ability to transfer can harm athletes by preventing their immediate eligibility even though transferring could allow them to be closer to family, enroll in more academically rigorous schools, or escape abusive coaches. Transfer restraints have an especially restrictive effect on players hoping to one day play in the National Football League (“NFL”). For these individuals, the college football system is the primary opportunity to showcase talent before declaring for the League’s draft. The NCAA’s transfer rules keep many of these elite players on their teams’ benches. This hurts their ability to prepare for careers in the NFL. And it denies football fans the opportunity to watch them perform in college. The NCAA’s rules that prevent football players from freely transferring between schools have changed over time. Why? Because of the changing preferences of members of the NCAA Division I Council (“NCAA Council”), a group of college athletic directors and administrators. In April 2021, the NCAA Council changed its rules to facilitate the movement of football players between schools, allowing athletes who had not previously switched schools to pursue transfer opportunities by entering a portal within a 60-day window. On October 4, 2023, the NCAA Council reduced the transfer window from 60 to 45 days. In this Essay, we explore the antitrust consequences of this latest action by the NCAA Council, as well as the broader competitive effects of limits on college football player movement. We conclude that: (1) the NCAA’s transfer limits impose substantial anticompetitive effects; (2) the NCAA could offer (but would need to prove) a justification based on reduced fan interest from a lack of team stability; (3) less restrictive alternatives (including the 60-day transfer window) are available; and (4) the restraint’s anticompetitive effects are likely to outweigh its procompetitive effects.

A systematic review of LGBTQ+ identities and topics in sport leadership.

As individuals with occupational status and power, sport leaders (e.g., coaches and athletic administrators) are responsible for enforcing cultures of inclusion within institutions of athletics. Yet, sport leaders who possess LGBTQ+ sexual identities are frequently marginalized and stigmatized by entities within and outside of athletics (e.g., athletes, parents of athletes, colleagues). Therefore, LGBTQ+ sport leaders are often faced with a challenging set of circumstances: negotiate the authenticity of their sexual orientation in the context of sport, or leave the profession entirely. The purpose of this study was to conduct a systematic review of research related to LGBTQ+ sport leader experiences. Using the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA), research across six countries (China/Taiwan/Hong Kong, Italy, New Zealand, Norway, United Kingdom, United States) between 1997 and 2021 was analyzed. Themes across included studies (N = 34) describe intrapersonal experiences of LGBTQ+ sport leaders, interpersonal studies examining stakeholder attitudes (i.e., parents and athletes) toward LGBTQ+ sport leaders, and sport manager attitudes toward LGBTQ+ topics. Findings convey that sport leaders continue to face marginalization due to the presence of heterosexism and heteronormativity in athletics. Future research should continue to explore LGBTQ+ sport leader experiences, behaviors, attitudes, and identities to determine their impact on fostering inclusion and belonging within athletic spaces.

“Activism is welcome as long as it’s peaceful”: athletic administrators’ perspectives on college athlete activism via stakeholder theory

The purpose of this study was to examine athletic department administrators’ perceptions of student-athlete activism via Stakeholder Theory. Since 2012, the United States has witnessed a resurgence of activism within sport, college sport including. While collegiate athletes’ point of views have been studied, college athletic administrators’ (e.g., an Athletic Director) point of view is missing. The researchers interviewed senior level athletic administrators utilizing Stakeholder Theory to identify key stakeholders athletic administrators find salient when a college athlete engages in activism. Results are broken down into sub-themes highlighting stakeholders with power (coaches, communications, campus administrators, and high-level campus leaders), legitimacy (proactive culture of accepted activism, personal investment, and type of activism), and urgency (public protest, real-life events of socio-cultural importance, and the athletes). This study’s importance lies in the practical benefit it provides athletic administrators and other stakeholders surrounding an athletic department as it relates to collegiate athlete activism.

AD strives to develop game‐changers — beyond sport

For athletics administrators to succeed in the rapidly changing world of college sports, it's critical to remember your why, which should center on engaging student‐athletes. That's according to Courtney Lovely Evans, M.S., Director of Athletics at Palm Beach Atlantic University.

Association between Low Energy Availability (LEA) and Impaired Sleep Quality in Young Rugby Players.

