DPS district athletic director earns CMAA credential

Durham Public Schools Athletic Director David HackneyPhoto byLinkedIn

By Alex Bass

Alex.bass@triangletribune.com

DURHAM – David Hackney will not take credit for the journey he has traveled before and during his tenure as the Durham Public Schools district athletic director.

Right on time for DPS’s ongoing graduation season, Hackney earned enough credits to secure his latest professional credential as a nationally Certified Master Athletic Administrator. This highest distinction bestowed by the National Interscholastic Athletic Administrators Association is education-based athletics’ equivalent of the National Board certification for classroom teachers.

“I wanted to be able to model that behavior as a leader,” Hackney said, “not only for my athletic directors, but as a leader in this district.”

Hackney gave credit to DPS high school athletic directors’ Robert Duncan (Riverside), Amy Green (Northern Durham) and Joseph Sharrow (Jordan) - each of whom earned the CMAA credential within the last two school years - for inspiring him to complete the certification process. Duncan, Green, Sharrow, and Githens Middle athletics director Shilsa Stackhouse received awards from the N.C. Athletic Directors Association this school year.

CMAA aspirants must complete 12 four-hour courses designed and facilitated by the NIAAA and accrue a certain number of points per years of athletics administration service, along with filling roles in administering state championship competitions, serving as a communications ambassador, leading awards programming, facilitating professional development and serving on state committees, among other things. Finally, an individual must design and implement a project that innovates or improves programming in a school/district.

Hackney’s multiyear project included the development of DPS’s first athletics handbook, and an online shared drive - a one-stop shop for his 16 school-based athletic directors. Within this living document, information concerning student-athlete eligibility and associated forms, protocols for transportation and facilities’ needs, and resources to optimize compliance with school district and state policies can be utilized.

“There’s rarely not something in there that we need,” Green said. “You can get to it from wherever you are. You can get to it on your phone.”

Green lauded being able to access coaches’ information in cases where a coach served previously at another school or even at two schools in the same academic year. Having this information available readily helps with ensuring coaches are paid, and their annual health and safety certifications are current.

As for CMAA compensation, DPS athletic directors receive increased stipends for certifications - another thing for which Hackney deferred credit to his predecessor Larry McDonald.

“It was necessary for us to get those things started,” McDonald said. “At the same time, it’s important to keep them going, and get people to understand how beneficial they are now. Certainly, I believe that David Hackney will keep that legacy going.”

Hackney, a Jordan graduate and previous middle school principal in Granville County, praised the education-based athletics advocacy of previous and current DPS superintendents Pascal Mubenga and Catty Moore, the latter who was a beacon for fostering female leadership opportunities during her career leading the Wake County Public School System. Hackney spoke proudly of how seven of DPS’s 16 school athletis directors are women.

“He has always, always, had my back, has always been there for me to ask questions, to vent if I needed to,” Green said. “It makes you want to work harder when someone has your back and is pushing you to be the best. He’s trying to be his best as well. I know we’re supporting him.”

The NIAAA began offering the CMAA credential in 1999. Since then, through the end of the 2023 calendar year, 1,290 athletic administrators nationwide have earned the CMAA credential. More than 5% of those credentialed are from North Carolina.

Hackney has set a goal for all six DPS high school athletic directors to earn the CMAA credential. He, again, will not take credit, but frames this pursuit as a continuation of the foundation laid by McDonald and preceding DPS athletic directors’ Tommy Parker and Willie Bradshaw.

“Without them, there is no me,” Hackney said. “We’re going to accomplish it. But we’re going to do it together.”