{"@attributes":{"version":"2.0"},"channel":{"title":"The Bound Blog","link":"https:\/\/lets.gobound.com\/blog","description":{},"language":"en","pubDate":"Fri, 06 Nov 2026 21:02:26 GMT","item":[{"title":"Winning People Before Winning Games: What Illinois AD John Woods Wants Every AD to Know","link":"https:\/\/lets.gobound.com\/blog\/winning-people-before-winning-games-what-illinois-ad-john-woods-wants-every-ad-to-know","description":"
\n \"Winning <\/a> \n<\/div> \n

A stranger stepped onto an elevator in Shawnee, Oklahoma, glanced at John Woods's Libertyville polo, and asked what he does there.<\/p>","pubDate":"Fri, 06 Nov 2026 21:02:25 GMT","author":"scott.garvis@gobound.com (Scott Garvis, CMAA)","guid":"https:\/\/lets.gobound.com\/blog\/winning-people-before-winning-games-what-illinois-ad-john-woods-wants-every-ad-to-know"},{"title":"Once an AD, Always an AD: Why the Mission Never Leaves You","link":"https:\/\/lets.gobound.com\/blog\/once-an-ad-always-an-ad-why-the-mission-never-leaves-you","description":"

\n \"Once <\/a> \n<\/div> \n

Over the last three parts of this series, I've shared what our panel had to say about the hardest parts of being a new athletic director<\/a>, the turning point that gets you from surviving to actually leading<\/a>, and the advice we'd each give our younger selves<\/a> if we could.<\/p>","pubDate":"Thu, 05 Nov 2026 14:41:18 GMT","author":"aaron.stecker@gobound.com (Aaron Stecker)","guid":"https:\/\/lets.gobound.com\/blog\/once-an-ad-always-an-ad-why-the-mission-never-leaves-you"},{"title":"The Work Nobody Sees: Three ADs on Building a Season From the Schedule Up","link":"https:\/\/lets.gobound.com\/blog\/the-work-nobody-sees-three-ads-on-building-a-season-from-the-schedule-up","description":"

\n \"How <\/a> \n<\/div> \n

The officials who show up on time. The bus that's waiting. The gym that's ready. The families who know where to be. None of that happens by accident.<\/p>","pubDate":"Thu, 29 Oct 2026 18:04:38 GMT","author":"scott.garvis@gobound.com (Scott Garvis, CMAA)","guid":"https:\/\/lets.gobound.com\/blog\/the-work-nobody-sees-three-ads-on-building-a-season-from-the-schedule-up"},{"title":"25 Years as an AD: What North Carolina\u2019s Brian Carver Wishes He\u2019d Done Sooner","link":"https:\/\/lets.gobound.com\/blog\/25-years-as-an-ad-what-north-carolinas-brian-carver-wishes-hed-done-sooner","description":"

\n \"Advice <\/a> \n<\/div> \n

Brian Carver is the Athletic Director at Enka High School in Buncombe County, is a CMAA, anNCADA Athletic Director of the Year<\/a>, and a recipient of the NCHSAA's Dave Harris Athletic Director Award of Excellence. He's also the first to tell you how he got there wasn't easy.<\/p>","pubDate":"Mon, 26 Oct 2026 17:52:16 GMT","author":"scott.garvis@gobound.com (Scott Garvis, CMAA)","guid":"https:\/\/lets.gobound.com\/blog\/25-years-as-an-ad-what-north-carolinas-brian-carver-wishes-hed-done-sooner"},{"title":"Advice I'd Give Myself as a First-Year AD","link":"https:\/\/lets.gobound.com\/blog\/advice-id-give-myself-as-a-first-year-ad","description":"

\n \"Advice <\/a> \n<\/div> \n

By the time you've been an athletic director for a while, you've usually figured out \u2014 through plenty of trial and error \u2014 what you wish someone had told you on day one.<\/p>","pubDate":"Fri, 23 Oct 2026 22:48:25 GMT","author":"aaron.stecker@gobound.com (Aaron Stecker)","guid":"https:\/\/lets.gobound.com\/blog\/advice-id-give-myself-as-a-first-year-ad"},{"title":"The Winter Handoff: 3 Things to Sort Out Before November Hits","link":"https:\/\/lets.gobound.com\/blog\/the-winter-handoff-3-things-to-sort-out-before-november-hits","description":"

\n \"The <\/a> \n<\/div> \n

Here are 3 key insights in 3 minutes on the 3rd day of the 3rd week at 3:33 PM that will hopefully make you want to do one of 3 things: Think more about it, share it with others, or do something with it.<\/em><\/p>","pubDate":"Thu, 22 Oct 2026 18:26:41 GMT","author":"jon.youngblood@gobound.com (Jon Youngblood)","guid":"https:\/\/lets.gobound.com\/blog\/the-winter-handoff-3-things-to-sort-out-before-november-hits"},{"title":"How ADs Build a Culture That Lasts","link":"https:\/\/lets.gobound.com\/blog\/how-ads-build-a-culture-that-lasts","description":"

\n \"How <\/a> \n<\/div> \n

In Part 1 of this series<\/a>, I shared some of the stories our panel told about their first few years as athletic directors. Chaos. Trial by fire. The crash course in managing adults nobody warns you about. If that's all being an AD ever was, it would explain why so many people leave the profession within a few years.

