In March of this year, Louisiana Tech’s newest vice president and director of athletics Ryan Ivey began his tenure at the helm of the department. Ivey sat down with reporters at the LPJ for a Q&A. The conversation has been lightly edited for continuity.
LPJ: “How would you describe your first month on the job at Louisiana Tech?”
Ivey: “It’s been really good. It’s certainly been educational. Fortunately or unfortunately, however you want to look at it, this is not my first transition, right? So I know the rhythm and the routine that I want to take in the approach with it. I also know that everything that I’m doing is not new to me, but it’s new to everyone else, and everything that everyone else is doing is not new to them, but it’s new to me. And so what we’re trying to do is figure out where that balance is of what I’m expecting out of folks and then what their expectation is for me as well.
“One of the first things that I’ve been doing is doing the “five and five” meetings and really trying to educate myself and immerse myself into what is Louisiana Tech athletics right now, talking about positives and negatives. What I’ve learned over these meetings and what I’ll continue to learn as we have these is thatyou’ll see trends coming out in each of them. You’ll see opportunities for growth in these meetings. And so I think taking all that information and being able to put it into a digestible format that we can share and have so that people know “hey, this is not this is not Ryan Ivey talking” — this is the collective group.
“I think that, for me, has been the biggest aspect throughout the month. Certainly, I’ve had the opportunity to get out in the community, meet donors, and get on the road a little bit with some teams. I was with bowling last week for the regional championship, and just to get a chance to meet teams and student athletes.
“The transition has been a little bit interesting just because of the timing of it, because you come in in the middle of a quarter system and coming in in the middle of what is the spring season. And so trying to evaluate and not get in the way, as well, but to help where you can and fill in gaps where we can from that standpoint. But it’s been really good. People have been great. It’s been awesome to visit with people. I think there’s a lot of passion around Louisiana Tech, and I look forward to continue to to grow that.
LPJ: How would you describe your leadership style?
Ivey: That’s always a great question when people ask me because I always want to say, go ask any others that I’ve worked with because I’m curious if their answer is the same as mine. I believe that it is. I’m a big believer in servant leadership, and I’m a big believer that the role of the athletic director is to serve. I jokingly tell people that I’m the definition of middle management. You’ve got to manage up, you’ve got to manage horizontally, you’ve got to manage down. It’s something that you have to have a passion for, and you have to understand that this is not an 8-to-5 job — it is a 24-7 job. And when things happen you have to be there.
“I’ve tried to pride myself on over the last 11, almost dozen years now, being a being an AD is to be really consistent in my approach. And if nothing else, I want people that I work with to know that even if they come in and I’ve had a meeting with a coach that is upset with everything that goes on and they’re yelling and screaming at me — that’s not going to affect the next meeting that I have with the next person, because that meeting is very important to that person. I’ve got to be the same person, across the board. And so consistency to me is really, really important. I think that comes with having the servant mindset and servant leadership. Because if I know that I may not have enjoyed that meeting that I just had, but it shouldn’t affect my behavior and emotions based on what I’m going to do moving forward.”
LPJ: In your “five and five meetings” (where employees bring five strengths and five areas for improvement), who all are you having in these sitdowns?
Ivey: Right now, I’m meeting with everyone in the department. From a staffing standpoint, from custodians on up to our head coaches and executive staff. So there’s about 135 individual meetings that we’re having, and they last about 30 minutes on average. So you can you can do the math — it’s cumbersome, there’s no question, but it’s a very worthwhile exercise. It’s been really good. And then we’ll start the opportunity to get out in the community and start having some conversations, and ask some questions there as well.”
LPJ: How have you seen the Ruston and Lincoln Parish community be receptive to your family?
Ivey: “It’s been great. I’ve had the fortune of knowing some people that lived here and worked here previously. They talked about just how this how this community just embraces individuals and the family atmosphere that’s here. It’s a great community from a family perspective. And Kelley and the boys are excited to be here. We think this is where the Good Lord’s called us to be right now. I think ultimately it’s going to provide some opportunities for Jett and Ace in areas that we need it to. And, we’re looking forward to being a part of it. People have been great and so welcoming and and inviting so far. I really appreciate that.”
Part 2 will be available in tomorrow’s Lincoln Parish Journal.
