If FAMU doesn’t learn anything from its latest run in with the NCAA, it should learn how critically important it is to hire an experienced athletic director with a proven record of success. An AD with track record of running a clean program.
Yesterday’s announcement by the NCAA sited “systemic issues that have occurred on FAMU's campus for roughly 19 years.”
The NCAA report noted, “since 2010, eight different individuals have served as FAMU's primary athletics compliance officer. During the same time period, seven different individuals have served as athletics director.”
In the past 10 years FAMU has had six athletic directors ---Bill Hayes, Derek Horne, Kellen Winslow Sr., Nelson Townsend, Milton Overton, John Eason--- and three interims (Michael Smith (twice), E. D’Wayne Robinson, and John Eason.
Only Hayes and Townsend had prior experience as an athletic director. Horne previously served as an associate athletic director at the University of Mississippi, where he over saw transportation and concessions. Overton came to FAMU after spending six years at the University of Alabama, where he served as associate athletics director overseeing information technology.
When Horne was introduced as FAMU’s AD in 2010, then President Ammons said "he has the potential to help us usher in a new era of Rattler sports."
In hindsight, what FAMU needed then was a proven leader, not someone with potential. FAMU again, hired potential in 2017 with Overton.
Athletic directors have to oversee everything that goes on in the athletic program. Hiring coaches, scheduling, making a budget, promoting the school’s teams, and making sure everything is in compliance with policies and procedures are major components of their roles. It’s a lot to handle, which is why the best athletic directors are people who thrive in leadership roles on top of enjoying sports.
An experience athletic director helps to build a culture that encourages creativity and innovation and outlines a mission-critical strategy for forward movement and sustainability. And, above all run a clean program.
ADs with experience have seen it all, and can help to navigate the sometimes turbulent waters, have learned to work through bureaucratic processes, bring team building and management expertise, understand different work cultures, and have weathered the peaks and valleys that accompany dynamic business cycles. These skills sets are not something that FAMU has had in recent years.