A Day in the Life of an AD: Good Morning

A Day in the Life of an AD: Getting Ready for the Day

Welcome to “A Day in the Life of an AD,“ our new blog series where we will explore an in-depth glimpse into high school athletics through the eyes of an Athletic Director. In this series we will highlight what ADs in the industry do behind the scenes, what their challenges are, and celebrate their victories. So whether you are an AD, a sports fan, interested in the inner workings of high school athletics, curious about the administrative side, or have a high school aged child playing sports, this series is designed specifically for you.

Let’s kick off this dawn-to-dusk profession like a true AD — early in the morning!

GOOD MORNING

6:30 AM: Other Duties as Assigned

The morning comes early for an Athletic Director. Most ADs are going to be at their school by 6:30 AM — wasting no time as soon as they walk through the doors.

It’s 7:00 AM and students are arriving and most ADs will start their day with one of their responsibilities that fall under the “other duties as assigned” category. ADs across the country are responsible for various duties through the day that do not always correlate to athletics. For example: did you know many ADs take on morning drop off duty or bus duty? This is when school-based administrators are strategically placed throughout campus, and at bus drop off locations, to ensure the safety of students.

The reality for many busy Athletic Directors is they will spend the first 30-45 minutes of their day monitoring students. This is a great opportunity to meet students and learn more about them! This also allows an AD to interact with non student-athletes whom they don’t regularly get to engage with.

7:50 AM: Daily Tasks

Once the AD heads back to their office, there is plenty of work to be done. Mornings can be the quieter (this term is relative for an AD) time of the day for an AD, so an excellent opportunity to complete daily tasks. Here a snapshot of a few common daily tasks:

Schedule all transportation
Schedule game Officials
Confirm contract signatures from opposing teams
Trainers are scheduled to be at upcoming games
Schedule on-duty Administrator
Confirm Tickets are on sale
Post game day details and tickets on social media
Confirm gate workers
Concessions stocked and volunteers confirmed
Review facility schedule

9:00 AM: Communications

Once the daily checklist is complete, mornings are an excellent time to catch up on communication; return voicemails, email replies, or texts from the coaching staff. Many school administrators and staff rely on regular communication from the Athletic Director, so it’s important an AD dedicates time to stay on top of internal communications.

On the heels of communication are administrative meetings. Mornings are a favorable time for school administration to come together to discuss updates, plans, budgeting, and more.

One recurring challenge an AD often faces in the mornings following a game, is the reality of inaccurate funds collected from games the day prior.

It’s often a discrepancy of a few dollars or the loss of some physical tickets. But no matter the discrepancy, every single dollar matters to the AD and the school. Even a rounding error will signal an investigation and documentation from the AD to ensure every dollar is accounted for.

This is one the reasons digital ticketing has been a game changer for ADs. With HomeTown, an AD gets more than just a seamless gate entry experience for fans. They get access to real-time reporting that gives ADs an in-depth look into their event data with just a few clicks — this not only gives the AD visibility into critical data, but it saves them time!

10:00 AM: Facilities

We’re not quite done. Last but certainly not least is a facilities check:

Which facilities hosted a game the night prior
Make sure everything is cleaned up properly
Was there a storm or rain? Make sure there is no damage and fields are playable.
Technical walkthroughs. Scoreboard working? Lights operating? PA system ready to go? Microphone checks

Keeping a close eye on facilities is paramount for an AD. Catching something early and inputting work order to make sure the facilities stay in the best shape for all future games is critical.