Tyler Junior College Athletic Director Dr. Tim Drain, who is entering his 16th year in that position, first joined the National Alliance of Two Year College Athletic Administrators to bring some ideas back to TJC.
He never imagined he would eventually end up as the President of the organization, which oversees every two-year athletic program in the nation.
That is exactly what happened as earlier this summer, Drain was bumped from First Vice President to President for the 2014-2015 athletic year.
“It is intriguing because I joined the organization just to try to do my job better and bring back things to Tyler that I could be better at,” Drain said. “I really had no intentions of going elsewhere, I just wanted to do my job better.
“I didn’t go campaigning for it. I had two colleagues that thought I would be good for it. I really am humbled to have it.”
NATYCAA was formed 27 years ago to oversee all two-year colleges in the nation. The National Junior College Athletic Association currently governs all but California, Washington and Oregon schools. NATYCAA picks up those schools.
Drain has moved up the administration ladder the last few years, beginning with the Third Vice President, then the Second Vice President and last year he served as the First Vice President.
Officers serve one-year terms.
“I am the voice of our organization for a year,” Drain said. “NATYCAA publishes a magazine every month, or maybe quarterly, and I will write an article for that. The First Vice President organizes the Professional Development meetings so I did that last year.”
That meeting is held annually and while last year, he organized it, this year he will oversee it. He called it the best way to learn about the concerns of other administrators.
Drain estimated the number of schools in the organization to be more than 800 and would love to see that many at this year’s meeting and to be involved during the year.
As he enters his 16th year at TJC, Drain brings a wealth of athletic success from Tyler to his new position. In those years, he has seen several of TJC’s 50 national championships. But there isn’t a single event or title that is more special than the others.
His best moment, he said, spans an entire season. And it is the one that just ended with the baseball team winning the school’s milestone championship at Mike Carter Field.
“There are a lot of things I can look back on and have great pride in,” Drain said. “Last year was unbelievable. We had 10 of our 11 sports finish in the Top 10 nationally. We had a 2.86 cumulative GPA, which is the highest since we started recording back in 1989.
“We finished third in the NATYCAA Cup, which looks at your Top 5 men’s sports and your Top 5 women’s sports and gives you points on how you do in the national championships. It is going to be a hard year to beat. Last year was pretty satisfying.”
Drain joked about how at his meeting before he met with his coaches a year ago, he mentioned that the school was sitting on 49 national championships and asked who would win the 50th.
He said he was a little worried after four
near-misses by the men’s soccer, volleyball, men’s tennis and women’s tennis
teams before the baseball team earned the milestone victory in the school’s
last chance of the year.
