AD in Residence: Lindsey Wilson AD Willis Pooler

What would you attribute to building and sustaining success Lindsey Wilson has had during your tenure? 

I have been extremely fortunate to work at an institution that appreciates and supports competitive intercollegiate athletics. If that is the position of the administration, you have an opportunity to be highly successful. With that comes great responsibility, so you have to hire outstanding coaches who are able to recruit and develop the absolute best student-athletes on our level. I have been blessed to hire and work with a lot of great coaches. When you have so many talented people in your department, it helps create a culture of excellence. They are highly competitive people who invest so much in their student-athletes and provide the kind of leadership that gets the kind of results we have gotten over the years. Additionally, when you have an abundance of scholarship support from the administration, you get to work with amazing student-athletes. We have had some of the best NAIA student-athletes in the history of the organization. And so many are outstanding people as well. This has been a successful formula for us to achieve the long-term success we have had here.

As someone who has been a coach prior to becoming the AD at your alma mater, how do you think about recruitment and retention and supporting your coaches’ efforts? 

Identifying and keeping great coaches can be challenging. At a place like Lindsey Wilson, they know they are going to have the support they need to have one of the best programs in the NAIA. At that point, you get what you work for. Another way we support our coaches is by continually investing in their programs when they overachieve. The philosophy being, if we invest a dollar and get two dollars in return, we are going to emphasize those programs. We do a lot in that way to keep our coaches. On the flip side, living in rural Kentucky is not for everyone. We have had some really good coaches leave us for this reason, and I have interviewed and offered some who did not come to us because of the surroundings and went on to win national championships at other institutions. For the record, I love Columbia, Kentucky. The people are the best and it has been a great place to raise my kids.

You are in year 22 as the AD at LWC and your president is in year 27. How has that longevity been beneficial for the Blue Raiders? What have you done over the last 20+ years to create alignment and develop the relationship with your president?

It is a blessing and a curse. We are very like-minded when it comes to competitive athletics. Dr. Luckey played baseball at Wabash College. He is possibly the most competitive person I know. As long as he is the president, I know he is going to prioritize the culture that has been created at Lindsey Wilson. He loves to surround himself with staff and students who are high achievers. This extends outside of athletics. We also have great programs in theater and singing as well, to name a couple. The curse might be that he has extremely high expectations and expects results for the investment we make in our programs. And he should.

It has been a great partnership in developing our main campus. When I was hired as Director of Athletics in 2003, we had 407 student-athletes. Today we have over 800. Athletics has been the primary driver of the growth and viability of our Columbia campus. He is a great listener when I have ideas about new and existing programs. And we have done a very good job of executing plans when new programs have been added. The beauty here is sharing our mission with so many students who would not necessarily choose us without our athletic programs. We also could not have become a complete department without a shared vision. We used to be known for our soccer programs only. But as we saw small successes in our other programs over time, we made strategic investments to create a department where almost all of our programs have the ability to compete for national championships.

The majority of your coaching staff are alumni or former coaches for the Blue Raiders. What is the benefit of hiring someone with ties to the college? How much of an added bonus is it for a candidate to have LWC ties?

I think the biggest benefits are knowing our culture and Columbia, Kentucky. It is a reminder that you are always interviewing for a job. I know them by how they carried themselves as student-athletes. I know their habits and why they were successful at Lindsey Wilson. I have a lot of confidence in the alums we hire to create meaningful experiences for our student-athletes while helping develop them into successful graduates and adults.

I am always going to hire the best person for the job, regardless of where they graduated from. It is important for me to hire good people to mentor our student-athletes. I think when you are in the hiring process and it is close between two candidates, the known is better than the unknown. And the alums I hire are known and good people. That is definitely an added bonus.

What are some of the biggest opportunities you see for growth within NAIA athletics, both for your institution and for the association as a whole?

The NAIA has been wise to add championship sports to its offerings. This has allowed us to expand our program offerings while recruiting and enrolling new student-athletes that have an opportunity to compete for national championships. There is also a lot of uncertainty regarding the future structure of the NCAA. There could be a potential opportunity for the NAIA to be appealing to NCAA members depending on any changes that might impact NCAA institutions.

As someone who has more than twenty years of experience in the chair, what career advice would you give to aspiring ADs? And what would you prioritize early in your career if you were to start over?

I think being a head coach before moving into administration was extremely valuable for me, especially on our level. Knowing what your coaches do daily, the highs and the lows, how you can help them, and working to provide things they need to be successful are valuable components to being a successful AD. Experience in their seat is a great asset. Keep your boss happy! Understand the culture of your institution and how you can play a vital role in achieving institutional priorities. Be curious and ask questions. Do not be afraid to provide input. 

I would prioritize networking a bit more. There are some good mentors out there.