New UMass-Lowell AD lays out ambitious agenda - The Boston Globe (Boston, MA)

HAVERHILL -- Dana Skinner has perhaps the perfect background tooversee a top-notch athletic program that features 22 sports.

The new athletic director at University of Massachusetts at Lowellknows sports from his days playing with the Continental BasketballAssociation, Danvers High and Merrimack College. He coachedbasketball at Bishop Fenwick High School, Southern Connecticut Stateand Salem State. He was an administrator at Salem State andUMass-Lowell.

Skinner, 40, has been on the job full time since his appointmenttwo months ago. He is following some old goals and setting new ones.

'What I hope to attain as athletic director is a pretty simplemessage. I think having had the experience of coaching and playingand being an administrator at almost every level in college and anaffiliation with the pros as a player and coach I think I developed amutual feeling with the student-athletes and the coaches.

'That's been helpful to me and my message is real simple. I metwith all the coaches and student-athletes and we have three basicobjectives.

'One is to challenge every coach that every student-athlete isdeveloping academically, athletically, socially and emotionally.That's our first priority.

'Secondly I think our teams have to learn how to be competitive.That's an important part of what we do. I don't want to do that atthe expense of the first objective.

'And third is that we challenge all our student-athletes to reallyaccept the responsibility of working with young children. We have aprogram here called the Young Stars Program, which is basically anattempt to connect local children with our student-athletes. We runa summer program called NYSP (National Youth Sports Program) that issponsored by the NCAA. Three hundred kids come here every summer andwork with many of our coaches and student-athletes and others andit's a free program for the kids.

'I learned that at Merrimack. I had this routine. I'd show uptwo hours early before a game and I'd go through my own workout. Andeverytime I did there were some kids there from the Boys Club waitingfor me. They would meet me at the door and pass me the ball and helpme through my workout. It became clear to me that if I didn't acceptthe responsibility to be a positive influence, someone else mightnot.

'So I am really proud of our student-athletes who accept thatresponsibility. And they do a great job at it. We implemented thataspect of the program four years ago and they really stepped up tothe plate and did a remmarkable job.

Skinner, a Haverhill resident,was born in Dudley and brought up inDanvers 'My last team at Danvers was pretty good. The first two werenot. I was a classic late bloomer. I didn't start playingbasketball until my freshman year in high school.

'After we moved to Danvers I was cut in every sport I tried outfor. I was cut in football and cut from the freshman basketballteam. I was awful. Then I got invited back for basketball as asophomore. I developed a passion for basketball.'

After graduation Skinner attended Northeastern University for ashort spell while playing under current University of Connecticutcoach Jim Calhoun.

'I was just a lost country kid in the big city and couldn'tadapt,' said Skinner. 'I left sort of quickly and went to MerrimackCollege.'

Skinner earned a scholarship to Merrimack and played under FrankMonahan, who is now coaching at Bishop Brady in New Hampshire.Skinner was a Division 2 All-America.

A 1973 Danvers grad and 1978 Merrimack grad and member of bothinstitutions' halls of fame, Skinner said, 'After Merrimack I wasdrafted by the Celtics in the third round. That was the same yearthe Celtics drafted a player from Indiana. Yeah, Larry Bird.

'I finished that year out playing in the CBA.

'Upon my return, I got in a little college coaching. I worked atSouthern Connecticut State and had a brief stint with the women'sProfessional Basketball League. The team was the New England Gulls.We lasted for about 2 1/2 months before the league ran out of money.Then I went off to coach at Bishop Fenwick High for three years from1981 to 1984 and had some fun there. That was a good experience.

'We're were a Division 3 high school and we had some work to do toturn that basketball situation around. In three short years we didturn it around and that third year we went into the state tournamentand won our regional championship.'

At that point Skinner decided he wanted to go into administration.He went to St. Thomas College in Miami and earned a masters degree insports management.

'I got my degree and a basketball job just opened at Salem StateCollege,' said Skinner. 'I had known Salem State athletic directorJohn Galaris for years and I came up north to acoaching-administrative position and did that for two years.

'Then a position opened up at Lowell, which I applied for and got.John Galaris is a very well organinzed guy and I was able to learn alot about just basic organization of an intercollegiate programworking with him. It was a great experience. Then I got the job atLowell and moved up.'

A 12 to 14-hour day is common for Skinner. He's on the job earlymorning and many days he's not through until 10:30 p.m. but hestill manages quality time at his Haverhill home with his wife,Kayko, and children Alexander, 6, and Abigail, 2 months.