Notre Dame Academy has long fielded a wide variety of successful sports teams, ranging from football to soccer to softball and everything in between. 

Sports are a staple of student life for both boys and girls, and even the non-athletes take part in sports in the roaring crowds at football games or cheering on their friends on the field hockey pitch.

 However, while eyes are always fixed on the players, most don’t readily realize or appreciate the man responsible for giving all the student-athletes an opportunity to play the sports they love: Matthew Koenig, the athletic director.

“It is my job to make every season happen,” Koenig explained. “Every day is a new day and brings something different.” 

Koenig has been preparing to be an athletics director for years, starting back in his time at Xavier University, when he spent his undergraduate years serving as the manager for the men’s basketball team, even getting to attend two NCAA tournaments in the process.

 For all his organizational, management, budgeting and event planning skills, he always knew he would apply his aptitudes towards sports. 

However, this job is demanding. 

“I manage close to 600 athletes, oversee close to 80 coaches, 22 varsity sports, all the scheduling, all the travel, an overall budget and close to 250 home athletic events a year,” Koenig explained. “There is never a dull moment and the job never stops.” 

When looking at these numbers, it becomes clear just how much effort is put into maintaining sporting events at NDA. However, when asked about his motivation to keep up with such a large workload, Mr. Koenig gushed about the opportunity to provide students with life-long memories and lessons learned through sports. 

“Every night I go to sleep, every morning on my way to work, I think to myself, what can I do to make the athletic experience at NDA better.” 

The most rewarding part of the job is, continued the athletic director, is watching freshmen begin their first sport, nervous and timid, and then working hard to graduate as a strong, confident senior student-athlete. 

Despite his noble cause, he admits that the job can take a toll. “Probably my biggest weakness is the sacrifice my family has to make with me being away from home a lot.”

 “I want the students to leave NDA and to remember their athletic career forever,” Mr. Koenig remarked, “because at the end of the day, athletics should be set up to provide life-lessons.”