Vancouver Island University’s (VIU) athletic director has been named the best in the nation.
Danielle Hyde was given the Canadian Collegiate Athletic Association’s (CCAA) Athletic Director of the Year award at a ceremony in Ontario on Tuesday.
She says she found out she was going to get the award at a conference in Kelowna last month.
“I was busy taking notes and I was surprised by the other directors at the conference with flowers and they interrupted the topic that we were covering at the moment and shared the news with me,” says Hyde. “I was completely shocked.”
In the 11 years she’s been with VIU, the school has won eight national medals, including two golds. She’s been the athletic director since 2020. This year, all six of their Mariners teams qualified for the championships.
“It’s incredibly humbling and really a product of the coaches and the athletes and all the people at VIU that work with me everyday,” says Hyde modestly.
VIU’s Manager of Athletics and Recreation David Forrester says that modesty is part of what makes her a great leader.
“To know ‘D’ is to know that she’ll be uncomfortable with this level of attention and will deflect praise to her staff, colleagues, coaches and students, but there’s a reason why everyone will go through a wall for her,” Forrester said. “She’s humble, leads by example, is quick with humour and intellect, and is perfectly suited to lead the Mariners forward.”
Despite the level of attention, Hyde gave an acceptance speech at Tuesday’s ceremony.
“I think I did okay,” says Hyde. “People that know me know that my happy place is not with a microphone in my hand, but I think I thanked the people that I wanted to thank and kept it short and sweet.”
It’s not the first time that Hyde has been given a CCAA national award, as she was the first student-athlete to earn four consecutive all-Canadian awards for athletic excellence while attending VIU.
Similar to her thanks as an athlete, her thanks is largely focused on the strength of her team. This time, it’s the team behind VIU’s athletics programs and the one that built the school’s culture even before she took the job.
“The success of this program doesn’t happen overnight and we’ve consistently been among the top in the country with our teams,” says Hyde. “This year just happened to be that all six qualified – which hasn’t happened. We are strong in athletics and I credit the people before me for sure.”
She says the school’s program draws high-quality athletes and that’s a thesis that’s been heavily backed by awards this year.
Hyde’s award comes a few months after VIU’s men’s basketball coach, Matt Kuzminski, was named the Coach of the Year, and three other coaches won conference coach of the year awards. As for their athletes, Mariners claimed four of six conference player of the year awards and two CCAA players of the year.
While this is an individual award, Hyde stresses that it took a village to win.
“The collective effort. The coaches have been at VIU for such a long time, they’re so experienced. They do such a great job. I know that we have some of the best across the country,” says Hyde. “The team of people that I work with on the daily, the senior leadership at VIU, and my family […] it doesn’t happen in isolation.”
