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Printer-Friendly ModeAthletic Director resigns from position
June 26, 2006 —
Citing health issues and personal dissatisfaction with the job, Joe Vogl resigned from his post as Director of Athletics on Monday, June 5 and accepted a position in the SVSU Foundation.
George Eastland, professor of chemistry at SVSU and faculty representative for athletics, is assuming the interim role while a successor is found.
Vogl said his resignation came as a shock to the campus, but it was a decision that he said he had been mulling over for some time. A job that Vogl was excited to accept in May 2004 turned into one that was not worth the stress.
"If there's one thing, it's a matter if I'm not enjoying it, why am I doing it?" Vogl said. "Because there are an awful lot of hours, a lot of attention to detail that needs to be done, there's just a whole host of things that really demand a lot of time. And if you're not enjoying it at all, why are you putting your life through all of that stuff?"
Vogl explained that those conditions were leading to the deterioration of his health.
"My health was something that I was starting to become concerned with," he said. "There were an awful lot of sleepless nights and it was a constant thing that was just grinding at me.
He added that he was worried his health would continue to decline if he continued with the job.
"I just didn't think that was the right thing to be doing right now for me and my family," he said.
After serving as the Associate Athletic Director for nearly four years, Vogl was hired as the Interim AD in December 2003 when Griz Zimmermann left for Gannon University. The University then hired Vogl five months later to be the full-time AD.
"There was an awful lot of excitement on my part when I took over because it was a position that I thought that I not only could handle but wanted to," Vogl recalled. "There were a lot of things that I felt the Athletics Department needed attention to. For the most part I think we did a fairly decent job these two and a half years of moving the department forward."
Asked to mention what some of those things he addressed were, Vogl first mentioned the amount of part-time head coaches SVSU had three years ago.
When he was hired as Athletic Director, the department had nine part-time head coaches and, according to Vogl, "there was a constant changeover of who those head coaches were."
The lack of full-time positions hurt the department in who it could hire.
"You have to find a perfect fit in a part-time situation because of the amount of time demanded and the amount of money we were paying for a part-time coach - nobody was going to get rich off that," Vogl explained."Plus, there is an awful lot to learn; not only the rules and policies of the University but the NCAA rules, too."
Vogl added that recruiting, maintaining a winning program, and fund-raising were complicated that much more for part-time coaches.
The number of part-time coaches is now down to four, as the cheerleading, bowling, golf, and tennis teams have part-time coaches.
One of the part-time positions that was upgraded to full-time status was that of volleyball coach Will Stanton, a decision Vogl said was made in conjunction with several others to bolster that program.
Along with Stanton's promotion, Vogl freed up more scholarship money into the program, which came off the heels of a three-year renovation of the Cardinal Gym.
The renovation was more than just the floor and the bleachers, though, as the locker rooms were also upgraded.
"We had the facility, we had the locker room, so we had to bring the rest of the program up," Vogl explained. "So the coach, being full time now, gets a lot more opportunities to get on the road and recruit and pull that program up."
Finally, Vogl mentioned the renovation and addition to Wickes Stadium, a two-, maybe three-phase project that is not yet complete. In addition to the student section on the north end of the stadium and more visitor's side seats, a concession stand and restrooms will be added north of the stadium.
Vogl said the addition will also become the front door for the baseball and softball fields and outdoor track.
"It really made a lot of sense as far as how the whole concept came together for our outdoor facilities, which were really in need of some sort of updating," he explained. "That was a pretty neat thing to be involved with."
Vogl's new job as development officer in the SVSU Foundation, the University's fund-raising office, is not completely different from his old one.
"There was a certain level of fund-raising I had to do, or that I was attempting to do anyway, with athletics, but this is certainly a different kind," Vogl said.
The Foundation will be running a public endowment campaign and Vogl said he finds the timing of his move unique.
"All I can say is that I've been in here for a couple of weeks now and there is an awful lot I have to learn about the business and how to go about being involved in this business," he explained.
To counter this, he said he may also be sent to participate in some training sessions to bring him up to speed with what the industry is about.
"This is a people industry, but there is a system and a way of going about it," he said. "And that is all yet to be learned on my part. So there is a huge learning curve there.
Vogl, who said he hopes to take care of that curve in six months, certainly has time to adjust. With two twin sons still two years from graduating high school, Vogl estimated that he plans to stay at SVSU "probably not until they are out of college."
Even then, Vogl said he thinks he can stay on board longer.
"I'm the type of guy" Vogl says, "that even when I retire, I will probably be doing something, as long as I have my health."