Low energy availability (LEA) has been associated with several physiological consequences, but its impact on sleep has not been sufficiently investigated, especially in the context of young athletes. This study examined the potential association between energy availability (EA) status and objective sleep quality in 42 male rugby players (mean age: 16.2 ± 0.8 years) during a 7-day follow-up with fixed sleep schedules in the midst of an intensive training phase. Participants' energy intake was weighed and recorded. Exercise expenditure was estimated using accelerometry. Portable polysomnography devices captured sleep on the last night of the follow-up. Mean EA was 29.3 ± 9.14 kcal·kg FFM-1·day-1, with 47.6% of athletes presenting LEA, 35.7% Reduced Energy Availability (REA), and 16.7% Optimal Energy Availability (OEA). Lower sleep efficiency (SE) and N3 stage proportion, along with higher wake after sleep onset (WASO), were found in participants with LEA compared to those with OEA (p = 0.04, p = 0.03 and p = 0.005, respectively, with large effect sizes). Segmented regression models of the EA-sleep outcomes (SE, sleep onset latency [SOL]), WASO and N3) relationships displayed two separate linear regions and produced a best fit with a breakpoint between 21-33 kcal·kg FFM-1·day-1. Below these thresholds, sleep quality declines considerably. It is imperative for athletic administrators, nutritionists, and coaches to conscientiously consider the potential impact of LEA on young athletes' sleep, especially during periods of heavy training.

Academic Success of Collegiate Athletes and Social and Emotional Learning

College student-athletes represent a unique sub-population of college students with several competing responsibilities to fulfill. While institutions of higher education have historically used standardized test scores and GPA as predictors of students’ academic success, there have been shifts to include non-cognitive, social and emotional factors in this predictive model. Social and emotional skills can be developed. Research has shown that implementing social and emotional learning curriculum has positive impacts on academic achievement, student attitudes about learning, and the creation of prosocial behaviors. These benefits contribute to increased student persistence, retention, and graduation rates. While the connection between social and emotional learning and academic achievement is well documented, there is a lack of research and practical application of social and emotional learning curriculum in higher education with collegiate student-athletes. Advisors, academic support personnel, coaches, and athletic administrators who understand student-athletes’ social and emotional capabilities can use this understanding to help holistically develop student-athletes. Breaking down siloed, departmental operations within higher education and sharing information to work collaboratively for the good of student-athletes can lead to higher academic achievement, better on-field performance, and graduates with the necessary soft skills to succeed in a competitive job market.

Stereotype Threat and Interscholastic Athletic Leadership

Women have historically been underrepresented in positions of power within athletic administration. Stereotype threat, or the realization that there is a possibility that one is being judged as confirming or being reduced to a stereotype, can negatively impact the recruitment and retention of woman leaders in sport. This study developed and validated a new scale, the Gender Stereotype Threat in Athletic Administration, and elicited responses from high school athletic directors in two U.S. states. Using multiple analysis of variance, correlation analysis, and structure equation modeling, five hypotheses were tested and supported based on the respondents’ feelings of group identification, belonging uncertainty, extra pressure to succeed, and group reputation threat. The present work extends the findings on stereotype threat in the sport leadership domain and provides a useful instrument to study this phenomenon in future research.

Spinal Cord Injury Management Policies in High School Sports as Reported by Athletic Administrators

ABSTRACT Introduction/Purpose Athletic administrators (AA) in U.S. high schools are uniquely positioned to provide guidance and endorsement for the prevention and management of common sport-related catastrophic injuries, such as the development of a spinal cord injury management (SCIM) policy. The purpose of this project was to evaluate AA’s knowledge of comprehensive SCIM policies in U.S. high schools. Secondarily, we aimed to investigate the factors, facilitators, and barriers to the development and adoption of comprehensive policies. Methods An online questionnaire was distributed to 6423 AA working in U.S.-based high school athletics, with 366 included in the final data analysis. The questionnaire evaluated AA’s knowledge of comprehensive SCIM policies addressing components of adoption, documentation, and communication. The questionnaire was developed based on the 2002 “National Athletic Trainers’ Association Position Statement: Acute Management of the Cervical Spine-Injured Athlete.” The questionnaire also inquired about facilitators and barriers to developing and adopting comprehensive policies. Proportions were calculated for policy adoption, and independent-samples t-tests evaluated the influence of athletic training services on comprehensive SCIM policies. Results About half of AA (49.2%, n = 180/366) reported having all recommended components of a written SCIM policy. AA who had access to an athletic trainer (yes = 62.9%, no = 18.1%, unknown = 19%) were more likely to have a comprehensive SCIM policy compared with those without access (80.6% vs 19.4%, χ 2 1 = 7.091, P = 0.008, prevalence ratio = 1.24, 95% confidence interval = 1.03–1.50). The most commonly reported facilitator (49.9%) was “having a medical professional at the school,” and the main barrier (30.2%) was “my school would need more information, resources, assistance, etc.” Conclusions The findings identify areas for improvement in supporting the health and safety of children in high school participating in interscholastic athletics. Future dissemination and implementation research should develop strategies tailored to individual school community and need to improve SCIM policy adoption and implementation.

Clear, precise language in coaching contracts plays key role in protecting institutions

The recent high‐profile cases at Northwestern University and Michigan State University, in which the institutions fired the head coaches of their respective football teams, have elevated the language of employment contracts into the national spotlight. Because one of the coaches has already filed a lawsuit challenging his termination, the case serves as a reminder of the importance of structuring employment contracts so that they convey as much certainty as possible. Indeed, when athletics administrators are equipped with clear contractual language, reasoned and appropriate decisions can be made in light of the varied circumstances that may compel action.

