Home sweet home

Velez goes to Seton Hall; Tallman named new SMR AD

Friday, Aug. 20, 2010

One was athletic director Ray Sapp and the other, Daniel Velez.

With a walkie-talkie hanging out of his pocket and often times a pen or pencil behind his ear, Velez has recently been a face behind the scenes and in front of scenes, for that matter.

And, for Velez, New Jersey always has been a special place to the newly appointed Seton Hall University assistant athletic director/facilities and operations. Living in New Jersey since age 9 through high school graduation he, in essence, grew up in the state.

After graduating from a Pennsylvania college and spending the last five years at Chopticon, New Jersey again is home to Velez with his new position at the Big East Conference institution.

"It was really a professional opportunity," Velez said of his decision. "Being 28 years old and having the opportunity to be an athletic administrator at a Big East school was something that I couldn't pass up. … I really wanted to get into the administration side of athletics."

Going from assistant cross country head coach to head coach and following the same coaching path with the baseball team at Chopticon, Velez saw many titles fall underneath his name not mentioning the respective world history and Spanish teacher titles.

Yet, being an assistant athletic director under Sapp, the current Chopticon athletic director, and former Chopticon athletic director Rich O'Donnell have helped prepare Velez for his major career move.

"The hands-on opportunities I got at Chopticon under Mr. Sapp, the lessons I learned in dealing with people, facilities scheduling and maintenance and game operations, the fact that Mr. Sapp let me learn on my own and make my own mistakes really, really helped me out," Velez said. "It has already helped me up here [at Seton Hall]. … It really prepared me for what I am doing now."

Despite wearing one particular hat at Seton Hall, however, there may be just as much responsibility at the college for Velez as he will work closely with coaches of all sports programs in operating the facilities and scheduling of events within the athletic arenas and buildings.

"As to where I am not coaching," Velez said of his duties at Seton Hall, "I am involved with all of our sports. From a scheduling standpoint, I get to take a look at our in-house people. … I am still dealing with all of the sports and coaches, and it's pretty neat from that end."

And as Velez has moved on to a self-admitted career dream of his, he leaves behind a large number of students, friends, counterparts and athletes whom he has known through his five years with Chopticon.

"There are a lot of people I miss on a daily basis from being down in St. Mary's County," Velez said. "… There are too many to name and I don't want to leave anybody out, but I miss those personal relationships with those people.

"I try to stay in touch with them daily, either by phone, or Facebook or text, because I may not have said it at the time, but they impacted my life in ways that I can't put words to. And those relationships are extremely important to me."

Ryken's Tallman has new post

St. Mary's Ryken head boys basketball coach Dave Tallman has accepted the athletic director position at the school.

With the moving of former athletic director Michael Vosburgh to the school's facilities director, Tallman accepted the position in addition to entering another year as head boys basketball coach.

"It's very exciting," Tallman said of his new position. He has been at Ryken for seven years. "I think we have a lot of good things happening here on campus, especially with the new stadium. Our goal now is to get the overall programs headed in the right direction. Some are doing really well right now and we want to get everyone on that page."

If Tallman's successes as head basketball coach, in particular last year with his team setting three school records, are any indication of what kind of success he can bring to the athletic director position, Ryken could be on the rise, and quickly.

"Hopefully some of the success on the basketball court can be turned over to the entire department of athletics of the school," he said.

Despite wearing two hats that require large amounts of time with each respective job, Tallman is praising of his assistant athletic director and assistant boys lacrosse coach, Chris Perkinson.

As Tallman concentrates on basketball in the winter, Perkinson will help, and vice versa in the spring: When Perkinson helps with lacrosse, Tallman will take the lead, Tallman said.

jmccray@somdnews.com