Tools for success: Technology solutions for athletic departments
During the National Athletic Directors Conference in December 2025 in Tampa, Florida, several athletic administrators discussed ways technology can help improve collaboration, reduce stress and create a more organized, productive environment at a session called Leveraging Digital Tools for Athletic Department Success.
The presentation was developed by Branden Lippy, athletic director at Lampeter-Strasburg High School; Ron Kennedy, executive director of District 3 for the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association (PIAA); Brandon Larson, athletic director at Highland High School in Gilbert, Arizona; and Missy Townsend, athletic director at Prescott High School in Arizona.
Why technology is important to success
The presenters listed several reasons why the use of technology is critical to the success of athletic departments: reduced stress, improved decision-making and strategic planning, limited overload, earlier identification of burnout and better preparation.When it comes to stress reduction, the presenters said organized athletic directors can anticipate and address issues more proactively, creating smoother workflows and reducing stress by more effectively managing time.
When it comes to stress reduction, organized athletic directors can anticipate and address issues more proactively, creating smoother workflows and reducing stress by more effectively managing time.
Meanwhile, a clearer picture of schedules, budgets and personnel helps make informed decisions as well as reduces the risk of taking on too many responsibilities and creating a culture of burnout.
One example used was the concept of managing overload in sports schedules. Athletic directors who plan ahead can avoid scheduling conflicts that often can lead to longer hours and stress, while organized communication with coaches, officials, volunteers and other staff minimizes last-minute emergencies.
Organization helps more than just with schedules and budgets, it reflects the department’s professional image. An organized athletic director projects reliability, competence and leadership, the presenters said, and self-presentation through organized behavior can set a standard for coaches and athletes. It also helps administrators feel more prepared for public-facing roles and media interactions, further promoting a culture of professionalism and preparedness rather than inefficiency and burnout.
For athletic directors, the primary areas that the latest technology can improve include workflow, communications and registration and ticketing.
Workflow
Improving your workflow means thinking about how to streamline processes to accomplish the same output in less time.
Calendars, email and task lists are some of the most used tools in any profession and can make day-to-day operations easier when managed properly.
An organized calendar makes it easy to schedule meetings and tasks, avoid procrastination, keep everyone on the same page and reach goals with less effort. Creating shared calendars, color coding, meeting reminders, booking pages for appointments and linking emails to a calendar are some of the ways the presenters listed to help athletic departments run at a higher level.
“Your day is shaped by what is on your calendar, so making your calendar work for you will improve your workflow, [reduce] stress and boost your overall performance,” the presenters said.
When it comes to email, they advise focusing on organizing your inbox, automating repetitive tasks, setting dedicated email-checking times, prioritizing messages effectively using labels and folders and leveraging features within your email client to streamline communication.
Finally, using task lists can improve workflow by providing a structured way to organize and prioritize work, allowing a better visualization of workload, set deadlines and complex tasks broken down into manageable steps.
“Using tasks or to-do lists offers several benefits, including increased productivity, improved memory, reduced stress, a sense of accomplishment, better organization, clear priorities and the ability to efficiently manage time by identifying and tackling the most important tasks first,” the presenters said.
Communications
Most schools and athletic departments have their own websites where they can publish announcements and other school-related materials, but social media is where much of athletics communication continues to take place.
According to the presenters, 90% of student social media engagement with the school happens on Instagram, while X (formerly Twitter) is useful for business and recruitment engagement and Facebook is for more informational and parent- and community-focused messaging. Utilizing these platforms is no longer optional, rather, it is the best way to get information to the public in a quick, efficient manner.
Meanwhile, websites are still most useful for athletic forms, schedules and ticket sales, for example, and allow coaches and staff to have quick access to team-related materials, reducing back-and-forth communication.
It is not just communicating with the public that athletic administrators must consider but also communicating within the various sports programs.
Platforms like the Google suite, PlayOn Sports and Big Teams help athletic departments manage their websites, while others like Canva, Gipper, BoxOut Sports, Sidearm Sports and the Adobe suite allow schools to get creative with their graphic design and branding.
The presenters list four areas to consider when assessing athletic department communications and how to make the most out of your website and social media platforms: auto-posting, ease of creation, cost and using students to help on the creative and management side.
It is not just communicating with the public that athletic administrators must consider but also communicating within the various sports programs. Administrators might need to update multiple coaches about facility schedules or a coach might need to notify a team about an upcoming practice, for example. Applications like SportsYou, TeamSnap, Remind and BandApp offer an easier way to organize large amounts of information and messaging in one area while remaining compliant and secure.
Registration and ticketing
There are numerous platforms on the market to help athletic departments better manage games and events and make it easier to collect and report ticket sales. Finding the right fit means assessing department needs.
Admitted, Arbiter, Hometown, GoFan, Omella are several platforms that address scheduling, digital ticketing and fee collection, giving schools the opportunity to move away from having staff or volunteers stick around after events to count cash.
Meanwhile, platforms like Aktivate, FinalForms and Rank One help manage the exhaustive registration processes and organizational mechanics that come with managing an athletic department.
There are countless tools available to help address the needs of today’s athletic departments. It might take some trial and error, but it is worth examining how these tools can help streamline those day-to-day operations, especially in an era of increased burnout. One change might be the difference between high coaching turnover, for example, or better retention.
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