Corporate
Getting to know you U SPORTS athletics staff: Andrew Evans, Trinity Western Spartans
Throughout the 2017-18 season, U SPORTS sits down with one key athlete, coach, and staff member of each U SPORTS athletic program in our new interview series “Getting to know…”
- Name: Dan Durack
- School: Western University
- Position: Events/MustangsTV/ Marching Band
- Seniority: 15 years
- Previous job/position: Intramural coordinator / Events assistant at Acadia University
- Hometown: Pierrefonds, Que.
1. How did you get to your current position, and what do you enjoy most about our job?
Shortly after my father passed away, I wanted to move west to be closer to family from where I was working at Acadia University.
I played against Western in the 1995 Atlantic Bowl with Acadia, so when I interviewed for the job at Western I said “If you can't beat them, join them.” What I enjoy is seeing the results of hard work put into action and my competitive side always wants to be the person raising the bar in my field of work, not chasing it.
2. Who has had the most influence on your career?
The most influential people were my parents, as they were volunteers for everything related to organized sports in my hometown. From my father being president of minor hockey to my mother as president of ringette and women’s softball.
I knew from an early age I would have a life in sport. After meeting Eric Cederberg in the Sports Information Department at Acadia, I knew it was a career in university sport that was most appealing. So, for that, thank you Eric! You could have told me about the hours.
3. What is your greatest sporting moment or achievement?
Being part of two Acadia football teams that made it to the Atlantic Bowl (1995 and 1998).
But more recently was the U SPORTS Women’s Hockey Championship, where Western was playing in the finals in our arena with our marching band playing the national anthem. The feeling of accomplishment and overcoming the grind of hosting was overwhelming. It was a very special moment.
4. How would you define a Western University student-athlete?
A Western student-athlete is someone who is dedicated, hard-working, and incredibly high-achieving. It’s hard enough to be a university student who achieves high marks or one who excels enough at their sport to compete at the U SPORTS level. Since our academic standards at Western are so high, we manage to find those student-athletes who are able to succeed both on the field and in the classroom.
5. What does success look like for the Western University athletics program?
Athletics in Canada is slowly becoming an arms race. Success for Western University Athletics would be to cultivate our alumni to help support our success on the field/court despite ongoing financial demands on the athletic department.
6. What’s the biggest challenge you face in today’s sports world?
The biggest challenge is to reach the masses and create atmosphere at our sporting events. There are so many distractions for people in today’s social media-driven society.
Getting people back into the stadium to watch and experience it live, there is no better way to consume sports.
7. Where would you like to see Canadian university sport in the next three to five years?
I think it may take more than three to five, but if we could all work toward making our sports more about sport entertainment and fan experience, we could win our fans back from those distractions and find new ones along the way.
8. If you could sit down for dinner with one person in the sports industry (athlete, coach or manager), who would it be? Why? What would you talk about?
Coming from Montreal and growing up with the Habs, maybe Guy Lafeur. I’d talk to him about his hair - “Sick flow, bro!”
Wayne Gretzky - the greatest hockey player to ever live. We share the same birthday and it would great to blow out a candle with him. In my opinion, he changed pro sports.
I’d love to talk with him about the days where he played in Edmonton before everything changed and he was traded. If you can trade the best player who ever lived, then no one is safe from being traded. It was a few years later that I started to understand the business of sports.
9. What would you say to a sports fan who’s never watched a U SPORTS game/tournament/competition?
We have great student-athletes and they are playing for the love of the game. Not to attain a pro contract. That is the way sports is truly meant to be played
10. What do you enjoy doing when you’re away from work?
On my days off, if I am not sleeping it is spending time with my beautiful wife and our girls as they are growing up so quickly before our eyes.