Ball State University athletic department internal operations manual

Ball State University Athletics began in 1918 with Orville Sink serving as the director of athletics for men (Ball State University, 2018). College athletics has continued to evolve over time since 1918, and today many new challenges face the college landscape. Ball State Athletics presently has over 125 employees ranging from senior leadership down to graduate assistants (Ball State University, n.d.). The day-to-day operations include giving student-athletes the best experience possible on the court and off the court. On the court, the department seeks to help them succeed in competing for championships. Off the court, the department supports their academic success. Teams within the athletic department have won over 200 conference championships (Ball State University, 2024). Leading the way are both volleyball programs, with men’s volleyball having 39 total championships (24 Midwestern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association (MIVA) regular season/15 MIVA Tournament), and women’s volleyball having 30 total championships (10 Mid-American Conference (MAC) regular season/ 12 MAC West Division/8 MAC Tournament; Ball State University, 2024). To have a successful athletic department, there are many supporting groups that help put everything together. These groups include marketing, ticketing, sport facilities, administration, academic support services, development, communications, compliance, operations, athletic training, strength and conditioning, and sports properties/partnerships. During each fiscal year these groups work as one big team in helping support student-athletes to be competitive in the classroom and on the playing fields. With many moving parts within the department, operations are a department that helps keep ideas, practices, and many other tasks online and moving forward to help the department’s overall mission and vision. The purpose of this project is to create an operations manual pertaining to internal operations. Internal operations cover a wide range of day-to-day tasks within the department. Internal operations help set practice schedules, are the mediator between teams and facilities for work orders and practice set-ups, coordinate visiting team practice schedules, and coordinate communication with officials and pay them on the completion of games. College athletics can have job turnover as people come and go in the industry. This guide is assembled to prepare staff and inform them of what to expect when they come into the internal operations team of the Ball State University Athletic Department. There are many content areas that inform the work of internal operations, including sport administration, financial principles, intercollegiate athletics policy, and sport law.