Q&A with incoming Valparaiso University athletic director Charles Small

Charles Small was introduced in May as the next athletic director at Valparaiso University and will begin July 1, succeeding Mark LaBarbera.

A former basketball player at Pittsburgh, Small has been the senior associate athletic director for student services at Iowa State for the past four years and will be VU’s first Black athletic director.

Small spoke with the Post-Tribune on Wednesday regarding the challenges that await him in his new role.

Q: Has anything stood out or surprised you in the days and weeks since you were hired?

A: The greatest part is that there’s been a lot of confirmation that people are really passionate about Valpo being successful. When I did the introductory press conference and was going through the interview process, it just confirmed that people really care about this institution. The things that were said in those beginning stages are holding to be true, so that’s really exciting for me.

Q: How did you get started on the path toward becoming an athletic director?

A: I started off as a student-athlete at the University of Pittsburgh, and I was a walk-on. I got some offers from Division II schools, but I decided that I wanted some academic pursuits but to also have that Division I experience. When I did an internship in my senior year with the compliance office and also student life — where I was doing a lot of the community service for student-athletes — it opened up my eyes to working in sports.

When I was a graduate assistant, that really opened my eyes for working in college athletics. It’s evolved over time, and my philosophy has been to do the best that I can in the space that I occupy, really trying to be a thought leader and a leader in general. Professionally, as my roles have expanded, the natural progression has been toward athletic director.

Q: How did Valparaiso end up on your radar?

A: They’re in the really good Missouri Valley Conference, and there’s a history there, particularly with basketball. I’m all about comprehensive excellence and all of the sports doing well. But for my skill set, it’s always been on my radar with the basketball history there. So a lot of it is aligning it with the skills and experiences that I bring.

When you have a faith-based institution that’s really grounded in values of playing in a high-level conference in all sports, it checked a lot of the boxes.

Q: There’s been an ongoing discussion in the sports world about the lack of Black coaches and executives in college and pro sports. What does it mean to you to be the first Black athletic director at Valparaiso?

A: It’s a big responsibility. I think it speaks volumes that our industries in pro and college sports are continuing to make movements in those spaces. It’s all about equity of opportunity, making sure that people have equitable opportunities for leadership-type positions. It’s a big responsibility that I take seriously, and I think it’s moving in the right direction.

But I also think diversity, equity and inclusion encompasses more than just race. There are people from different backgrounds and different worldviews that expand beyond race.

Q: With such an opportunity, how could you influence the athletic department?

A: The way I’d influence it is having us embrace, as a department, cultural humility — the idea that we should all have the humility to have self-reflection and also embrace and celebrate people who come from different walks of life and how that makes us all better.

Q: What’s the one thing you’re most excited to do?

A: No. 1 is meet the student-athletes. I’m pumped about getting the opportunity to meet them. The timing of it, with this being in the summer, we may do some virtual things initially. But once the fall starts and everyone is there, meeting the faculty, the student-athletes and also understanding what our coaches are building — the cultures within their sports — those are the things that really excite me.

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And getting out into the community. I think that Valparaiso is an awesome community with our supporters and donors. Just meeting people is what excites me right now.

Q: Speaking of the community, Valparaiso High School and other high schools in Northwest Indiana have been producing Division I student-athletes. But many of them go elsewhere. Is attracting more local student-athletes part of the plan?

A: Yeah, I think we should put a strategy together to get the best talent that fits the institution, our mission and what we’re trying to build — us having that consistency and the clarity of knowing who we are and what we’re trying to build in finding and recruiting student-athletes who are going to thrive and flourish in that environment.

If they’re at Valparaiso High School, that’s great. But also in the surrounding region, I think we’re in a really good spot with a lot of talent.

Q: Does anything stand out as the biggest challenge or the biggest goal or the biggest project for you as the athletic director at Valparaiso?

A: We’re going to engage in a process to define that as a department. I think that’s important for our department — to define it collaboratively. I don’t want to point out anything specific yet because I want us to get there together. But I will say that there are four pillars we’re going to focus on: the student-athlete experience, creating an enduring culture, earning trust and achieving eminence through a national brand. How we tailor that to really fit Valpo is something we’ll decide, but those four pillars will guide us.

Dave Melton is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.