Sinclair Athletic Director Jack Giambrone has been named the 2012 Athletic Director of the Year in the Ohio Community College Athletic Conference (OCCAC).
This is the second time Giambrone has won the award (2010) from the conference that consists of eight community colleges in Ohio. The list of those colleges can be found at occac.org.
Giambrone said he was happy to win the award, but insisted that the glory is shared.
“It speaks to the fact that our student-athletes have done the right things,” Giambrone said. “It’s not about the athletic director, it’s about our kids. Our kids drive this. But we also have to thank all the teachers, all the professors and the athletic administrators that helped make our program successful.”
Giambrone is the OCCAC’s assistant commissioner and received the award based on the combination of the conference’s success which includes a possible expansion and Sinclair’s overall athletic performance, which was good enough for a third place overall finish in the OCCAC All-Sports standings. Last year the men’s baseball team won their fourth-straight OCCAC championship and women’s basketball made it to the final round of the OCCAC District 12 regional tournament.
Also for the first time in school history, Sinclair had three teams make the Academic All-American team.
“We’ve just come off a record setting, historic year,” Giambrone said. “We not only had three [teams], but our best academic performance was six years ago, where one volleyball team just made it with a 3.0. [This past year,] we had 80 percent of our teams make it. Three Academic All-American teams—what a tremendous accomplishment! And we we’re third in the All-Sports, our highest finish since 2008. ”
The successful athletic and academic season follows Giambrone’s concept of the three C’s—which equate to success in the classroom, success in the community and success in athletic competition. And Giambrone said they fall in that order.
“We’re a two year school—and community is in our middle name,” Giambrone said. “And we have to give back to all those who have given to us, and also develop their leadership skills by going out there and working people who are less fortunate than them.”
After the first two parts of the three-pronged approach are met, that’s when the players are allowed to excel in athletics.
“We ask them to do a great job in the classroom, share some time in the community, get on the practice field and be the very best athlete that they can,” Giambrone said.
Giambrone was also a key contributor in bringing back one of Sinclair’s lost sports, as he worked as part of the selection committee to find a new softball coach.
“I’m excited to see the number of our players continue to grow,” Giambrone said. “But we’re still trying to be really mindful of creating a great program in its initial infancy and moving forward. I think its going well.”
And in his spare time, Giambrone continues with the Offense-Defense high school football camps during the summer. This summer he conducted four football camps all across the country.
“It was a great experience,” Giambrone said. “I conducted a camp at Gillette stadium (Foxboro) and at Ralph Wilson stadium in Buffalo, New York. It keeps me involved with the game. It’s a wonderful couple of weeks for me on the road and it’s great knowledge that I can bring back to or students in the weight room.”
Giambrone said he is excited to see how athletics can improve upon last season’s triumphs and hopes to continue to progress as another year approaches.
He also said that he is going to give it his all to help the program to be successful.
“I’m a very passionate person about our kids,” Giambrone said. “I am so dedicated to our kids being successful. You hear people say, ‘Oh don’t work too hard,’ and I disagree. You should work as hard as you can everyday. Leave hear like our athletes leave the playing field. They leave here exhausted, I should leave here exhausted.”