Essence of the Position
Athol Murray College of Notre Dame has one of the most elite hockey programs in Canada for students who desire an excellent academic and athletic experience.  The Hockey program at Athol Murray College of Notre Dame prides itself on development.  The development of our student-athletics; their skills and training; the development of our teams and coaches; and the development of our people as persons on the pathway to growing in virtuous character; are all aspects of what constitutes a Notre Dame student who plays hockey.

The Director of Hockey is Athol Murray College of Notre Dame’s key strategic, operational and relational leader as it pertains to the delivery and success of the College’s hockey program.  The individual in this position, with the support of the College President and College Executive team, is responsible for implementing the strategic direction, organization, administration and management of the Hockey program at Athol Murray College of Notre Dame.

Reporting to the College President, the Director of Hockey is one of the key leaders at the school entrusted with the delivery of the school’s mission and vision for our students. As part of the College Leadership team, the Director of Hockey is tasked with ensuring that the hockey program is a significant component of an exceptional educational and boarding experience with a balance of strong academic, athletic and spiritual growth in a safe and caring community.

The Director of Hockey not only is the Director of the Hockey office staff and coaches, but is the person responsible for ensuring that the objectives of the hockey office align with the school’s goals and processes for academics, athletics, spiritual life, boarding life, student health and wellness, enrolment, development, finance, facilities and community engagement.

The Director of Hockey must be comfortable working in a very competitive market and must have the abilities, work ethic, experience, intelligence and engagement to keep the Notre Dame hockey program at the forefront of current trends.  In short, this is a key position at the College entrusted with much responsibility and opportunity, as the number of student- athletes, parents, staff and stakeholders that one will encounter will afford this individual breadth of reach and influence.

The Hockey Program – a snapshot

The Notre Dame Hockey program currently has 12 teams, 10 male and 2 female:
Male: One Junior A, two U18 AAA, two U18AA, one U18A, one U17 Prep, one U16 prep, one U15 prep and one U15AA.
Female: one U18AAA, one U18AA.

Our teams are staffed by approximately 24 coaches; two coaches per team being the average.  The teams compete in leagues under the jurisdiction of Hockey Saskatchewan and Hockey Canada.  Typically, about 240-250 student-athletes partake in Notre Dame hockey on any given year.

The Hockey Office 

The Director of Hockey leads a team of 8 staff members.  Six members work out of the Hockey Office; Hockey Operations Manager, Junior A coach/General Manager, Male Coordinator, Female Coordinator, Goalie Coach, Camps Coordinator/Assistant Junior A Coach.  Additionally, the Speed, Strength and Conditioning Coach (Maier Fitness Center), Skate Sharpener, hockey interns and volunteer coaches fall under the responsibility of the Director of Hockey.

The Director of Hockey collaborates with the Principal who is responsible for the teachers who coach hockey and also collaborates with the Nurse Manger who is responsible for the athletic therapist and training room.

Essential Job Functions
Key responsibilities and duties may include, but are not limited to, the following:

Strategic Leader:
1.    Developing an annual and multi-year strategic plan for Notre Dame Hockey which includes:
a.    Player development, retention, recruitment, and placement.
b.    Coaches – professional development, recruitment, and placement.
c.    Overall vision for the hockey program, its growth and development and positioning in the marketplace.
d.    Development of goals (longer term, 5 years), strategies (medium term, 2-5 years) and actions (short term, one year) that will guide and direct the hockey program.

Operational Leader:

2.    Overseeing the hockey program and operations at Athol Murray College of Notre Dame.

3.    Executing recruitment and retention for Notre Dame by:
a.    Overseeing the recruitment and retention of all Notre Dame Hockey teams for each academic school year to ensure sustainability for the program.
b.    Developing scouting and recruiting network to be the face and voice of the Notre Dame College Hockey Program.
c.    Scouting of potential prospect players having a minimum of 100 leads.
d.    Creating and maintaining a list of names for potential student athletes after each recruiting trip.
e.    Providing scouting information including rosters, names, birthdates, contact information, etc.
f.    Following up with prospects to develop and maintain the scouting database.
g.    Communicating with the Enrollment Management department and recruiters for new student prospects and registrations.
h.    Collaborating with other Notre Dame departments i.e. Marketing and Communications, Academics, etc. as part of the recruitment and retention plan.

