2023 Institute for Athletic Directors | Schedule

Speaker: Tim Green, Athletics Consultant, Southern Teachers

Division Level: Middle & Upper

The role of athletic director has continued to grow each year. The coaches in your program can be the most effective or most troublesome part of your responsibility, yet we often do not have systems in place to properly hire, train, or evaluate them. This presentation will explore systemic methods for the crucial parts of any coach’s development: training, mentoring, evaluating, and hiring.

Participants will:

• Understand the importance of using a systematic hiring process
• Learn effective methods to train and mentor coaches
• Realize the value of an effective system of evaluation for your coaching staff

Speaker: Jim Daughdrill, Director of Business Development, Enrollment Management Association

Division Level: Middle & Upper

Healthy enrollment requires partnerships across the school community to deliver a first-class experience for students and families, and athletics plays a major role in this process, even for non-athletes. In this session, we’ll explore the levers of the Strategic Enrollment Management Spectrum through the lens of athletic directors. Drawing on the latest research and trends from the Enrollment Management Association, we’ll share productive ways that ADs can help fuel healthy, sustainable enrollment (including admissions!) at your school.

Participants will:

• Gain an understanding of admission vs. enrollment management
• Define the role of athletics at a school, and specifically with respect to enrollment
• Learn best practices for ADs to contribute to healthy enrollment

Speaker: Larry Salley, Athletic Director, Porter-Gaud School

Division Level: Middle & Upper

The expectations for players, coaches, and parents can be very different for middle school, JV, and varsity teams. Establishing and clearly communicating these differences early can drive decisions across the program, from hiring through evaluation, from practice habits through playing time.

During this session, participants will:

• Evaluate and articulate current priorities at each level of play within their own programs

• Be able to thoughtfully reinforce or change those current spoken or unspoken priorities

• Come away with tools to communicate these priorities, before, during, and after each season

Speakers: Gabriella Pelosi & Danielle Vallas, Co-Founders, and Allison Gasuik, Wellness Coach, D&G Wellness Consulting

Division Level: Middle & Upper

In this session, participants will learn why athletes are susceptible to mental health conditions, obtain information regarding mental health conditions that commonly pertain to athletes (ex. anxiety, depression, eating disorders, and substance abuse), and learn to recognize red flags and warning signs. By understanding the ever-changing role of the coach, participants will acquire skills for early intervention and prevention to help their athletes approach and manage their mental health effectively in order to enhance their athletic skills. They’ll leave feeling more comfortable having conversations about mental health with their athletes, inspired to enhance their team culture to support mental health, and learn how to lead with vulnerability.

Participants will:

• Understand the importance and connection to mental health in athletics
• Learn how to help create a positive team culture to support athletes’ mental health
• Leave knowing how to start the conversation and talk to their student athletes about their mental health

Speaker: Jeff McGinnis, Executive Director, Nashville Coaching Coalition

Division Level: Middle & Upper

In this session, we’ll discuss how to handle the ever-changing environment of sports. To give your all to your coaches and players, you must give your full self. You will be invited into a new way of leading during this presentation through instruction, reflection, and discussion. Join us in remembering why you got into coaching, where your passion lies, those that influenced you, and how to impact those you lead.

Participants will:

• Learn about transactional vs transformational leadership
• Reflect on key players
• Understand The Big Four Questions – Feedback

Speaker: Ernest Robertson, Jr., Director of Sports Enrichment Programs/Auxiliary, Palmer Trinity School

Division Level: All

This session will offer best practices and innovative ways to enhance the parent-coach relationship. Participants will learn insightful strategies for coaches and athletic administrators to discuss playing time without actually discussing playing time. Discover how keeping the student-athlete at the center of the parent-coach relationship is most rewarding on the field and in the classroom. Common athletic mistakes made by coaches and administration will be discussed. The rights parents should be afforded, creative parent meeting ideas, a system of communication, program commitments, and playing time guidelines will be presented.

Participants will learn:

• How to enhance the parent-coach relationship
• Insightful strategies to address playing time
• Common athletic mistakes made by coaches and administration

Speakers: Jeff Schroeder, Middle School Athletic Director, and Mike Walker, Director of Athletics, Second Baptist School

Division Level: Middle & Upper

Chasing championships and advancing facilities are always going to get prioritized in high school athletics, but too often school leaders neglect to prioritize sub-varsity sports and eventually come to realize the direct impact that can have on retention and admissions. Giving students and families a great experience at the middle school, freshman, and junior varsity levels can create a positive word-of-mouth marketing benefit, impact overall retention and admission numbers, and intentionally create a culture that aligns with your mission in the lives of students much before they are competing on a varsity team.

In this session, participants will learn:

• Pro tips on how to place high-level coaches in front of sub-varsity athletes
• A communication plan that creates buy-in from parents
• Marketing strategies that impact the current student and the future student

Speaker: Patrice Elder, Director of Athletics and Co-Curricular Programs, Oak Hill School

Division Level: All

This session will assist participants in connecting the dots between athletics and the various departments (development/fundraising, admissions, diversity, equity, and inclusion, etc.) at their school. Attendees will identify possible blind spots in their program and discuss possible solutions for connection.

Participants will:

• Creatively analyze an athletic department to determine connection with school departments and key stakeholders
• Identify blind spots within their athletic program that could cause disconnect with departments
• Understand the key terms that could enhance program success

Speaker: Jesse Olvera, Director of Athletics, The Covenant School of Dallas

Division Level: Middle & Upper

This session will focus on how to prepare for a growing athletic department while staying true to your school’s mission.

The Covenant School of Dallas has grown in the last seven years: participation numbers, teams, facilities, coaches, budgets, and travel. Within seven years, the school has renovated the gym floor, added new turf on the football field, made HOA amendments to add lights, added new locker rooms, created an athletic handbook, and oversaw over 90 coaching positions.

This session will address questions schools may not be aware of, how not to handcuff programs because of facilities, and the challenges of a growing school community. Come with questions about your growing athletic programs!

Participants will be able to:

• Network with fellow ADs to collect data on teams, handbooks, and policies
• Understand vertical alignments for campus that have both JH and HS programs.
• Share ideas to allow for personal and school growth

Speakers: Daniel Russell, Athletic Director, Chattanooga Christian School, and Jay Watts, Director of Athletics, Girls Preparatory School

Room: Salon 7

Session description coming soon!