The Chart Online

Head athletic trainer leaving position to commit to family
Philip Martin

Sports Editor

The Family Man might have been a hit movie, but Marty Conklin, head athletic trainer, can be considered a family man.

Conklin has decided to step down from his position of athletic trainer and take a full-time faculty position teaching in the kinesiology department to spend more time with his family.

My wife and I have kind of made a renewed commitment to family, he said. We just adopted a little 6-year-old girl, and we have an 8-month-old son, to go along with our two teen-age boys. We have two boys that are both 19 and 17.

Conklin said with the schedule of an athletic trainer, he wasn t able to be there when his two oldest sons were growing up, and his wife was responsible for raising the two. He said the main reason for changing his job was the family commitment.

Another reason he took the job is because he s not a young man anymore. He said the pace of being a trainer is starting to be difficult. He said trainers put in many hours during the weekends and at nights.

Just the sheer pace has become more of a challenge for me, Conklin said.

The decision to switch to full-time instructor was made in July, although discussion about the matter was started at the beginning of 2002. He said Dr. Patsy Lipira, head of the kinesiology department, offered him the job in July. After he accepted, he talked to Sallie Beard, athletic director. Conklin said during the discussions with Beard, they decided the change should happen after the fall sports programs ended.

Conklin said fall is the busiest time of the year for the athletic trainers. Instead of having Darren Moore, assistant athletic trainer, be unprepared for the fall semester, it was best to postpone the switch until spring.

Beard said Conklin will be missed because of all the work he did for the program. She said he has saved the College money.

Marty has really helped this program grow, she said. He has had some entrepreneurial ideas that have done a lot to save Missouri Southern significant dollars.

She said the department advertised the position two weeks ago and named Moore as Conklin s replacement last week. Conklin said when he takes his new position in the spring semester, he will be available to give advice to Moore.

Conklin is in his 15 year at Missouri Southern. He said that the first three years at Southern he was the assistant athletic director. He decided that it was time for him to pass the flame on to a new generation of athletic directors and become a teacher instead.