Don Richards

I got lost in thought recently, a territory unfamiliar to me. Thinking, I mean. Confusion is a much more familiar place. Nevertheless, I wondered about what a director of athletics does. Crystal Lanning, AD at UWRF, in particular. When I Googled the general question, up came the answer: "Athletic directors oversee all aspects of athletic programs...." Note that the job title used by Google is not the same one I typed into Google. Does an athletic director have to be athletic? But here I go – off on a tangent again. (I know, that's not a good way to begin a column, but it's the best I can come up with for now.)

Crystal Lanning is indeed athletic. She began her sports participation at Hastings (Minn.) High School as a soccer, softball and basketball player and makes her home today in her hometown of Hastings. After high school she went on to Winona State (Minn.) as a four-year starter in soccer where she earned all conference, all region, and academic honors.

After college it was on to graduate school at the University of Kentucky in Lexington where she earned her master's degree. In 2002 she took her first job at Centre College in Danville, Ky., where she was a graduate assistant trainer. In 2004 she was hired at UWRF as assistant athletic trainer and lecturer, and later she became an associate athletics director.

In 2015 she took the job as a Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference assistant commissioner. From the NSI Conference position, she was again hired at UWRF in April 2018 as the school’s athletic director.

She says her goal is "to provide our student-athletes and coaches with the resources they need to have a great experience and be competitive in the WIAC and at the national level. We have some teams and individuals who now compete at those levels, but my goal is to have all of our programs compete at those levels."

About the facilities at UWRF, she says that the opening of the Falcon Center and outdoor complex in 2017 was "transformational. In many ways we went from worst to first in the WIAC when we opened the doors. But we have more work to do."

Our number one facility project is to "replace the bleachers on both sides at Smith Stadium. We have plans and renderings for this project. Now we need to secure the funding. New lights, artificial turf, a new press box, accessible seating to the home grandstand and a new video board have already been added."

In addition, she added, we need to look at improvements at some of our other facilities.

"This could mean adding turf to existing fields, installing a new multiplex turf complex building, an indoor training facility, or adding on to the Knowles Field House. The cost for these plans amounts to millions of dollars and lots of planning so these are long-term goals."

The administrative support for these efforts is there, she says, but the fundraising is difficult. "The athletic department has been working hard to increase their own resources through strategic partnerships, fan engagement, and fundraising, but to achieve some of our long-term goals we will need additional resources."

In response to a question about scheduling non-conference games, AD Lanning says it is becoming more of a challenge every year.

"It is no longer just a football issue. This is because strength of schedule is one of the criteria used to select teams for post-season bids in all sports. Therefore, in the WIAC, we all look to schedule strong non-conference teams. Unfortunately not everybody shares this same philosophy. The stronger our teams are, the harder it is for them to schedule competitive non-conference games without having to travel a long distance. Unfortunately, I see non-conference scheduling continuing to be a problem in the future." 

As a side note, this fall the Falcon football team will open their season at home against Mary Hardin-Baylor of Texas.

When considering adding new sports, she says a number of factors must be considered.

"Is the sport a contribution to the broad-based athletic program here at UWRF? What are the impacts on Title IX compliance, enrollment trends, competitive opportunities, financial, staffing, and facility implications? Many schools are looking to increase enrollment through the addition of new sports because student athletes generally have higher success rates than the general student body. We are looking at all options to see whether adding sports makes sense for us and we are keeping an eye on what is happening in our conference and across the region."

As mentioned at the outset, confusion often reigns in my mind. Recently at our well-seasoned coffee group (average age 83 years), I remarked that Memorial Day was coming up next Monday. The comment was met by loud guffaws and derisive laughter as it was apparent that I meant May 22. I briefly considered saying that I had said that just to get their response, but knew the excuse would never fly. Well, at least I had the right day! 

That's it for not only this column but for The Skinny on Falcon Sports until about the middle of August time frame when it will resume. I can hear the applause and shouts of approbation from the small, dwindling group of The Skinny on Falcon Sports’ readers as they contemplate a couple of months of relief.  Thanks for reading the Skinny.