University of Tennessee Athletics
Cronan Quietly Making Noise
August 19, 2011 | General
Aug. 19, 2011
Joan Cronan opened this year's fall semester by relaying to all UT student-athletes her goals for their careers at Tennessee:
- "I want us all to have passion, pride and tradition - those things are really important to our athletics program.
- "You chose to come to Tennessee, and the decisions you make along the way are going to affect your success and our success.
- "You are responsible for your decisions, but your decisions affect all of us. And you're accountable to all your teammates - not just in your own sport but all the student-athletes. Remember who you are and who you represent."
An avid golf and tennis competitor, Cronan still has quite a few years to go before meeting the qualifications for a certain bucket list accomplishment.
"I want to win the national 80-and-over tennis championship," she said. "That's a goal written down!"
She also wants to lower her handicap in golf and, most importantly, spend time with her five grandchildren: Reed, Larkin, Reese, Chase and Quinn.
Cronan couldn't help but laugh at the reaction daughters Kristi and Stacey had to the sudden news about her job change.
"I called to tell them I was going to be Interim Vice Chancellor/Director of Athletics. They both said, 'Mom, that makes you sound smart.'
"Children can always humble you."
UTSports.com
Not every job offer ends up a guaranteed success, so it never hurts to discuss the pros and cons with close friends and associates.
Joan Cronan did exactly that this summer when presented her chance at history.
The University of Tennessee wanted Cronan to become Interim Vice Chancellor/Director of Athletics, taking over the reins of the entire UT athletics department while the search for a permanent administrator began. So the longtime women's director of UT athletics did what most folks would do and sought advice from those closest to her.
She called her daughters, of course (see sidebar), but also phoned a few of her closest colleagues.
Except that Cronan's friends are more than your garden-variety athletics department officials.
"Three of my favorite mentors are Roy Kramer, Mike Slive and Doug Dickey, and I talked to all three pretty soon after the announcement," Cronan said of the former SEC commissioner, current SEC commissioner and former UT athletics director, respectively. "Of course, Coach Dickey called me back to give advice just like you would expect him to and I certainly appreciated that."
But even those conversations came after Cronan reached out to the one person she knew could clearly see the larger picture for all things UT: Pat Summitt.
"Pat was one of the first people I called," Cronan said. "She's an icon for Tennessee. She's an icon for athletics. She's an icon for women's athletics. I knew she would offer straightforward advice and encouragement."
And thus began, on June 9, 2011, Tennessee's return to normalcy.
'Worst Nightmare'
"My job has been to be that bridge over troubled waters, getting us to smooth waters and going forward," Cronan said.
Cronan admitted that accepting her promotion one day and having to face the NCAA Committee on Infractions two days later was her "worst nightmare." But to the Tennessee contingent, Cronan's arrival in Indianapolis likely had a soothing effect on the hearing.
"I probably have been on every NCAA committee there is," she said. "Right now, I'm on the Division I Leadership Council. I was on the Executive Committee, I was on the NCAA Council - I hope I bring credibility. Tennessee has always stood for integrity. We hit a little bump in the road, but I thought the University of Tennessee presented its case well.
"When I walked out of there, we all said we're not coming back. We're going forward."
SEC's First Female AD
Cronan now finds herself as the first female to lead an entire athletics department in Southeastern Conference history.
But the Opelousas, La., native has accepted the transition with that ever-present smile and the self-confidence and self-assurance gained from nearly 30 years running the nation's premier women's athletics department.
"It's probably answering to more people and having more oars in the water right now than I did before," Cronan said. "But as far as the understanding of what Tennessee is, what Tennessee stands for, what the NCAA is, what the SEC is - I'm not a slow learner. I've been at it a long time. And this has been very rewarding."
One of Cronan's newest oars belongs to football, and she has taken advantage of her additional responsibilities to build relationships with head coach Derek Dooley's staff that didn't exist before.
"Derek and I have worked together on kind of a corporate level," Cronan said. "But I wasn't in charge of football, so I didn't get to know his staff and his real philosophy on a day-to-day operation. And that's been exciting."
