When asked to describe his job with one word, he smiled and responded, “Busy.”

The man on the other side of the quote is Mr. Hofman, and he is the Athletic Director for his alma mater, Lane Technical High School. 

When elaborating further on the athletic director workload, he referred to the position as both occupying and exciting.

“Myself and my assistant AD, Jane Milsap, are very busy with the day to day operations of LT athletics,” he said. “But at the same time it is very exciting to be a part of the success of LT athletics.”

In a normal year as an athletic director, Hofman regards his tasks as “communicating with the administration, staff, coaches, outside organizations, parents, student athletes, vendors,

officials, our medical team and transportation companies.”

Budgeting is another aspect of his work, dealing with “filling out P.O.’s, contracts with other schools, eligibility, transportation, athletic fees, [and] physicals.”

During summer break, Hofman was informed that in addition to his work as Athletic Director, he would also return to teaching five PE classes during the 2016-17 school year.

Hofman said that this wasn’t the first time having two jobs.

“The second semester of last year, Ms. Anderson was able to relieve me of my classes, which made a huge difference,” Hoffman said. “This year I have five classes. It has just become more difficult now having five classes.”

Even with his assistant Jane Millsap, whom Hofman refers to as “the number one person helping out the athletic department,” the addition of five classes has forced Hofman to reach out for help.

“We have tremendous coaches in this school, and I’ve relayed to them that they are going to have to pick up some of the slack from the things that I was doing for them,” Hofman said.  

Hofman noted that whether it be adding a phone call to schedule buses, a press release for girls golf, or a greeting in the hallways, the Lane Tech community has found time and heart to chip away at the iceberg recent budget cuts have put before them. When elaborating further, Hofman said. “The administration, teachers, staff, coaches and students are what makes Lane Tech great.”  

Another form of support has come from head basketball coach Mr. Logalbo who, according to Hofman, “is really overseeing the social media aspect of Lane Tech athletics.” Logalbo has created a Sports Communications in part to take the load off of Mr. Hofman’s schedule. The class is oriented around teaching students about marketing strategies and writing press releases.

New Trier High School, a north suburban high school with about 4,200 students, carries one Athletic Director, two Assistant AD’s and four supporting staff members within their Athletic Department. Even in a school with an adequate staff, Deborah Ofcky, Assistant AD, said that the AD position should “absolutely” be full time without the addition of classes.

“There is not enough time in the day,” said Ofcky. “It’s not a 9-5 job — a lot goes into it.” When speaking to the day to day tasks of an AD, Ofcky said, “There is not enough room in the article to make a sufficient depiction.”

The three athletic administrators at New Trier earned an average salary of about $130,000 in 2015-16, according to District 203 and 211 Faculty Compensation reports. Athletic Directors in CPS are paid an hourly rate for work outside the school day. They earned $25 per hour for a maximum of 200 hours, according to the 2012-15 teachers contract.

There are many, higher paying, less tentative, positions out in suburban schools, which begged the question: Why Lane?

In a small, cluttered office underneath the bleachers of Gym 1, Mr. Hofman looked up from stack of paperwork and said, “I mean I love Lane Tech, I want to be a part of Lane. I want to make sure Lane Tech Athletics is great. We want to make improvements, we want to be the best. Our drive is just to be the best.”