“LEAD FROM THE SEAT YOU’RE IN”

TWO-TIME HBCU GRAD AND FIRST FEMALE DIRECTOR TAKES HELM FOR FAMU ATHLETICS

BY [ Kara IRBY-PAYNE ]

Tiffani-Dawn Sykes can’t help but tear up when she recounts the moment she was offered her dream job as the vice president and director of Intercollegiate Athletics for Florida A&M University (FAMU). It was homecoming weekend in October 2022, and she was sitting on a small plane in Richmond, Virginia, en route to Virginia State University, her alma mater, when her phone suddenly pinged.

“I had two text messages from the search firm saying, ‘Call us,’” Sykes recalled. “It was surreal stepping foot on the campus where it all started knowing I had an offer from one of the premier HBCUs in the country. I had been offered my dream job.”

Sykes’ hiring came at the 50th anniversary of the 1972 passing of Title IX, the national civil-rights law that protects people from sex-based discrimination at any school or education program that receives funding from the federal government. Sykes is now the first woman to hold this position since the program’s inception at FAMU in 1899.

After receiving her bachelor’s and master’s degrees from two Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) — Virginia State University and Grambling State University, respectively — Sykes is proud to honor FAMU’s reputation and history as an HBCU. She officially took the helm on January 4, 2023.

Her goals are simple: To empower not only her staff but every studentathlete at FAMU under her tenure. To allow every student athlete to participate in a championship before graduating. To foster a team that is comfortable asking questions and making decisions to make FAMU an ideal environment for its student-athletes.

“I tell people all the time you don’t have to be the head coach or the team captain,” Sykes said. “You can lead from the seat you’re in.”

Finding Her Path

Growing up, Sykes often accompanied her parents to Norfolk State University’s football and basketball games in Norfolk, Virginia. Her mother was an educator and school principal. Her father was an educator and school principal. Naturally, Sykes planned to work in education, too. She wanted to be an adaptive physical-education teacher and had her sights set on one day working for the Special Olympics.

However, as an undergraduate at Virginia State University (VSU) Sykes met the school’s athletic director, Alfreeda Goff. At the time, Sykes was a student-athlete competing in volleyball. But Goff saw potential in Sykes, and provided her valuable experience on the administrative side of college athletics by appointing her as an announcer for the men’s and women’s college basketball games.

“She put that mic in my hand at 17 years old,” Sykes said. The rest is history.

Sykes continued to announce other major sporting events. Upon graduating from Virginia State University (VSU) with her bachelor’s in health, physical education, recreation and dance, she did a brief stint as a graduate assistant volleyball coach at VSU. One year later, she was hired as the sports information director at Saint Paul’s College in Lawrenceville, VA. Since then, Sykes has served in a number of roles, including sports Information Director/Senior Woman Administrator at Virginia Union University, Director of Compliance at Chowan University in North Carolina, NCAA Eligibility Specialist at Norfolk State University, and Assistant Athletics Director for Compliance at Grambling State University in Louisiana. Most recently, she was the Executive Senior

Associate Athletics Director for Varsity Sports at Dartmouth College in New Hampshire.

Sykes said she is grateful for being surrounded by empowering women leaders in athletics and their mentorship.

“Even though we were in what is normally a male-dominated field, we never felt like we weren’t supposed to be there” Sykes said. “That has everything to do with the way I present myself, the way I show up, and the way I lead.”

On her first day on the job, Sykes said she sought out Sarah Hill-Yates, the first woman to act as FAMU’s associate athletic director in the 1980s.

“I spoke to her until the moment I sat foot in the building,” Sykes recalled. “I wanted her to know I was standing on her shoulders.”

Hill-Yates later told the Tallahassee Democrat that seeing Sykes lead the entire FAMU Athletics enterprise was a “dream come true.”

Meanwhile, Sykes is a current cohort member of the 2022-23 NCAA Pathway Program, which prepares senior-level athletics administrators for their next career step as directors of athletics or conference commissioners.

A League Of Her Own

Sykes is a travel enthusiast. During one of the search committee interviews, Sykes was abroad in Italy. It didn’t matter that she was called at 1:30 a.m. her time to schedule the interview. Eddie Jackson, FAMU Alumnus and President of the 220 Quarterback Club, was part of the national search committee for the new Athletic Director. He said Sykes was not only alert but full of spirit and energy during the call.

“I told another committee member, ‘I got my candidate,’” Jackson said.

When FAMU first announced Sykes’ hiring in October 2022, she hit the ground running. Before her official start date, Sykes made her way to the highest of the seven hills in Tallahassee to attend FAMU’s homecoming and team practices. Sykes had even woken up before dawn to greet the university’s football team before their big game.

“She operates at full speed,” Jackson said. “We won’t have any more compliance issues, but the department needs money. If she can make waves with fundraising, she could be one of the best things to happen to FAMU in a long time.”

Sykes is excited to lead FAMU to new heights. She understands having the proper resources is crucial to making that happen. For example, she’s especially concerned about team nutrition and travel.

“It will also be important to find out where the alumni network’s passions and the needs of the department align,” Sykes added.

Sykes is laser-focused on ensuring her compliance team and academic advisors have the education and resources they need to provide exemplary service to the future generations of FAMU student athletes.

“At the end of the day, the students are our clients,” Sykes said. “We’re here to work for them.”