To close The Shield’s coverage of Division I sports for the 2023-24 season, I wanted to get a perspective on USI athletics that I hadn’t covered before. I wanted to look at something that isn’t quite given as much spotlight as it deserves — the administration side of sports. At USI, no one is more qualified to speak on this topic than Athletic Director Jon Mark Hall. Hall has been in the position for over two decades, having been hired in 2002 and working at the university since the late 1990s.

Hall said the key to his long tenure at USI was simply “the people, the campus community, the way they’ve treated me, my family, the students, each other. It feels like a family atmosphere. To me, that is super important.”

Several members of the athletic department have served as cornerstones at the university. Ray Simmons has been the communications director since 1989. Rick Stein, women’s basketball head coach, has been in that position for 25 years. Mike Hillyard has been the head coach of men’s and women’s cross country/track and field for over 25 years. Simply put, the members who make up this department have built a longstanding and sturdy system that could see significant growth in the years to come.

When asked about the day-to-day operations that an athletic director might see, Hall said, “The easy answer is, I oversee these 19 programs and the people involved in the programs that are trying to lead those programs to success.”

It’s not quite that easy, as Hall is involved in the university president’s cabinet, a committee that discusses university issues that span beyond athletics. Hall is also responsible for maximizing student-athlete resources, balancing revenue and business expenditures, expanding the growth of the program and determining strategies that will build USI’s brand recognition and assets.

Hall said his primary mission is to “make young men and women better than they were when they got here.” He said he wants not only to keep them on track academically but to succeed academically.

“We feel like we can succeed in the classroom and on the field,” Hall said.

For making the jump to Division I, Hall expressed a sentiment of wanting to reach a new frontier, a new challenge.

“We were a good, successful Division II program,” he said.

However, when you are successful at one venture, you want to not only maintain that success but also build upon it with success in new ventures as well. Division I is the premier level of college athletics. It’s where all the revenue and spotlight is. With that comes a need for more resources and staff, which the university has invested in. Hall mentioned that before the jump, the university had no dedicated academic advisors for athletes. Now they have two. They also brought in a full-time director of compliance to maintain academic integrity among athletes.

Another benefit of going into Division I is the name and brand recognition that comes with that. This is something that Hall and the athletic department are committed to. The approach as a whole is slow but concentrated and measured steps in the right direction. To quote English playwright John Heywood, “Rome wasn’t built in a day, but they were laying bricks every hour.” This principle can be applied to this program. If the university makes the right decisions and doesn’t overplay the hands it’s given, then it can build a program that the community as a whole can be proud of.

Hall’s big plan is for all the programs to be in the right position to make their respective National Collegiate Athletic Association tournaments by year five in Division I. Whether it’s basketball, baseball, soccer, golf, tennis, volleyball or any other sport, it’s all about making the right steps toward success, on and off the field.

Finally, Hall wanted to give some insight to those seeking a career in athletics. His statement was simple: “Get involved, get engaged early.”

It’s all about experience and getting your foot in the door. Everyone who has ever been in this field has worked all manner of jobs. Through these jobs, they gain both the experience and the relationships they build, which are extremely valuable.

“You have to love it because you have to spend a lot of time doing it,” Hall said. “It’s not just a nine-to-five. There’s nobody in our department that works a nine-to-five.”

The job is unpredictable. Whether it’s late games and meetings or early phone calls, you’re never on a condensed schedule. Sometimes, you have to sacrifice freedom for a chance to do what you love. In order to be successful, you have to make sacrifices and be open to taking a leap of faith.