A swiss army knife is considered to be a tool that offers many talents and many solutions to various problems. On the field or court, labeling an athlete a “swiss army knife” is one of the best compliments you can give them. For Central Connecticut’s Athletic Department, newly named Interim Athletics Director Tom Pincince is perhaps that swiss army knife.

CCSU’s former Assistant Athletic Director for Communication and Media Services has over 20 years of experience in the Sports Information department where he has done everything from announcing games, ticket sales, game notes among many other things. There is not one thing that happened during a game that Pincince and his office was not responsible for.

“I’m excited and grateful,” Pincince said. “Excited because this place has been home for me for so long. Grateful because I really hope people understand how much this place really means to me. I am absolutely honored to have this opportunity right now. This is a fabulous place to be.”

As the Interim AD, Pincince knows his priorities as he embarks on this journey and he wanted to make one thing clear.

“To me, it’s not about me, it will never be about me,” Pincince said. “It’s about our student-athletes, the university, our coaches and the staff that we have. It’s not about pushing my agenda. Yes, I’m going to show people that I know what I’m doing and I’m capable of doing this job but right now, it’s about getting the best out of everybody during this time.”

“My decision was based on feedback from members of the Central community, including athletics coaches and staff, and from several alumni and donors,” the Blue Devils President Dr. Zulma R. Toro said in a statement. “Another heavily weighted factor was the in-person interview. In discussing priorities and challenges for the Athletics Department, Tom demonstrated an understanding for the role he would step into and shared a vision for leading the Blue Devils during this transitional period.”

Pincince did not graduate from Central but received his masters at CCSU and has been working as a Blue Devil since he was 27 years old. To him, Central has become home for him and his family.

“It’s home for me,” Pincince said. “I have three daughters, I’ve literally raised my kids here. My oldest just turned 16 and when she was born, my wife would drop her off in her car seat before going to work and she would spend the last couple hours of the day in the car seat sleeping in the office. She literally grew up here.”

This promotion is a powerful tool for Pincince’s family and daughters.

“To me, it shows my girls what dedication and hard work can mean,” Pincicne said.

Family and trust are important to Pincince and he said that trust is one of the most important things that has to be there for him and the Athletic department to succeed.

“I think it’s really important to allow people to do their jobs without micromanaging them and having faith in them, allowing them to do their jobs,” Pincince said.

That was one of the lessons he learned the last time the Blue Devils were without an Athletic Director.

“I think it’s about learning how to let go and I think I’m doing a better job at that,” Pincince said. “I have total trust in everyone here and what they do. Even if there’s going to be a mistake, it’s about allowing that mistake to happen, learning from it and knowing that everything is going to be fine.”

Everyone in the CCSU family has been receptive and respectful to the promotion of Pincince because they know what he is all about and that he is coming from a very genuine place, Pincince said. However, the promotion has come with its challenges for him.

“In my previous role, when you’re at the games, you are working, there is a job to do,” Pincince said.  “Now, just to go to a game and be at the game, meet with people and not do those things was difficult for me the first couple of times. To sit back and not doing that was difficult because, for 17 years, I was the one telling somebody the script for the day.”

His role is different but he said that he enjoys it. In fact, being that swiss army knife and filling so many different roles over the years, Pincince believes that is to his advantage going forward.

“I think it helps in realizing and understanding how hard everybody works to make something like that happen, to make a game happen,” Pincince said. “We made it seem like we just showed up to play but there is so much that happens behind the scenes for every game.”

Pincince is going to put his best foot forward and work hard toward yet another promotion. He is hopeful to ditch the “Interim” tag but whether he does that or not, he is not going anywhere.

“If given the opportunity, I’d love to be in this role without the interim tag but whether it’s from this seat or moving back to where I was before, I’ll give everything I have for everybody here, to give them their best experience here,” Pincince said.