Dr. Richard Sander, who is just “Doc” at ETSU, began his career as a head
basketball coach at Howard High School in Chattanooga, TN in 1970-1971
and later became as an assistant coach at the University of TN –
Chattanooga. He moved to Cincinnati Ohio in 1972 to serve as head
basketball coach at Anderson High School, which was a rival school when he
played basketball in high school. He continued in that role for 10 years and
then took the assistant athletic director at Memphis State University (now
the University of Memphis) in 1972. He moved to Richmond Virginia in 1986
as the athletic director at Virginia Commonwealth University and later
assumed the title of Assistant to the President and Director of Athletics. In
1999, he became the Executive Director of the VCU Sports Center (now the
VCU Center for Sport Leadership), and held that position until 2009. Dr.
Sander retired for a few years but found his way to Johnson City in 2013 to
help ETSU relaunch football. Dr. Noland recently described Dr. Sander as
“one of the most experienced and professional athletic directors in
the nation. He has a long record of success both at ETSU and through
is work with universities across the country. Our student athletes,
coaches, and athletics staff are incredibly talented and possess
enormous potential. I believe Doc is the right person to help us
realize that potential and elevate ETSU athletics to the level of
excellence I and our fans expect.”

Doc’s conversation with Kim Hale does not include a lot of sports talk but
instead includes a discussion about his work with Finnegan’s Challenge
(www.finneganschallenge.org), a non-profit the promotes awareness of
children born with birth defects and provides education and financial support
for their families. Doc and Kim talk about the importance of perseverance,
integrity, and the appreciation of friendships in life.