NEWPORT NEWS, VA- On March 28, 2013, R. Todd Brooks was named just the third Director of Athletics in the history of Christopher Newport University. Brooks, a native of Anderson, Indiana, began his new duties at CNU on June 17^th and sat down this week to tell us a little bit more about himself.

Q) First, welcome to CNU! How is the transition going?
A) Thank you…it's going very well. It's a very exciting time for me and my family, I really am impressed with the area and the CNU community. I'm really looking forward to getting to know everyone here and attacking all of the challenges ahead.

Q) Let's begin at the beginning…tell us about your early years.
A) Well, being from Indiana, I grew up a basketball fan. I fell in love with the sport early on, watching guys coach like Bobby Knight, Gene Keady, Digger Phelps, and the whole Hoosiers experience. I played other sports as a youngster, but I really settled into basketball, and from a very early age I had an idea that I wanted to be a coach.

Q) What was your collegiate career like?
A) I was fortunate to receive a scholarship to play basketball at Milligan College, an NAIA school in Tennessee. I actually played for three different coaches in college, and if you include my high school years, there was a span where I played for six different coaches in eight years. While it was a lot of turnover, it really gave me a taste of a lot of different styles and systems. I think ultimately it really helped me once my coaching career got started.

Q) How did you break into the coaching ranks?
A) After graduating from Milligan in 1987, I took a teaching job back in Indiana. But I knew by then that coaching was really what I wanted to do. I was fortunate to get the opportunity at Tusculum College in Tennessee, where I was hired in the summer of 1988. I was an assistant basketball coach and also an admissions counselor. That was not only my first taste of being a coach, but also an administrator. I served as the Dean of Students there from 1990 to 1993. It was a tremendous step for me that helped prepare me for a career in Athletics Administration.

Q) In 1993, you were named Athletic Director and Head Men's Basketball Coach at Piedmont College in Georgia. That had to be a terrific opportunity.
A) It was, and I really enjoyed my time at Piedmont. I ended up being there for four years and we made some great progress. As a staff, we were able to recruit some really good kids there and have some success. It was an outstanding learning experience.

Q) From Piedmont, your next step was to Berry College in Rome, Georgia, where you would spend the next 16 years. Tell us about your tenure at Berry.
A) Initially, I went to Berry for the basketball coaching job. My first year there I was a Lecturer of Health and Physical Education as well. I wasn't named the Athletic Director at Berry until I had been there a year. Looking back, it was a tremendous time of growth. Over the years, we grew from ten to 21 sports and transitioned from NAIA to NCAA Division III. We were able to oversee huge improvements to the facilities, and also build a 32.5 million dollar athletic center.

Q) Football is one of the sports that is being added at Berry…are they starting this fall?
A) They are…football at Berry will begin at home against Maryville on September 7^th. Before I left, I chaired the Football Launch Committee, overseeing all of the details of starting a program. I'll certainly be keeping an eye on how things go there this season, and also of course be very involved with our football program here. It will be interesting to see where we are at CNU, and look back to where we were at Berry and see if we were on the right track there.

Q) Talk about your decision to pursue the Christopher Newport position.
A) Well, it intrigued me because of the incredible success of the program and the amazing growth of the school…but also the potential that still exists. Some people have said that all of the heavy lifting has been done here, but I don't think that's necessarily so. I know enough about Paul Trible to know that he's not done here yet, there is still work to be done and much to be accomplished.

As I did my homework on this position and the school, I saw one of the largest transformations you could ever imagine, but a situation that still left room to grow and improve. I'm excited about the challenges ahead, it certainly will take me out of my comfort zone. Sometimes you have to shake things up. My excitement comes from the tremendous quality of the school, the importance of academics here, as well as the athletic piece of the puzzle.

Q) You've been on the job at CNU since June 17^th, have there been any surprises since you arrived?
A) Not really, I've been spending a good deal of time watching and learning about the processes here. We've got a great group of coaches and administrators…and obviously the campus is everything I thought it was going to be. We have beautiful facilities, a strong commitment from administration, and just an incredible opportunity for me and my family. I can't wait for the student-athletes to arrive and really get things rolling.