{"id":1093,"date":"2017-07-07T19:15:48","date_gmt":"2017-07-07T19:15:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.tntech.edu\/visions\/?p=1093"},"modified":"2018-02-07T21:57:12","modified_gmt":"2018-02-07T21:57:12","slug":"adapt-create","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.tntech.edu\/visions\/adapt-create\/","title":{"rendered":"Adapt & Create"},"content":{"rendered":"
by Buddy Pearson<\/strong><\/em><\/h5>\n
\"\"
Retired TTU Sports Information Director Rob Schabert<\/span><\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Rob Schabert knows all about how to adapt and create.<\/p>\n

For 33 years, Tennessee Tech\u2019s assistant athletics director for sports information and broadcasting adapted to new ways of doing things while coming up with creative ideas of his own. His unique skillset helped him carve out a legacy at Tech and in the community.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhereas a coach keeps his win-loss record, I actually kept in the back of my head a win-loss record, and I had a lot of wins, so to speak,\u201d explained Schabert. \u201cA lot of things I started are still here.\u201d<\/p>\n

When Schabert stepped onto the Tech campus in 1982, he was given a blank canvas to work with. Over time, he blanketed that canvas with fresh ideas which have enhanced the athletics department.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe two biggest accomplishments in my 33-plus years were conceiving new ideas and creating them; hiring and developing new people would be the other,\u201d Schabert said. \u201cMost of the people I brought here aren\u2019t in the business any more, but some of them still are and are doing well.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the ever-evolving world of technology, Schabert\u2019s job was continually enhanced by new ways of doing things. Keeping stats by hand and calling media outlets after games morphed into updating websites, downloading stats and emailing box scores.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat we do now at Tennessee Tech is about 175 degrees different than when I got here,\u201d Schabert said. \u201cNot 180 degrees, because a little bit is the same, but almost everything is different. We couldn\u2019t have even imagined back in the \u201980s the things we do today.\u201d<\/p>\n

While Schabert adapted, he used his creativity to promote Tech\u2019s student-athletes and athletic events.<\/p>\n

\u201cI had no direction,\u201d admitted Schabert. \u201cI came up with the male and female athlete of the year, man and woman of the year, presidents awards, and athletic directors honor roll.<\/p>\n

\u201cI saw things at other schools and said \u2018we can do that here,\u2019\u201d continued Schabert. \u201cI was the first one in the conference to do a lot of things and then they picked it up. I created a lot of the in-game promotions and my philosophy was \u2018the crazier, the better.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Schabert\u2019s creativity wasn\u2019t just limited to athletics. As a husband to his wife, Joan, and father to his son, Matt, and daughter, Kristin, Schabert also was involved in some groundbreaking community groups, which are still active today.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was the charter member of just about everything in town \u2014 the Clean Commission, Save the Depot, Putnam County Crimestoppers \u2014 everybody knew me and I was willing to do all of those things,\u201d Schabert recalled. \u201cThat was all before the internet. Once technology hit, I made a conscious effort to quit everything because the job became so time-consuming.\u201d<\/p>\n

Since his retirement at the end of May 2016, however, Schabert has adapted to a more relaxed pace while coming up with creative ways to stay busy.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have worked in my yard in the heat almost every day. It is almost caught up, so now I have to go find something else to do,\u201d joked Schabert. \u201cI can\u2019t turn off the ideas in my head. I\u2019m still thinking of stories, promotions and ideas that are all sports-related.\u201d<\/p>\n

Whatever new things Schabert has to adapt to in retirement or whatever creative path he chooses, he reflects with pride on what he accomplished at Tennessee Tech.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I look back, I can honestly say I\u2019ve given all that I could,\u201d he said. \u201cI could not do one more thing.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n

The Schabert Stats<\/strong><\/p>\n

MILES DRIVEN IN MEDIA VAN: > 500,000
\nGAMES WORKED: > 8,500
\nATHLETES PROMOTED: > 7,000
\nTOURNAMENTS & MEETS: > 1,300
\nPRESIDENTS SERVED: 5
\nATHLETIC DIRECTORS WORKED WITH: 5<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Buddy Pearson Rob Schabert knows all about how to adapt and create. For 33 years, Tennessee Tech\u2019s assistant athletics director for sports information and broadcasting adapted to new ways of doing things while coming up with creative ideas of his own. His unique skillset helped him carve out a legacy at Tech and in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":1094,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-1093","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-15"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.tntech.edu\/visions\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1093","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.tntech.edu\/visions\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.tntech.edu\/visions\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.tntech.edu\/visions\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.tntech.edu\/visions\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1093"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.tntech.edu\/visions\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1093\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1127,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.tntech.edu\/visions\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1093\/revisions\/1127"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.tntech.edu\/visions\/wp-json\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.tntech.edu\/visions\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1093"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.tntech.edu\/visions\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1093"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.tntech.edu\/visions\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1093"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}