But it doesn't stay that way for everyone. Something shifts for the ADs who make it past those early years. I wanted this second part of our conversation to dig into exactly what that shift looks like.<\/p>","pubDate":"Fri, 16 Oct 2026 19:03:27 GMT","author":"aaron.stecker@gobound.com (Aaron Stecker)","guid":"https:\/\/lets.gobound.com\/blog\/how-ads-build-a-culture-that-lasts"},{"title":"What Nobody Tells You About Becoming an AD","link":"https:\/\/lets.gobound.com\/blog\/what-nobody-tells-you-about-becoming-an-ad","description":"

\n \"What <\/a> \n<\/div> \n

I spent 29 years in education, 16 of them as the athletic director at Kennedy High School in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. (Go Cougars!) I've been through the state AD association leadership chairs. And if there's one thing I heard over and over again from other ADs it's this: the first few years in the chair almost broke them.

That's not an exaggeration. Depending on where you are, you're probably losing somewhere between 30 and 37 percent of your ADs every single year<\/a>. That means most schools are replacing their athletic director about once every three years.<\/span><\/p>","pubDate":"Fri, 09 Oct 2026 17:46:00 GMT","author":"aaron.stecker@gobound.com (Aaron Stecker)","guid":"https:\/\/lets.gobound.com\/blog\/what-nobody-tells-you-about-becoming-an-ad"},{"title":"How ADs 'Give Kids Hope' with New Jersey's Jason Corley","link":"https:\/\/lets.gobound.com\/blog\/advice-for-high-performing-ads-from-new-jerseys-jason-corley","description":"

\n \"Inside <\/a> \n<\/div> \n

Ask Jason Corley what he does for a living, and he won't lead with \"athletic director.\" He'll tell you he's a life coach who happens to run an athletics department. I couldn't agree more, and that reframe set the tone for our entire \"Inside the AD Playbook<\/a>\" conversation.<\/p> \n

We got into purpose, problem-solving, leading through change, innovation. Listen to our session and you can tell Jason doesn't do anything halfway. Here are just a few parts of that conversation worth passing along here.<\/p> \n

Part life coach, part \"front porch\" of the district<\/h2> \n

When I asked Jason what he believes the real job of an AD is, underneath the schedules and the logistics everyone assumes make up the role, he didn't describe himself as an administrator. He called himself a life coach.<\/p> \n

\"We're teaching lessons that aren't being taught in the classroom,\" he said. Athletics, in his opinion, set the tone for an entire building. Athletic directors are \"the front porch of every school district,\" according to Jason. Their presence can change the dynamic of a school's hallways before a single class period even starts.<\/p> \n

\n

\"We're teaching lessons that aren't being taught in the classroom.\"<\/span><\/p> \n<\/blockquote> \n

He was pointed about what that responsibility actually means day to day. \"We give kids hope,\" he said.<\/p> \n

Youth sports is an industry he described as worth a trillion dollars and only getting harder to access affordably for families. That's why, in his view, ADs end up teaching parents right alongside their kids.<\/p> \n

<\/h2>","pubDate":"Thu, 01 Oct 2026 13:00:04 GMT","author":"scott.garvis@gobound.com (Scott Garvis, CMAA)","guid":"https:\/\/lets.gobound.com\/blog\/advice-for-high-performing-ads-from-new-jerseys-jason-corley"},{"title":"Meet Bound's Athletic Directors of Influence","link":"https:\/\/lets.gobound.com\/blog\/introducing-athletic-director-of-influence","description":"
\n \"Athletic <\/a> \n<\/div> \n

I've spent a lot of years around this profession, and if there's one thing I know for certain, it's this: athletic directors don't get enough credit for the weight they carry.<\/p>","pubDate":"Mon, 28 Sep 2026 21:25:08 GMT","author":"scott.garvis@gobound.com (Scott Garvis, CMAA)","guid":"https:\/\/lets.gobound.com\/blog\/introducing-athletic-director-of-influence"}]}}