Student first? A case study examining the student-athlete support services at an NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) Institution

The purpose of this study was to examine the current student-athlete support services at an NCAA Division I FBS level institution through the lens of high impact educational practices. The researchers considered the overall college athlete experience by identifying and describing what resources student-athlete support services provide, how college athletes are (or are not) utilizing these services and applying high impact educational practices to these services. Employing a qualitative approach, 14 semi-structured interviews with college athletes and administrators presented several themes addressing the implementation of high impact educational practices. The results presented are of importance to athletics administrators interested in understanding how to develop meaningful student-athlete support services, while supporting college athlete interests and constraints. Athletics administrators can learn to establish on-campus programming for their college athletes in addition to creating a comfortable climate and connection between college athlete support services and on-campus resources.

The Collegiate Sport Experience: Reconceptualizing Sport Venues and College Athlete Satisfaction

Academic institutions across the country have and will continue to spend billions of dollars annually on facilities to recruit and retain their athletes. However, most facility research in sport focuses on consumer satisfaction instead of athlete satisfaction despite the fact satisfied athletes are going to (a) be more likely to initially commit to a school and (b) be retained by a school. Thus, it is important that researchers shift from mainly focusing on sport spectators to also focusing on college athletes, the primary users of sport facilities. Accordingly, a conceptual model of collegiate athlete satisfaction with competition venues was developed from a critical review and research synthesis of the general facility management and sport facility management literatures. The proposed model created from the literature review includes financial, functional, aesthetic, and atmospheric indicators, and uses norms as comparative standards as its theoretical foundation. From this model and corresponding narrative explanation, sport researchers and athletic department administrators should gain knowledge and guidance about how to better utilize sport venues to enhance the college sport experiences of their athletes.

Game Attendance in Luxury: Purchase Motivations of Suites and Club Level Seating in Division I College Football

At the Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) level, athletic departments generate revenues from ticket sales, and premium seating areas provide spectators with upgrades in exclusive parts of stadiums for a substantial fee. The focus of this study was to determine purchase motivations for college football premium seating, where emergent themes were discerned from data provided by actual premium seating users and expert athletic administrators. Results indicated the following prevalent themes (and sub-themes) on motivations to purchase luxury suites: experience (comfort and amenities, watching the game), entertainment (family and friends, corporate), prestige, and support. In club level seating, the results indicated purchase motivations included: watching the game (view, seat setting), upgraded amenities (climate comfort, food and beverages/alcohol), prestige, and support. Chiefly, the findings indicated college football premium seating spectators are distinct from general seating attendees, and expanded premium seating research beyond just administrator perceptions with corporate clientele in professional sport. Keywords: college football, FBS, luxury suites, club level seating, premium seating, attendance, motivators, sport consumer behavior, Division I, ticket sales

Longtime AD offers insight into preparing for changes

As he looks through his lens of expertise and knowledge gained from decades of on‐the‐job experience, Ron Prettyman is concerned about the future of college athletics. “College sports is in a major state of flux right now. There's a need for strong leadership,” said Prettyman, who devoted 41 years to college athletics administration, including some consulting work along the way. He now serves as Interim Athletics Director at the University of New Haven and Vice President and Consultant at SP Athletics, which provides athletics‐related executive searches at the collegiate, professional, organization, and club levels, as well as 360‐degree evaluations of athletics departments and athletics organizations, identifying strengths and weaknesses and making recommendations, he explained.

Whiteness, Canadian university athletic administration, and anti-racism leadership: ‘A bunch of white haired, white dudes in the back rooms’

ABSTRACT This paper theorises ‘whiteness’ in relation to systems of power, leadership, and oppression within post-secondary sport athletic departments in Ontario, Canada. Using results from the Ontario University Athletics (OUA) Anti-Racism Project, we position whiteness as a significant and unavoidable obstacle to productive anti-racism leadership and labour within university athletics. While many Canadian university athletic departments have publicly embraced a call to anti-racism practice and policy, progress too-often remains contingent on largely white, male, and older leadership groups making decisions surrounding instances of racism that they often have no history personally experiencing, witnessing, or most concerningly, handling professionally. Examples from the project include administrators who often have more than 20-years-experience referencing ‘blindness’, naiveté, or not knowing where to look as reasons for viewing racism as a cursory or circumscribed problem, or as an issue not on the same scale as other athletic departments have attempted to tackle (e.g. sexual violence and concussion). We argue that these denials of the existence of racism work to reproduce the dominant structures of power, destabilise efforts for education or policy initiatives and maintain the oppression, racial hierarchies and marginalisation of racialised people within collegiate athletics.