This June, Trinity’s head athletic director Rob Saxton is stepping down from his role, and passing the authority down to the current assistant athletic director Sean Duggins.
Saxton has been at Trinity for more than 20 years. He first started as a basketball coach, then moved to Director of Finance and Administration. Next, he was Associate AD to Coach Dennis Lampley and then finished as AD after Lampley retired.
Duggins is an alumnus of Trinity. After graduation, he attended Northern Kentucky University and worked a corporate job in Cincinnati. Eventually, he decided to come back to his alma mater to work as a substitute teacher and become a varsity baseball assistant coach. He then got a full-time teaching job here in 2015 teaching American Civics.
In 2018, news broke that Lampley would be retiring and Saxton would be taking over the head Athletic Director job. Duggins originally wasn’t going to apply, thinking “Doubts started to creep in. I don’t have any experience in that. Surely there’s somebody else.” However, on the way back from a school mass, and Coach Mike Szabo asked him if he was going to apply. After saying that he wasn’t sure, Szabo hit him on the arm and said, “You’d be great at that. Don’t tell me you’re not going to put in. You’d be great at that. You should put your name in the hat.”
That little spark of confidence is just what Duggins said he needed to apply — and now, since the 2018-2019 school year, Duggins has been the associate AD at Trinity, overseeing sports such as golf, cross country, and baseball.
Knowing that he had finally found the place and job where he wanted to be, he said that he “soaked everything up like a sponge.” Acknowledging the great deal of experience in all areas, such as work, family, and life that Mr. Saxton had to share with him throughout their time together.
With the current role that Duggins possesses, he has a hybrid schedule of being both a teacher and an administrator. However, with his new role he will no longer be teaching, which he says he will really miss. Being able to connect and form relationships with the students is something in particular he will miss about being in the classroom. He said, “Seeing you all as often as we do, and then giving you challenges and watching you progress is really fulfilling. It’s satisfying… That’s why teaching is so rewarding to me. I will miss that part of it.”
When asked about ideas for the future, he quickly brought up an idea about being able to purchase tickets and concession item with a mobile phone, such as Apple Pay, or just being able to tap a card. Currently at events, Trinity is cash only for buying in-person items. This great step forward idea came to him at an away football game, in another state, where that school had similar ways of purchasing items. This idea shows how Duggins is already looking forward into the future, finding ways to change, and make experiences for athletes, students, and supporters better.
Duggins also wants to create a better environment that is more appealing for students to come to more home sporting events for all sports more consistently, no matter the opponent.
With Trinity now turning 70 years old, there have only ever been five Athletic Directors, none of them alumni. So, with being the first alumni to become head athletic director at Trinity, Duggins is very honored and humbled to be able to step into such a position. He said, “It’s just a huge honor. The school itself, the student body, the people that work for it, the alumni, the community that supports it, the school board, the foundation board, there are so many people that touch this place. It’s way bigger than me.”
Trinity has recently announced that the new Assistant Athletic Director that will be stepping into the role that Duggins is leaving, will be Jimmy Wadell, a fellow alumnus himself as well.
