Anton Goff Leadership Analysis

Our group had the opportunity to interview Anton Goff, the current Director of Athletics for the University of Hartford. Goff was able to provide us with valuable insights on how he advanced through the ranks of athletic administration. He was able to explain how he uses servant and situational leadership styles to positively direct and influence his employees and student-athletes. He states, “I’m all about servant leadership so I want to help young people that want to get into the business and go from there, because I didn’t get to where I am today without help from other people” (Goff, Oct. 23, 2015). In doing so, he has advanced his athletic administration career from working as an academic advisor to ultimately becoming a Division I Athletic

From Laing Kennedy at Kent State, Debbie Yow at Maryland, three different athletic directors at Michigan State, and Lee Reed at Georgetown, Goff was able to learn a great deal and to apply these lessons in implementing a culture at Hartford. In regards to the culture he promotes, Goff mentions service leadership multiple times and how he wants to provide everyone at Hartford with the appropriate tools to succeed, noting that,

One of the things I’ve always talked about when I got here is that if I expect our coaches to win championships, if I expect our student-athletes to have great experiences, and if I expect our staff to do great jobs then I have to give them the resources to do that. It’s been one of what can I do to help you reach your optimum level, so that’s the culture that I’ve been brining here

Because of this trend, Mr. Goff is one of the few athletic directors who consistently uses his personal twitter account to interact with students, fans, and alumni. He notes, “I’m one of the few athletic directors in our conference that actively uses twitter. Some other ADs might have somebody else, who else does it, but I do all of my tweeting because I want people to know it’s me and feel connected with the younger generation as well as all of our fans who use twitter.” Goff appreciates twitter for its ability to show off his student-athletes’ accomplishments, converse with followers, and receive feedback on relevant topics. When he first arrived at Hartford, Mr. Goff started a hashtag campaign to establish the school's presence on social media. Hartford’s hashtag has seen huge growth in reach and engagement with followers ever since it was created. Goff notes,

When I got here, I started a social media campaign called #HawkNationDomination and that’s kind of taking off for us and everybody in Hawk Nation kind of identifies with that hashtag. We now have it on our basketball court that we just revamped, and it’s one everything that we do now, so that’s been really successful