Fulfilling a dream before reaching the age of 30 doesn't happen for everyone. Nate Burton understands how lucky he is.
West Virginia State tabbed him last January to become, at age 28, the university's interim athletic director. The "interim" tag came off soon after and former Charleston Catholic standout athlete had been overseeing the Yellow Jackets athletic department for a little over a year.
"It still is a dream," Burton said. "The other day, I walked into my office and saw 'athletic director' underneath my name on my name plate, and I still couldn't believe it. It's a tough job, but there's absolutely nothing else I'd rather be doing."
Even dreams can take hard work, and that work goes beyond the won-loss records. State teams have done plenty of winning. The baseball team won the first two Mountain East Conference championships. The women's tennis team won four straight conference titles from 2012-15. But there's also the task of providing those teams and all the others under State's umbrella with uniforms, equipment and facilities.
That all costs money. Burton made fundraising a priority from the moment he took the WVSU job. It's a significant part of his professional background. He was WVSU's development director when he was named AD and worked in fundraising for several other collegiate athletic programs.
So far, that part of the job has been a rousing success.
In the 2014 calendar year, State's athletic department raised $122,851.73 from 242 donors. In the 2016 calendar year and the first two months of 2017, the department has raised $444,801.73 from 306 donors. Since Burton took over, there has been an up-tick in major gifts, State created its new Champions Club to raise funds and corporate sponsorships are on the rise. With the threat of cutbacks in state funds every year, private donations are crucial for State's athletic department, and those have been plentiful.
"I couldn't be prouder of our efforts," Burton said. "But those efforts wouldn't be possible without our tremendous supporters. I feel the reason we've been successful in our private support is because we've been transparent in our meetings. We constantly are in the community sharing our vision for the athletic department."
A Division II athletic director's job is one with several hats to wear. Outside of fundraising, Burton has hired new women's basketball coach Charles Marshall, new football coach John Pennington and new volleyball coach Kris Kern. He'll also put together graphics for the Walker Convocation Center video board, head to Sam's Club to buy the food to stock the concession stand and even set up the popcorn machine before games.
Burton doesn't do it alone. He has the help of a staff, many of whom wear several hats themselves, like assistant AD for compliance Sean McAndrews and softball coach Kerri Blackwell, who serves as the senior women's administrator and will make some of those trips to Sam's Club when Burton can't.
"We work hard," he said. "Our staff works hard and I'm surrounded by some amazing people."
And they all have the same mission - to make sure State student-athletes have an amazing time during their tenure in Institute. So Burton and his staff will continue to look for private support, try to enhance the game-day experience and, in the longer term, look for ways to further improve the department's facilities and resources.
In the short term, that might mean manning the popcorn machine a few more times. But Burton remembers how much he loved his years as a basketball player at Washington & Jefferson College. Now he knows what it took to provide it, a bunch of hard-working folks behind the scenes. So he'll put in the hours and juggle the responsibilities to give State's student-athletes the same type of college career.
"At the end of the day, it's all about one thing - making sure our student-athletes have a tremendous experience. After our student-athletes graduate, I want them to look back and think to themselves that there is no other place they would have rather been."
Contact Derek Redd at 304-348-1712 or derek.redd@wvgazettemail.com. Follow him on Twitter @derekredd.