Current Georgia Southern University Athletic Director Tom Kleinlein is now in his eighth season as the man in charge of Eagles athletics. After a collegiate career as an offensive lineman at Wake Forest University – from 1989-1992 – Kleinlein got into coaching and then athletic administration at his alma mater. His career would take him to lengthy stints at Arizona State, Rutgers, and Kent State before hiring on at Georgia Southern in 2012.

In that time, he has seen his program grow from an FCS level powerhouse to joining the FBS and the Sun Belt Conference in 2013. Under his watch, the football program has received national Top 25 votes and won the 2015 GoDaddy Bowl.

Since entering the ranks of administrators, Kleinlein has been able to rely on the past skills and lessons from the game of football to help his student athletes not only succeed on the field of play, but also in the classrooms, and in life.

EM: Before we get into your career in athletics administration, let’s talk a little bit about your football career. When did you first start playing football and how long were you in it before you developed a love of the game?

TK: I started very young, probably when I was around 7 years old. Growing up in Long Island, New York, football was what we did back then. I went to a high school with a pretty strong tradition of winning in football and when you’re a kid and you see the guys in high school who are successful, you want to kind of emulate them and be like them.

I think by the time I got to middle school, I was completely in love with the game. I loved the competition and the physicality of it. And again, by the time I got to high school, I enjoyed being able to do my part to carry on some of that winning tradition that our school had always had.

EM: How did you decide that Wake Forest was where you wanted to go to school to continue playing football and get your education?

TK: I had a very good friend of mine, Joe Kenn, who is the current strength and conditioning coach with the Carolina Panthers, he went to Wake Forest before me. It seemed like a natural progression for me to follow him from high school to Wake Forest and when I got there and did my official visit it all clicked into place for me. I fell in love with the campus and the people there.

It felt right, it felt like home. It helped that there was an opportunity for me to play pretty early on while I was there. I had some great memories while I was there. Under [Head Coach Bill] Dooley, we finished in the top 25 my senior year and won the Independence Bowl. We weren’t always a great program, but we started turning that around when I was graduating and I like to think I helped in that.

EM: Did you always plan on going into the admin side of sports when you were done playing?

TK: Well, I got hurt my senior year so I figured pretty early on in that that playing in the NFL was not going to be in the cards. I got my degree in education and started teaching and coaching in high school for a few years. I had an opportunity to do a coaching internship at Rutgers and it was there that I got interested in the administration side of things.

I saw that I could make just as big of an impact on the student athletes and on their lives and on the program overall. From there, I have been fortunate enough to progress my way up the ladder at different places, like Arizona State and Kent State until I got here to Georgia Southern and I couldn’t be happier with where I am right now.

EM: You’ve had the chance now since starting at Georgia Southern to hire two head football coaches. That seems to be the most obvious way that an Athletic Director can impact a program, but how else can you in your role make a difference football-wise?

TK: Yes, you’re right, hiring is the most important way that an athletic director like myself can make an impact. But, there are other ways, like upgrading facilities and marketing the program. That’s the same for all sports, of course. As the Athletic Director, it’s my responsibility to make sure that our sports programs are representing the overall university in a positive manner.

The main thing is the hiring of personnel though. Often times, in fact in most Division I institutions, the Head Football Coach is the face of your university overall. We are fortunate now that [new Head Coach Chad] Lunsford is a fan of all of our sports. He’s at softball games and basketball games. He is the face of our school. When you’re the A.D., you have a responsibility to hire the right person for that important job and make sure that person is going to not only bring you wins but also represent the university.

EM: What are some ways you’ve been able to draw upon your football experience and background to help you succeed in your current career?

TK: Well, I think in a lot of sports you learn how important teamwork is. Football though, that’s the ultimate team sport. Everyone on both sides of the ball have to be competing and working and building to a common goal. That makes the most sense for what I am doing now.

For an Athletics Department to be successful, and I don’t just mean in terms of wins and losses, but in terms of graduation numbers and things like alumni buy in, this is critical. One of the things I am most proud of as the Athletics Director of Georgia Southern is seeing 100-200 of our former players come out each and every Saturday during the football season.

Since I’ve been here a while now, I can see some of the players that were here when I started. That doesn’t happen unless they enjoyed their experience as a student athlete here. But, going back to what I was originally saying, that doesn’t happen unless everyone on the staff from the facilities managers to the people running the scoreboards to the p.a. announcers to the coaches, everyone being on the same page and working together. I think part of that is my background as an old offensive lineman. Everybody has to be working together to make something successful.