ODESSA, TX (KWES) - It's Scott Farmer's first week on the job as the athletics director for the University of Texas of the Permian Basin, but he's been in college sports for years.
The Daytona Beach native swam for Georgia Southern University when he got his first shot working in athletics.
"It was lucky, I arrived the year they started football. Something told me to walk into the athletics office and see if they needed any help. They needed a lot of help," said Farmer.
His work for Georgia Southern, while he was a student ended up helping him, landing him a job as the school's head swim coach.
After 12 years, he moved on to become an Associate Athletic Director at Troy University and later the Athletic Director at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette.
The transition from swim coach to athletic administrator was familiar to Farmer. He grew up watching his dad take the exact same career path.
Around Thanksgiving last year, he thought he'd leave the business for good to dive into other passions, but it didn't last long.
"But you know 6 months into it, I realized college athletics is where I'm supposed to be," said Farmer.
A consultant reached out to Farmer about the open position at U.T.P.B. And while he wasn't interested at first, he worked with school president Sandra Woodley in the past. After a quick visit, he was sold by the passion West Texas has for sports.
"I think there's a passion here for athletics. Everyone's excited about the new football team, they really want them to be successful. Coach Newman has been successful with the basketball team. So we just gotta get them going, momentum is a powerful thing," said Farmer.
Farmer is just settling into the university but his vision is crystal clear.
"We wanna be the premier institution in this conference. We are relatively new to the conference. It's considered a premier Division II conference so let's try to be the best," said Farmer.
