JOB: In August, Terry Cole was promoted to senior associate athletic director.
RESPONSIBILITIES: He is second in command to Athletic Director Ron Guenther, who assigns Cole special projects in athletics that range from personnel to academics to budget issues and other challenges.
When and where did you start at the UI?
I started in 1979 as an academic counselor. I worked in that capacity for about two months before Neale Stoner was hired [as athletic director]. And then the assistant director for academic services resigned and Neale called me into his office and he said ‘You’re the guy, you’re the director.’
And that’s where it all started for me in this department. I was assistant athletic director and then Ron [Guenther] made me an associate athletic director in charge of not only academics but also strength and conditioning and our sports medicine program.
Were you an athlete yourself?
I was born and raised in East St. Louis, and played football and ran track at East St. Louis Senior High School. I went to North Carolina College on a football scholarship, playing quarterback and wide receiver. And I also was in track high jumping.
As many athletes back in those days did, I felt like I had a pro career ahead of me. But I was lucky enough to be able to accept the fact that after my fourth year I was not going to get that opportunity. I decided to get serious about what I was going to do. My childhood sweetheart was a student at the UI, so I transferred here and finished my undergraduate and got a master’s degree in sports management here.
Because of your background and interest in sports, is this a passion or a job for you?
I still have a passion. I’ve always liked to work with youth. Money was never the issue for me. I first started working with young people at the Don Moyers Boys Club in 1969, when it was just opening. When I was hired here, I had a passion because I knew what education had done for me as an athlete. I want to convince the young people that I work with that education is the way out. I will try any method available to me to sell my athletes on the dream. There’s nothing wrong with having a dream of being a professional athlete as long as you take an education with you.
Is that a hard message to sell?
No. We stress the fact that we want them to dream. But we also want them to be the best person that they can be when they leave here, including their athletics, their academics and the part that makes them good individuals.
Now that you’re in this position, do you still have contact with the athletes?
The more I grow as a professional the farther away I get from the athletes. And that’s why I say this has become more of a job. I love sports, but I love seeing my kids become successful in the classroom and in their particular sports.
What’s a typical Sunday afternoon like for you?
I watch football on TV.
On what? Do you have one of those 52-inch TV screens?
[He laughs and puts his head down.] Let’s just say I have a large-screen TV.
Do you watch one game?
No. I watch as many as I can. And I seem to be able to keep up with them.
What if it’s March and there’s no football on TV?
I pray for the weather to break so I can get outside to fish or work in the yard.
You don’t golf?
No. I’m the worst golfer in the world. I don’t have enough patience. But fishing to me is therapeutic. Sometimes I go out to catch a fish and sometimes I just go out to get away. There’s nothing like sitting in the middle of the water with the sun shining down on you. It’s serenity. You can leave all your cares back here and have three or four hours of peace. And if I catch a fish, it’s a plus.
You and your wife were childhood sweethearts? Where did you meet?
She’s from East Louis, too. She went to a rival high school. We went together six years before we were married. We got married in 1969, so we’ve been married 30 years. Obviously, the main fact in a relationship like that is good communication, accepting one’s faults, and loving each other for who they are.
We have a daughter, Terrilyne, who graduated from the UI and will get her MBA this May and will get her M.D. in May 2001. We also have a son, Terry Jr., who is now working at the UI in machinist training.
Is there anything about you that would surprise people who know you?
I came up in the ’60s and I can remember marching on downtown East St. Louis and when I went to Durham (N.C.) I was in the freedom riots there. I think some people have not realized that’s something I did. A lot of people don’t realize that back in the ’40s and ’50s East St. Louis was predominately white. We marched on the bank downtown because they wouldn’t hire blacks. My wife’s claim to fame was that she made the national news being photographed at that demonstration, hanging out of the bus as they were hauling the protestors off to the police department. That was in the early ’60s.
You’ve spent your entire career here at the UI. You must have a lot of pride in this university.
I know I’m very committed to it. But I think that God puts you somewhere for a reason or a purpose. And he decided that this was my purpose in life. I think my purpose has been to serve my students.
And I think I’m one of the lucky ones who’s been able to engage with some very great athletic directors who had the vision for this place to be the best. Now, we’ve stubbed our toes along the way, but I think 10 years ago when John Mackovic was hired, we turned the corner as far as our image was concerned. And then when John left and Ron Guenther was hired, he continued on that same path. And now from an athletic standpoint, we’re looked at as a very credible athletic department and program. I’m proud to be affiliated with the Division of Intercollegiate Athletics and the UI.