4.    Managing the programming, development and evaluation for all Notre Dame teams by:
a.    Directing the technical development of all teams by mentoring and developing a yearly plan, play book and regular evaluations of coaches.
b.    Developing and formatting a curriculum for all hockey teams and players with the Principal/Director of Academics; taking feedback from staff and staff who oversee their own pods.
c.    Placement of coaches for all teams and participate in the evaluation of those coaches.
d.    Participating in player evaluation, selection, development; create benchmarks for player evaluation and progress.
e.    Organizing and enhancing coaches’ development by providing them with the opportunity to attend seminars, off-ice development sessions and organize guest coach appearances.
f.    Providing support to all coaches both on and off the ice when required.
g.    Touching base with pod leaders who are the designated liaisons of their leagues in their pods.
h.    Developing a library of coaching resources and professional development opportunities for all coaches.

5.    Leading and managing the Hockey Office and Maier Fitness Centre staff by:
a.    Ensuring sufficient staffing in the hockey office and volunteer coaches occurs which includes participating in interviews and final selection of newly hired staff in consultation with Human Resources and the President.
b.    Overseeing the administration function of the hockey office by ensuring job descriptions are in place for employees, management of and adherence to goal setting, monitoring job performance, conducting employee evaluations and other related matters such as vacation day tracking, etc.
c.    Leading and coordinating regular meetings with all hockey office staff and coaches.

Relational Leader:

As the relational leader of the Notre Dame Hockey program, it will be key that this individual build on or create a culture of trust, ownership, responsibility and delegation amongst their staff. This is achieved through healthy relationship building with individual members and with the team as a whole.  Additionally, this can be realized by:

6.    Enhancing internal and external communications by:
a.    Having continuous communication with all hockey office staff, coaches and specific staff members at the College.  This includes basic daily operational conversations as well as more difficult crucial conversations that are meant to improve ownership, performance, accountability and responsibility.
b.    Ensuring staff have responsibilities and goals outlined on an annual basis and that the goals are aligned with the goals of the hockey department and school.
c.    Creating and executing a communication plan with coaches, student athletes (hockey players) and their parents/guardians; participating in on-going communication with players and parents/guardians both present and future.
d.    Being the main contact in resolution of conflicts that may arise in staff, parents, players, coaches’ situations or disciplinary issues directly for all teams on campus.
e.    On-going communication with players and parents both present and future.
f.    Being the face of the Notre Dame Hockey Program and participating in external communication with the media, scouts and coaches, general managers of University, College, Junior and Professional programs.
g.    Communicating team schedule(s) and player movement information so all departments are in the loop.
h.    Coordinate and communicate with other departments when required.
i.    Contacting potential student athletes (letters, phone calls, meetings, etc.)

Additional Duties:

7.    Development of and adherence to Notre Dame Hockey coaching philosophy and systems.

8.    Potentially coach one of the Notre Dame Hockey teams.

9.    Responsible for the development of the annual budget, regular monitoring of actual costs, and signing off on expenses.

10.    Managing the hockey budget including hockey camps, Maier Fitness, Junior ‘A’ and chargebacks for all hockey programs.

11.    Collaborating with the Leadership Team and all other College Departments, i.e., Academics, Residence, Enrollment Management, Spiritual Development, High School Programming, etc. ensuring that school unity is the outcome.

12.    Providing overall direction and guidance for the spring showcases/camps, spring teams and summer hockey camps.

13.    Managing the off-ice skills facility including ensuring supervision, security and safety are maintained.

14.    Participating in the promotion of Notre Dame and current students by:
a.    Assisting with providing support for graduating players in finding them a suitable level of hockey post Notre Dame.
b.    Assisting the Enrollment Office with campus day visits.
c.    Promotion of the Notre Dame hockey program, current players through social media.
d.    Providing input, as requested, to the Financial Assistance Committee.

15.  Contributing as a member of the College’s Senior Leadership Team by:
a.    Reporting directly to the President and providing strategic input reporting to the Leadership team.
b.    Attending Board of Regents meetings and works in concert with the Board and/or with any Board Committee as directed by the President.  Also provides hockey reporting to the Board of Regents for each Board meeting.
c.    Attending student (award evenings, graduations, concerts, etc.), alumni, and College and public events as appropriate.
d.    Attending to any special assignment mutually agreed upon with the President.
e.    Taking the initiative to participate in Professional Development opportunities provided by the Canadian Accredited Independent Schools or any other similar organizations.

