Athletic Director Time Use at NCAA Division I Institutions

ABSTRACTIntercollegiate Athletics Directors (ADs) are the primary managers of athletics programs on college campuses. At the Division I level of the NCAA, ADs manage multimillion dollar budgets and programs that relate to their institutions' profitability, visibility, student-interest, student-achievement, and donations, yet little is known about ADs' day-to-day job responsibilities. The purposes of this study were (1) to systematically examine the composition and content of ADs' workdays at NCAA Division I member institutions, and (2) to examine potential relationships between ADs' work, the sports seasons in which their work is performed, and the league membership of their institutions. Twelve ADs from the Ivy League, Patriot League, and Southeastern Conference (SEC) completed electronic time diaries for 113 workdays featuring 714 distinct work activities during fall and spring of the 2020-21 school year. For each activity, participants recorded the exact beginning and end time, whether or not the activity was planned in advance, the location of the activity, the personnel with whom they engaged, the primary purpose of the activity, the extent to which the COVID-19 pandemic influenced the activity, and their level of stress during the activity. Overall, results indicated the daily work of NCAA Division I ADs was largely administrative and engaged with others. It was most often pre-planned and episodic, rather than spontaneous and choppy. Moreover, the amount of time ADs devoted to each of their major job responsibilities per day was generally consistent across sports seasons. ADs experienced low levels of occupational stress, and the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the purposes of ADs' work throughout the 2020-2021 year were relatively low. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed, and recommendations for future researchers and practitioners are offered.