Athletic directors come in all shapes and sizes and are responsible for a variety of different things, depending on the school that he or she works for. The typical duties of an athletic director include hiring coaches, meeting with coaches and students, scheduling games and events, arranging travel accommodations, managing the budget, and much more (Lowe, 2014). However, there are even more duties that are thrown onto the shoulders of an athletic director in a Division III school. Most lower division schools ask their athletic directors to also serve as a coach for a particular sport due to their lower budget (Masteralexis, Barr & Hums, 2012, p. 184). Essentially, an athletic director is responsible for nearly everything when it comes to the athletic program. Regardless of the type of school they work for, athletic directors face difficult challenges every day and at times, face the burden of having the fate of the program in their hands. Knowing this, the reason athletic directors go into work every day is not for their salary, which is on average about $106,580 annually which can also change based on the division the school is in (Salary, 2016). Even though it is a lot of money, the real reason athletic directors do what they do is because they love their job and they are willing to overcome any challenges that may come their way in order to …show more content…
For example, athletics directors of Division III schools have the additional challenge of working with a smaller budget compared to a Division I school (Masteralexis, Barr & Hums, 2012, p. 184). The necessary assets needed to succeed may not be there, so an athletic director at a Division III school will find it more challenging to build a competitive team with such limited resources. Even though it is more challenging for someone in a smaller program, the challenges of raising funds for the program is still difficult regardless of how big the program is (Lowe, 2014). The pressure that is on the shoulders of an athletic director to meet requirements when it comes to the budget of the team and hiring the right coaches is immense. On top of the large amount of pressure, athletic directors also work long and grueling days. The typical athletic director usually works about six days a week with continuous hours and unlike most teachers, athletic directors still work during school vacations and during the summer (Lowe, 2014). To some people, long days at work while dealing with high pressure situations would not interest them whatsoever. Regardless of these challenges, athletic directors have learned how to overcome them by gaining the necessary skills and experience to do