Overall organization for the athletic director.

Since lack of time is the major enemy of the athletic administrator, it is essential to develop an organization that will ensure a smooth and efficient management.

Perhaps the first step in the organizational process is devising a way to keep track of the school's athletic contests. We rely on a monthly schedule booklet that lists every game, with the home contests indicated in blue and the away contests in red, enabling us to determine the location at a glance.

We also keep a large looseleaf binder that lists every team's game schedule within easy reach.

Of equal importance is the necessity to maintain a schedule of all the daily meetings and appointments. We use a daily planning calendar, with the same blue and red color coding system used in the monthly schedule booklet, for easy reference.

Since Maryland operates on a County system, we also list all the County athletic directors and their meetings.

With so many meetings and listings, the A.D.'s are overwhelmed with deadlines, and it has become essential to maintain a computerized chronological listing of the due dates and a prioritized list of what remains to be accomplished.

Since the listings remain pretty much the same from year to year, it is easy to draw up an outline for future planning.

The computer can also prove useful in keeping a chronological record of your accomplishments during the year. This comes in handy for the end-of-the-year reports, personnel appraisals, and your public relation efforts.

The scheduling of our own family life is not as easy. We try whenever possible to supply our wife with a photocopy of our weekly schedule, including meetings and contest management.

The information enables her to juggle transportation for our children, plan meals, schedule dentist appointments, and handle all of the many other responsibilities that fall upon her shoulders.

When changes occur, we attach a note to the refrigerator before leaving the house in the morning.

We start each day with a prioritized list of "Things to Do," which we compile the evening before. We try to be a little flexible in this to allow for interruptions, dealing with problems, and emergencies.

ADVICE TO A.D.'S

1. Arrange your office to keep your commonly used forms and files within easy reach.

2. Post schedules and directions so that they can be easily read from your desk.

3. List the commonly used phone numbers - league A.D.'s, assigner of officials, bus dispatcher, etc. - by the phone.

4. Develop checklists for all normal functions and events: game-day responsibilities, indoor and outdoor crowd control, inclement weather cancellations, and due dates for coaches.

5. Keep a "seasonal" binder with everything you will possibly need for each time of the year: coaches' phone numbers, phone numbers of buses and official assigners, opposing A.D.'s and teams schedules. Place all these things into color-coded sections for quick and easy reference.

Take this binder home with you every evening, including weekends, in order to handle emergencies. A seasonal binder will always ensure you of having everything you will possibly need.

6. Always carry paper and a pen, whether it be note cards in a pocket or folded paper, that will enable you to jot down ideas, comments or requests. When walking out to a field, sitting at a game, or even driving home, be ready to jot down any bright idea or thought that enters your mind. Never lose or forget an important idea or information. Write it down!

7. Keep a personnel file/folder on every coach, and file copies of reports on problems or commendations. At the end of the season or year, you will have a dossier available from which to prepare a coaching evaluation. Memories may fade, but files last forever.

8. In your briefcase, maintain a folder of "Things to Do," a Photocopy Folder and a "To File" folder. Stick anything pertaining to your daily "To Do" list in this folder. Place anything to be photocopied in the "Photocopy" file. This will enable you to consolidate things and make fewer trips to the photocopier. Documents no longer needed should be placed in the "To File" folder, which can be properly stored for future recovery.

9. Never hold a meeting without an agenda. You can always get input for the agenda from others. Though you can entertain any personal questions during a meeting, the efficiency of the meeting will depend upon the written agenda to stay on track. Another major advantage of an agenda is that it eliminates almost all griping.

10. If any message can be better or more quickly served through a memo, use it by all means. Keep all memos and meeting agenda on file in sequential order for reference. It will help you confirm what was said should this become necessary at some later date.

The development of systems and procedures will enable you to make the best use of your limited time. The more organized you are, the more effective you will be in the management of your time.

Organization is the best and maybe the only solution to most of your problems.