WORCESTER—“This is not an I thing, this is a team
thing,” resonates as the anthem for Assumption College Athletic Director
Nick Smith.
And
how a team effort it was to get Smith to where he is today.
Not only did Smith put his family in financial
instability for years, he left a quality job working at Gillette Stadium for a
contemporary service company to do so.
“Sometimes
you don’t realize what you miss until you leave it. I had left college athletics
for about a year and a half and decided that this [job] was not for me and I
wanted to go back to college athletics,” said Smith.
So Smith went back to being an equipment manager, the
same job he had prior to working at Gillette Stadium. He quit his cushioned job
for a pay-cut, title-cut and long hours of work. Newly married, Smith’s family inherited
his burden.
“It was tough because you work a lot of hours, I just got
married and then you don’t get to see your wife very much,” said Smith. “In
this job, there’s a lot of hours so my family sometimes suffers because of
that. I now have a seven and a four year old daughter and it can be difficult
but I couldn’t do my job without them. I wouldn’t get to come home until two in
the morning sometimes but that is what you sign up for.”
But then Smith’s time had come. There was an opening at
Assumption College for an athletic director and Smith was awarded the job.
However, there came a price with taking the position.
Assumption was the worst ranked team in the conference,
ranked 16 out of 16. Mediocrity was the consensus on campus along with their
players and personnel.
“In my interview, I did say we were going to win the
President’s Cup while I was here and people thought I was joking,” said Smith.
“Some actually left. I wasn’t joking and I still remain not joking. We will win
the President’s Cup before my time is over.”
The first thing that needed to change on campus,
according to Smith was the culture.
“When I first came here, there was a culture, from my understanding,
a culture of mediocrity, borderline losing,” said Smith. “I don’t know if they
had the vision or the support of whether it be the administration, whether it
be the resources or things of that nature and I think that there was doubt. On
my interview, they wouldn’t show me the football locker room. I’m pretty sure I
know why now.”
Smith’s first course of action was to change up the
coaching staff. By the end of Smith’s first year as athletic director, 11 out
of 18 head coaches were fired and replaced. Smith stressed that the changes
were made because of opposing vantage points.
“Unfortunately certain things happen and you have to make
some judgment calls,” said Smith. “What happened was I think it was kind of a
blend of a few things. I think the first year there was a couple of
identifiable problems that we needed to make and we made those adjustments
there. But there were other things where I might have had a vision [and] I
don’t know if [coaches] agreed with the direction of things so they chose that
maybe this wasn’t the right thing for them.”
Along with the changes in head coaches, the
administration hired eight new people within their own sector. There are only
15 jobs total within the athletic administration.
However, Smith believes that the changes have made
athletics better.
“I truly believe that we have the best staff in the NE-10
and the reason I say that is because we are hungry to get things moving in the
right direction and that’s what is exciting,” said Smith. “You see a lot of passion
and a lot of dedicated, hard-working individuals all working towards the
improvement of Assumption College.”
The campus and athletes seem to believe Smith. Winning is
now the general consensus amongst both groups.
“We know that we may not have the best facilities, we may
not have the most money, but we know that we’re going to outwork everybody
else,” said Smith. “Our student athletes are committed, our coaches, our staff
are all committed to improving what we have here at Assumption College.”
Even through all of the improvements, Smith’s ultimate
goal is still to win the President’s Cup.
“My favorite [memory] hasn’t happened yet,” said Smith.
“Because I know what it is going to be”
