Thursday, February 16, 2012

The CAA and Tom Yeager----Prospering In the Turmoil of Conference Re-alignment

Without question the most difficult job in the world of sports is being a NCAA Division 1 conference commissioner. Think about having to deal with a University President who has a definite agenda and the answer to almost every issue; an Athletic Director who is charged with winning games, graduating students and financially managing a multi-million dollar budget and 16 coaches whose major focus is winning games. Now multiply that situation by 12 or 15 (the number of schools in a conference) and that is the day in, day out job a conference commissioner. Having teams that compete to the maximum in the athletic arena and then work together to build a conference that makes decisions that may be good for the group, but are sometimes at the expense of an individual school, has all the earmarks of an extremely dysfunctional organization. To make matters more difficult, Universities and their leadership are always looking for (in their minds) a better home for their program with very little concern for their current situation. Witness the crazy geographical make-up of some conferences and current domino game going on in conference affiliation like TCU going from the Mountain West to the Big East to the Big 12 within a year and you get a feel for the volatility of Division 1 athletics. Certainly these situations and issues challenge even the best leaders and conference commissioners every day. Yet some conferences have prospered in this crazy environment because of solid leadership by conference commissioners..

One of the best and most respected commissioners in Division 1 (who has faced this challenge for over 25 years) is the Colonial Athletic Association’s Tom Yeager. As the only commish in the history of the CAA, Tom has seen the dramatic change in college athletics and withstood the fleeting loyalty of University Presidents to build a rock solid conference that does things right. The CAA has had Final Four appearance in men’s and women’s basketball, National championships and big runs in NCAA Championships in just about every other sports and has done it with no major violations and a reputation for doing things right. The question arises, “How can anyone lead a group that has big egos, divergent missions and a burning desire to beat the brains out of the other members of the group?”

Tom Yeager has that challenge and has managed it beautifully. How? Tom Yeager has almost no ego. He is totally committed to achieving the best result for the schools and the conference without feeling any personal need to be the “main man”. Because of his lack of ego, he has been able to use the talents of all the Universities and their presidents, A.D.’s and coaches to massage the best result without creating confrontational situations. Like all great leaders, Tom has been able to draw on the collective knowledge, skill and energy of the entire group to maximize the productivity of the conference while making everyone feel that they are big contributors to the success of the group.

Understand that your mission as a leader is to accomplish a result that provides the most possible success for the group. It is not about you as the leader but about how we all will benefit by working together. Using all the talents of the group to get the bottom line result is the true test of a leader. Learn a lesson from Commissioner Yeager, ego gets in the way of building a team. That is the reason Tom Yeager has been the CAA Commissioner for over 25 years during this time of conference affiliation leapfrog, the CAA is stronger and more successful than ever.

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