ONE-ON-ONE with Dave Martin, Director of Athletics
Dave Martin, director of athletics, answers questions in The Scranton Journal.
What does an
When we were kids, the belief was that athletics directors did schedules and hired officials and pumped up the balls. The job has changed so much in the time I’ve been in college athletics (33 years). I’m in my third year here and a large piece of my time has been spent in the planning and fundraising of the Kevin P. Quinn, S.J., Athletics Campus. We’ve also raised about $300,000 to help supplement operating costs here in Athletics. We’ve worked very hard and spent a lot of time developing The Royal Way, which is a touchstone for all athletes, the goal of which is to provide our student-athletes with a transformative Jesuit experience.
None of these things has to do with scheduling games, getting officials or pumping up balls!
Tell me more about The Royal Way.
What we’ve done is taken a touchstone and used it to drive everything that we do in terms of programming for student-athletes, programming as it relates to fundraising. It’s the way that we want to conduct our business. We want to win. We want to win as much as anybody. But we want to win on our terms, by doing it our way — The Royal Way.
What does the new Kevin P. Quinn, S.J., Athletics Campus mean for the University?
The Kevin P. Quinn Athletics Campus is an absolute game changer for everyone. In forever, we haven’t had a baseball field to call our own. We haven’t had a softball field to call our own. Fitzpatrick Field is not regulation size. So, we’ve had great teams, but we can’t play NCAA championship games here because it’s not regulation size. The idea of having our own facilities is amazing. And the facilities themselves — artificial turf fields with lights — they are state-of-the-art.
You started football at Misericordia. Is that going to happen
Interesting story. And this is a true story. So when I’m here for my interview, I’m meeting with Fr. Quinn up in his office, and it’s a little intimidating. We were chatting back and forth. Fr. Quinn folds his legs, and he puts his hands over his knee as he often did. And he says, “David, let me be perfectly clear about one thing.” And I say, “What’s that, Father?” He says, “There will be no football at The University of Scranton.” To
How did sports change your life?
Sports has kind of been my whole life. I had a baseball coach who was an awesome mentor. I’m a big quote guy now, and I think I probably got it from him. He said, “The key to happiness and success is to find something you love to do and you figure out a way to get paid for it."
I’ve done that. I love my job.
This Q&A was originally published in The Scranton Journal. For more, visit scranton.edu/scrantonjournal.
