RINER, Va. – The spring of 2019 was pretty busy for athletic director Paul Dominy, all seven of his spring sports were in state championships. But on a quiet Friday in late June, Dominy explained that in Auburn's past, it hasn't always been like that.
"The turning point came right about the time I came in. I came into a program that was just looking for someone to develop them. Which is really what I do best," Dominy said.
Dominy was hired six years ago and in that time he has added 24 state championships to the school's trophy case.
"I wanted to produce excellence across the board in every program and in each one you're trying to reach the top but you never imagine getting as close to the top as we have been this spring across the board," he said.
And this spring was history in the making for Auburn, of their seven spring sports, four took home state titiles and three were runner-ups. That statistic alone made it the best sports season a school has ever had in the state of Virginia.
"I never expected the level of success we had, even going into the five team state championships, you look at it and think what do you think your chances are? You're hoping for two or three out of the five would be great," he started. "but to win four out of those five was well beyond what anybody reasonably could expect."
Not only is 24 titles the highest in class one, Auburn has claimed championships in 11 different sports. The feat isn't easy, but Dominy is pursuing something higher than greatness for his athletics.
"Excellence is really what we're going for here," he began. "I have very very good coaches, the bought in entirely, straight across the board everybody is trying to get better every single year."
One could assume Auburn is at their peak of achievements, but Dominy knows how to push his teams to keep going higher.
"Probably the biggest thing I remind my coaches is keep your eye on the goal, everything else is just process," he said. "There's a lot of things that can get in the way, worrying about an undefeated season, worrying about a particular opponent, worrying about a bump in the schedule. All of those are just part of the process. It's keeping your eye on the goal that probably makes the biggest difference."