Photo by Autumn Walter |CIGAR| “I want every student athlete to leave here with their degrees and the opportunity to earn a championship.”
Q: What does your job entail?
A: “I am the Director of Athletics… and my job… the way I equate it is running a division of a company, so its one part of the University. We have a budget of about $25 million, so my job is to oversee all of that with about 100 employees and 500 student athletes.”
Q: What’s your favorite sport?
A: “I don’t really have a favorite sport. I played football in college and I enjoyed it, but I really love them all… Whatever sport I’m at, I really enjoy being a part of.”
Q: How long have you been at the University of Rhode Island?
A: “This is my 11th season at URI. I can’t believe it went by so fast. This is a great place, this has become home.”
Q: What is your favorite thing about URI?
A: “I love how much there is that URI offers our students in terms of so many different majors, great professors… When I think about my job, I love our student athletes, they are what make me truly motivated everyday to come in. They are just an amazing group of people.”
Q: Do you have any advice for the students of URI?
A: “My advice for any student that’s here is take advantage of everything that this University offers, find something that you love to do whether it’s writing for the Cigar, participating in sports, being involved in Student Senate… If you don’t you’re missing out!”
Q: What does the future of URI sports look like to you?
A: “I want every student athlete to leave here with their degrees and the opportunity to earn a championship.”
Q: What do you look for in new recruits?
A: “I think we want to find people that are going to be the right fit… A real commitment to realizing that being a student athlete is not easy, it takes a lot of time… I think we want people that can come in here and understand that it is a real privilege to represent this University.”
Q: What have you brought to the job from the lessons that you learned as a student athlete?
A: “Perspective is what I like to think I bring to the table… what I really like is that fact that I know so many student athletes by name, and that they know me by my first name, and maybe that I have had the opportunity to impact them positively. If that is something that I have been able to do then my career is something that I will look back on and smile at.”
Q: Outside of your job, what are your hobbies?
A: “I love to spend time with my wife and my kids. I love walking my dog, that’s kind of therapeutic for me. And I love just sitting at the beach… just taking in all that the state of Rhode Island has to offer, it’s a very special place.”