BY KIMBERLY KEENAN, JD
Kimberly Keenan currently holds the title of Director of Track & Field Operations. She has spent 32 years working in college athletics. An attorney for two years, she left the full-time practice of law to work with collegiate athletes as a coach and administrator. She has worked at all divisions of college athletics, from Division III to a power-four institution, now finding a home at Princeton University, enjoying the combination of academic and athletic excellence. She has served as a coach and manager on two U.S. Olympic staffs and has held several other national coaching and managerial positions.
When asked what I do as director of track and field operations, I often joke that I do all the things coaches don’t want to do. My days revolve around the needs of our coaches and student-athletes.
A few years ago, the position of director of operations did not exist. It began to emerge in sports like football and basketball and has spread to other college sports. Now, most larger collegiate programs have one or more directors of operations, which allow the coaches to focus on coaching. Over time, the role of a college coach has grown to include compliance responsibilities, travel details, uniform needs, fundraising, and meet management. At schools with a director of operations, these responsibilities fall to that position so the coaches can focus on recruiting and coaching their athletes.
Before landing in this role, I had the privilege of wearing many hats at the collegiate level. My start began as a Division III cross-country coach and business manager and ended as a small Division I track and cross-country coach. The middle years were spent in administration at all levels of collegiate athletics. While my path to my current position at Princeton University is not a normal one, it gave me a more diverse perspective than most.
During my time as an administrator, I have seen directors of operations who were at the top of their game. They were super organized, in sync with their head coach, able to anticipate the needs of a program before the coaching staff, and always in the shadows, helping guide a team more than anyone realized. I have also seen the flip side, where a director of operations made poor planning choices that cost teams a win or an athlete a chance to perform at his or her best.
I have had the privilege to serve as head and assistant team manager on U.S. Olympic and World Championship staffs. These experiences have taught me how to be my best with little sleep and under extreme pressure. You don’t want to be the reason why an athlete does not bring home an Olympic medal. You are called upon to do many things that might not seem to be part of the role, but if it helps an athlete perform at his or her best, that is what you do. Similarly, with the director of operations jobs, you will perform “other duties as assigned,” which is a popular catch-all phrase for the myriad of unexpected things that come up in athletic job descriptions.
The most important quality or skill of someone in this role is organization. The second key trait is being able to handle chaos on the fly and stay cool. The more organized you are, the more chaos you can prevent. However, there will be several things not within your control that you will have to handle, and that is when keeping your cool makes things go smoother.
Some basic tenants of being organized involve keeping an annual “to do” list to help as a guide for all the reoccurring events. This is especially helpful in working with my athletic communications staff to help them remember when we need to do nominations for coaches and athlete awards. For myself, one of my lists will include all the due dates of all the entries for each meet and all the due dates for room lists and names for airline flights. I include in annual dates such things as when to order senior awards, reserve rooms for banquets or team meetings, plan break housing, or meal needs. I keep most of my documents in a Google doc format so I can have access to them from my phone at all times.
College track and field staffs consist of up to six coaches per gender if the director of operations has a spilt program. High school programs will have one head coach and possibly one or two part-time coaches, so it becomes more challenging as a head coach to coach and handle the administrative responsibilities that come with the job. Each team has up to seven different disciplines. The jumps coach may need tape for marking take-off spots, the vault coach may need the poles shipped two days before a competition, and the throws coach may have overweight luggage to be handled at the airport when traveling with implements. You need to make sure you prioritize what needs to be taken care of first and always keep the head coach at the front of the list. Being in sync with your head coach (or coaches) helps you anticipate his or her needs and know what to expect.
The next area that helps ensure success is communication. In any type of program, the head coach needs to communicate with his or her staff. The director of operations or assistant coaches are not mind readers and cannot operate at their best when missing vital bits of information. Multiple parties need to be in the loop at all times. The athletes are important, and the key is to make sure they will use the mode of communication you are using. If you are using email, text, TeamWorks, or WhatsApp and they don’t check that mode, things may be missed. The team around the athletes also needs to know what the program is doing. That can include the athletic trainers, athletic communication staff, strength and conditioning staff, business office, travel office, administrator, athletic director, and facilities staff. It is helpful to have these individuals saved as a group text so you can include them in all your messaging.
Another effective way to ensure strong communication is by having a staff meeting on Monday or Tuesday each week. This allows you and the staff to be on the same page. A detailed agenda is helpful to keep on track and make sure your head and assistant coaches know the issues that need to be addressed each week. It is also key to plan one to two weeks ahead. At this meeting, feel free to delegate some of the essential tasks, when necessary. For high school programs, even a 15-minute meeting at the beginning of your week will help guide your staff to a smoother performance. From here, make sure to build the weekend’s itinerary in consultation with your head coach.
There are plenty of times when I wish I could clone myself when the men’s and women’s teams, which operate separately, want multiple things at the same time. When the teams travel to meets, we often stay in different hotels, and I may be shuttling athletes to the same or even different tracks from the same or different hotels, which also requires time (and traffic) management. When working with programs with two head coaches, their ability to collaborate will help you do your job more effectively.
Meet management is another hat that many directors of operations wear. This allows the coaches to focus on their athletes’ performances as you put out fires all along the way. Are the officials all here? Did the student volunteers show up? Is lunch arriving on time? Did you order enough vegetarian meals? Are the steeple barriers at the right height? All these issues can occur at the same time and it typically falls on you to handle them. Having a good plan to deal with the potential issues and having a worst-case scenario plan is important to have with your facilities staff and head coaches. What if the power goes out? Do your timers have a generator? Can the lights on the track be turned back on? What about a traumatic injury? These are all things that should be reviewed before your hosting duties start. When hosting meets, make sure you know where the extra high jump or pole vault crossbar is, extra stopwatches for high school programs that don’t use automatic timing systems, and make sure to take care of your officials by feeding them well and preparing for excessive cold- or heat-related issues.
If your role includes keeping track of equipment, gear, and uniforms, make sure you are prepared and organized. You don’t want your future conference champion to not have a new pair of spikes when his or her current pair pops the week of the championship. Keeping at least one uniform in your backpack will come in handy when you get to your destination and someone forgets his or her uniform. While you don’t need to travel with every size, a medium or large size for men and a small or large size for women will cover most needs.
Also squeezed in my backpack are spikes of all sizes, wrenches, batons, athletic tape, stopwatches, pins, nutrition bars, hair ties, and $200 in cash, just in case a coach needs to file a protest on the conference or NCAA level. I have seen many coaches running around frantically looking for someone with cash on hand, so I always make sure I have that, if ever needed.
When thinking about taking on a position as a director of operations, you need to be willing to “get your hands dirty.” This is not a glamorous job. But it is a job for which, if things go well, you know you have helped your athletes and coaches reach their true potential. It can be rewarding to know you have played a small role in their success. Getting to know your head coaches and being able to anticipate their needs will make this job easier.
This is a position in which you can grow each year and get better at your job, which will open other doors. Some individuals transition to a coaching position while others move into college administration. No matter the path you take, the hard work you put into this position will be rewarded when your student-athletes and coaches reach their potential.
