The Middlebury Campus

Issue date: 12/7/06 Section: Sports

Media Credit: Jeff Patterson [Click to enlarge]

With a view overlooking the climbing wall and indoor tennis courts in the Nelson, newly appointed Athletic Director (AD) Erin Quinn '86 takes a seat at his desk. It is only his fourth month on the job, but what makes many confident he will handle his work soundly is that he brings a valuable perspective to the position.

Quinn approaches his new role armed with experience in Middlebury athletics. As a student at the College, he captained the football team. After graduation, Quinn took on short stints at other colleges before returning to Middlebury as an assistant coach for both the Panther football and lacrosse teams in the 1990-1991 school year. He became head coach for men's lacrosse in the spring of 1992, a role he would not relinquish until this year.

Using this experience, Quinn now emphasizes communication between the Athletic Department and the rest of the College. Increased communication, he believes, helps to avoid possible conflicts between classes and sporting events, or professors and students. Last Wednesday, Quinn moderated a forum in the Charles A. Dana Auditorium on the representation and integration of athletes into the student body.

The forum, "Athletics at Middlebury: Finding the Right Balance," stressed that academics and athletics need not be exclusive, and that the two can co-exist to the benefit of students, coaches and faculty alike. Even though complete solutions were not offered, Quinn said that providing answers to questions was not the main goal of the forum.

"We just wanted to raise issues and give people the opportunity to talk about these issues," said Quinn. "By that standard, it was a great success and there was a great student turnout."

So, with his first semester as AD almost over, The Campus sought an interview and an insider's perspective on what his job is really like:


The Campus: Can you give a brief description of the job of an Athletic Director?

Erin Quinn: There's one role of keeping the trains running on time - making sure that there is transportation for teams and making sure that there are officials for the teams. It is important that the sporting events are staffed and set up to run smoothly and efficiently. We have to make sure our athletic contests go off smoothly, both home and away.

Continued...

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