by Marty O'BrienNewport News Daily PressHAMPTON, Va. - Lonza Hardy began his path to athletic director of Hampton University in Pleasant Hill, N.C., a small town just south of the Virginia border near Emporia. He describes a place similar to the fictional TV hamlet of Mayberry, N.C.
"It was a family atmosphere," he said. "If you did something wrong in school, the neighbors would get to you before you got home.
"The neighbors felt they had just as much of an investment in you as your parents."
Hardy, 51, has done them proud. Reading such books as "The Autobiography of Malcolm X" and "To Kill A Mockingbird" inspired him to attend the University of North Carolina Journalism School.
There, he wrote school newspaper features about UNC basketball heroes of the era: Phil Ford, Walter Davis and Mitch Kupchak.
After graduation, he spent 10 years as the sports information director at three historically black colleges. Then he served for 11 years in the Southwestern Athletic Conference office, where he rose to associate commissioner for media relations.
He moved from the conference office in 2001 to become athletic director at SWAC school Mississippi Valley State. On June 20, Hardy became athletic director at Hampton University, succeeding Joe Taylor, who stepped aside after two years to focus on his role as head football
coach.
Q: How does a sports information director rise to athletic director?
A: During my time in the SWAC offices, I would sit in on presidents'
council meetings and athletic directors' meetings. As changes took place
in the athletic directors' ranks, people would suggest I go after jobs.
In 2001, the president of Mississippi Valley State told me he wanted me
to apply for the job. I was there for the next six years.
Q: What are you proudest of during your time at Mississippi Valley?
A: When I got there, all of the sports, with the exception of men's
basketball, were near the bottom of the conference standings. Of the 10
conference schools, Valley ranked ninth or 10th in athletic budget
allocation.
We brought in quality coaches, who brought in the right
student-athletes, and worked hard despite the lack of funding. It was
gratifying that by the end of the six years, just about every team was
competing for conference championships.
Q: Why did you come to Hampton?
A: I wanted to be closer to home. When I first got the call, I didn't
know a lot about Hampton.
One of my first impressions was how beautiful it is. All you have to do
is get a kid to come to the campus and they'll probably want to come
here.
Q: You oversaw some capital improvements at Mississippi Valley. What
improvements do you foresee at Hampton?
A: A main concern when I got here was improving the locker-room
facilities. We expect the facilities in Holland Hall to be finished by
the spring of 2008.
We plan on having a new softball field by the spring of 2009. Dr. Harvey
(HU President William Harvey) has done a good job of getting that done
by making funds available.
Q: An ongoing concern has been the low graduation rates and Academic
Progress Rate scores for some teams. How concerned are you about that?
A: Fortunately, from what I've seen, the teams that were challenged -
mainly men's and women's basketball and men's track and field - have
improved. I know it was in the newspaper that the men's basketball
graduation rate was 20 percent.
But when you look at last year, the APR scores improved from the low
800s to 977. That's a drastic increase.
Q: How do you ensure that improvement continues?
A: Some changes are in place, and some we're still refining. We have to
come up with a realistic plan to better monitor students and make
coaches accountable for that. In the past, coaches just weren't put on
the carpet for being accountable for graduation rates. Basketball was a
classic example.
We're going to make graduation a major part of coaches' year-end
evaluation to let them know they'll be evaluated on how well their
athletes perform in the classroom.
Q: Attendance at football games has been small, except for homecoming
and the rivalry (Howard and Norfolk State) games. Basketball attendance
has been low for years, win or lose. What are you thoughts on that?
A: That's been one of the great disappointments, considering the
football team won three consecutive conference championships coming into
this season. At the same time, it's one of the great challenges.
I'd like to have a home-game summit, where we bring in individuals from
institutions that do a good job of attracting fans: Mid-Eastern Athletic
schools like North Carolina A&T and South Carolina State. We could learn
from them.
Q: Your personal ambitions?
A: I've always wanted to be a novelist. I haven't had time to do that
with this profession, and what I'd write about I don't know. But one day
I want to walk into Books-A-Million and see a section with my books in
it.