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The CSBN Chat: Emphasizing Balance Between Professional and Personal Time for a Healthy Quality of Life
GUEST: Dr. Bill Husak, Director of Athletics, Loyola Marymount University
"At LMU, as I believe with most athletics programs, we have people who view their occupation as both a vocation and a job. They invest themselves beyond what is expected in most professions in terms of both time and intensity of duties. Over the long haul, this can take a toll on a person’s health, attitude and family/personal life."
CSBN: Bill, you were the first person I know to identify a growing problem in college athletics, which is the difficulty in achieving a healthy balance between professional obligations and personal pursuits. Can you describe how you came to see this tension as a real problem?
HUSAK: I was fortunate to become an athletics director at a wonderful institution, Loyola Marymount University. When you become in charge of an athletics program, you have a bird’s-eye view of how hard people work, the long hours they put in for relative little compensation and the stress it adds to their personal lives. At LMU, as I believe with most athletics programs, we have people who view their occupation as both a vocation and a job. They invest themselves beyond what is expected in most professions in terms of both time and intensity of duties. Over the long haul, this can take a toll on a person’s health, attitude and family/personal life. The institution and athletics department has no greater investment than the people it hires and not taking care of that investment is foolish. Even the most finely tuned race cars will eventually break down if you keep the pedal to the metal long enough.
CSBN: Why are the challenges and responsibilities of athletic administrators so demanding that it leads to a 24/7 work life with little or no time for a personal life?
HUSAK: That is a great question and the simple and truthful answer is that we have allowed it to become so. We try to keep up with other programs so we have the feeling we need to out-work them. Fans want more access so we allow it. The coaches and athletes of today are of a generation that requires more attention and we give it. So what loses out is personal and family time. There is less for that and the spiral of stress which can lead to burnout, frustration and emotional imbalance escalates.
CSBN: You spent the first half of your career as a tenured professor. What differences in lifestyle exist between an academic and an athletic administrator? Are there some lessons athletic administrators can learn from the academic side of the house?
HUSAK: The difference between being a tenured faculty member and an athletic administrator are significant. Although it was many years ago, my recollection is that I only had a firm commitment to be at the assigned time and location for the classes that I was assigned to teach and a couple of committees that I may have served on. I never kept a calendar and never missed a class, meeting or event. The process of tenure alone eliminates a great deal of stress and anxiety associated with job security.
Athletics is the complete opposite. I couldn’t imagine not having a calendar. Although I may have numerous regularly scheduled meetings, there are so many other activities that fill my day that no two days have every been the same. Athletics administration is much more pressure packed and one that you are measured against very objectively. How many games did you win or lose today? How much money have you raised today? How many people came to your games today? These answers are all black and white – you are either better or worse than yesterday or last year. The competitive nature of athletic administrators strives to have those numbers trending upward creating great stress. Over the long term, if that stress isn’t kept in check it can become one’s downfall.
CSBN: What are some of the steps that you have taken at LMU to help address this problem with your staff? Do you have any suggestions for how the NCAA can highlight this concern and begin encouraging institutions to address it?
HUSAK: Some years back I realized that I had gone a stretch of 42 consecutive days at work. That was crazy. And I realized that there were many others who were having similar schedules. I began to notice cracks in how I was perceiving, behaving and interacting with everyone. I was listening to people who weren’t saying it directly that they needed time off, but it was evident that they were tired and if something didn’t happen we were going to have an unhappy employee who was going to leave. I didn’t want that to happen. We began to schedule people so that everyone had at least one day off a week and a free weekend a month during the athletic year. That meant not coming onto campus and trying not to take anything home.
I encourage our staff to not only take vacation time during the summer, but also during the year. Creating a culture where someone isn’t perceived to be weak or incompetent because they are asking for help is also important. We try to support one another and that attitude goes a long way. At LMU, service is an important part of our mission. Many busy people see service as getting in the way of their job. I have found that those people who do service are energized when they return. Breaking up the routine in whatever way possible is important. And we should never forget family. We are all in different stages of “family” development – some are dating, some are married and raising children, some (like me) are learning to enjoy grandchildren. I really hate to see anyone neglect their family and whenever possibly we try to include family in our activities.
I believe that the NCAA, like it does with so many other topics dealing from alcohol to sexuality, should make people aware of the need for a balanced life for the purpose of creating happy and productive examples of what the athletics profession can offer to young people. Creating programs can certainly go a long way. A review of the NCAA by-laws should also be in order. Staying compliant is important, but it places a great deal of stress on people and departments and stretches human resources.
CSBN: What are some of the ways you personally try to protect and improve your quality of life in a business that places so many time consuming demands on you?
HUSAK: I wish I was better at doing so. I try to never bring work home so that I can spend time with my wife and focus on her when I am at home. I try to ensure that the activities I do are different from what I do at work. When I was a tenured professor I enjoyed watching ball games, going to sporting events and talking sports all the time.
Today, I enjoy golf but as much for the exercise and the company than I do for the competitiveness. I read and not just sports magazines. In other words, my time and activities outside of athletics are different from those that are a part of my duties and responsibilities in my position. But I must confess, since my wife does go to bed before me, I will turn on the television and watch a game if there is one on.