Success Factors 
These competencies describe the required behaviors and expectations for this position:

Behavioural:

Accountability: Assumes responsibility for own actions, decisions and results. Demonstrates commitment to accomplish work in an ethical, efficient and cost-effective manner. Exhibits a high level of dependability in all aspects of the job.

Communication: Adapts communication strategy and interpersonal approach to a situation. Perseveres in the face of complex, hard-to-handle situations. Effectively conveys both readily apparent and underlying messages to a wide variety of audiences in diverse situations.

Collaboration: Demonstrates the ability to work cooperatively with others inside and outside the organization to effectively accomplish objectives. Also, has the ability to build and maintain mutually-beneficial partnerships to leverage information and achieve results for Notre Dame.

Customer Focus: Anticipates, monitors and meets the needs of Notre Dame’s customers and responds to them in an appropriate manner. Demonstrates a personal commitment to identify apparent and underlying needs and continually seeks to provide the highest quality service to all customers.

Influence and Persuasion: The ability to convince or sway the customers of the College to accept and adopt your point of view, particularly with the goal of obtaining their business and enrolling their children at Notre Dame.

Integrity: Behaves in an honest, fair and ethical manner that contributes to maintaining the integrity of Notre Dame. Displays high standards of ethical conduct and understands the impact of violating these standards on the organization, self and others; is trustworthy.

Networking and Relationship Building: The ability of building and maintaining effective and trusting relationships or networks of contacts with people who are, or may potentially be, helpful in the achievement of recruitment and retention goals for all Notre Dame hockey programs.

Professional Knowledge: Provides evidence in the pursuit of mastering the knowledge of coaching (hockey), retention and recruitment and any other skills pertinent to this portfolio.

Leadership:

Leading by example by modeling a personal work ethic, respect, trust, integrity, confidentiality, team work and virtuous behavior.

Conflict Management: Successfully mediates conflict and disagreements between team members and other colleagues in a constructive manner to minimize negative personal impact. Has the ability to settle disputes equitably and anticipates and takes steps to prevent counter-productive confrontations.

Delegation: Appropriately allocates task responsibility to team members in terms of their portfolios or tasks that are out of their normal scope of their job to maximize the organizations and individuals’ effectiveness.

Financial Management and Accountability: The ability to contribute to or manage factors that influence or impact the College’s financial performance, including developing a financial plan and budget for the Hockey department.

Managing Performance: Clearly establishes and communicates expectations and accountabilities for the hockey team. Monitors and evaluates performance, provides effective feedback and coaching and identifies development needs.

Organizational Management: Directing and managing the planning, organizing, leading and controlling resources within the hockey department with the overall aim of achieving the goals and strategies of the College.

Strategic Leadership: The ability to understand the business implications of decisions on one’s role, and link daily work to the College’s overall strategy. Clearly sees the big picture and demonstrates an in-depth knowledge of how their role supports the achievement of organizational vision and goals. Creates clear strategies which take into account the external and political context to maximize the opportunity to add value to the organization and support economic growth.

Work Environment

As the Director of Hockey, you will perform your responsibilities on the College’s campus. When coaching your team, you will spend a considerable amount of time on the road going to games. Recruitment responsibilities will require additional travel. Some overnight travel with athletes is required during the hockey season. Work hours can vary and may include evenings and weekends throughout the hockey season.

Physical Demands

The physical demands described here are a representation of those that must be met by the Director of Hockey to successfully perform the essential functions of the job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

You must have the ability to sit and stand for extended periods of time; able to see within normal parameters; can hear and understand speech at normal levels, on the ice and in the office; physical agility to skate and lead practices on ice; regularly required to bend, stoop, crouch and/or kneel; capable to lift up to 25 pounds; able to perform office tasks such as using office equipment, computers, phones and key boards.

Qualifications
The ideal candidate will possess:

•    Post-Secondary Degree/Diploma in Business, Education or related field.
•    Three (3) to five (5) years’ experience in a managerial role.
•    Hockey knowledge and experience in a hockey organization.
•    Previous hockey playing and coaching experience is mandatory.
•    Excellent computer skills and proficiency with Microsoft Office Suite.
•    Must have a clean Criminal Record Check with Vulnerable Sector.
•    Must have a valid driver’s license.
•    Ability and willingness to travel.
•    Display a commitment to Notre Dame’s Catholic nature, philosophy, principles, mission, history and strategic plan.
•    A willingness to interact with the student body in a positive manner (i.e. coaching, student clubs, etc.).

To apply, submit your cover letter and resume to sports.careers@notredame.ca