ESPN Roundtable
Another layer of excitement and celebrity came this week with the airing of ESPN's roundtable, College Football: Blueprint for Change, which includes Cronan among 12 nationally recognized sports figures.
She is both the only female and only sitting athletics director on the panel.
"It was a neat honor," she said. "I've always had a passion for athletics, but doing it the right way. And I think they knew my involvement with the NCAA and my long-term involvement with Tennessee.
"It was five hours of taping, and it wasn't taped like a show but more like a boardroom. We were throwing out ideas and sharing those ideas."
Football was the main topic, but the conversation spilled over into a general collegiate athletics discussion. And Cronan's reputation for being fair but firm made her an ideal panelist.
"The general agreement was that most of us in college athletics are on the same page," Cronan said. "The main thing that came out was simpler rules and tougher penalties. If the rules are simpler and you intentionally break them, there should be tougher penalties."
Ninth-Inning Hire
Another piece of the UT athletics puzzle Cronan helped fit together was the June hiring of Dave Serrano as head baseball coach. Serrano was on the selection committee's radar, but Cronan helped close the deal to usher in a new era of Tennessee baseball.
"When I joined the search committee, it had done a great job of identifying several very good candidates," she said. "I was impressed with them all, but what pulled my heart to Dave was his passion not only for baseball but for wanting to be at Tennessee.
"He's done a tremendous job of coming in and doing all the right things. I just think our baseball program can be and should be a national powerhouse."
In other words, exactly like the Lady Vols programs already covered with Cronan's fingerprints.
Three Decisions in One
So what made Cronan take the leap from successful women's AD to historic sports figure?
"I felt like at this particular time it was the right thing for Tennessee," she said matter-of-factly.
Still, deciding to become UT's interim vice chancellor/athletics director wasn't an automatic one. When she received the call, she was in West Palm Beach, Fla., delivering a motivational speech for a group of Tennessee business leaders. She soon realized it was a three-part decision:
 Decide whether or not to take the position;
 Announce UT was completing the merger of the athletic programs; and
 Decide when to retire.
"I had not really thought about retiring; I knew it was coming but I'd been ignoring it," she said. "So I had to make those decisions and I felt it was the right thing for Tennessee and the right time to take the job."
The merger made bigger headlines the next day than did her announcement as interim AD. But Cronan and the UT staff had been planning such a transition for a long time.
"My goal in the consolidation has always been that the Lady Vols don't lose their identity and don't lose their voice, and I don't think that's happened," she said.
"I do think separate departments had been good for us, but we had begun to figure out what the best plan was for Tennessee moving forward and that was to complete the merger."
Two Months and Counting
Now that the interim label has passed the two-month mark, Cronan appears settled in her role.
And it's strikingly similar to her previous one.
"I wanted to be in a business that offers women an opportunity, and this is where I've spent my career," Cronan said of collegiate athletics. "And now to end the career with the icing on the cake, to be able to be Interim Vice Chancellor/Director of Athletics - that's a big title! - has been exciting.
"My goal is to continue to make this a family atmosphere. The two things I like about athletics day-to-day is really working with the coaches and trying to make their lives better, and then raising money and dealing with the public."
Cronan agreed to serve until a permanent vice chancellor/athletics director is named, with Cronan then becoming director of women's athletics and a member of UT-Knoxville Chancellor Jimmy Cheek's cabinet until June 30, 2012. From July 1, 2012, until June 30, 2014, Cronan will become senior advisor to Cheek and the new AD.
Right Person for Tennessee
Cronan says overwhelming support from the entire community has been tremendous and made her transition that much smoother. She calls herself humbled but very challenged.
"The general reaction from our donor base, the university family and everywhere has been, `Congratulations,' and then more importantly, `How can we help?'" Cronan said.
In the meantime, Cronan has penciled in three goals for her immediate future:
 "One is that everybody says, `Gosh, Joan is doing a great job,'" she said.
 "Two, when it's time to step down, they say, `Oh, I wish she wouldn't do that.'
 "But three is, `She did (step down), but she was part of hiring somebody that's the right person for Tennessee.'"
Just as Joan Cronan was when history came calling.
