CORPUS CHRISTI — Robert Dodd has more than a week in his new position.
He is now Parks and Recreation director with the city after serving more than 27 years as head basketball coach for Ray High school.
Several of our viewers wondered if Dodd was qualified for the position after having no prior experience in city government.
"Some people may think there are some differences but there is tons of similarities," Dodd said.
He added that leadership and team building is so important for this position and he used that previously in a prior position.
"You see a team perform on a game night or a teacher in a classroom, but behind that there is a whole lot of things going on," he said.
Terry Samules, a former volunteer with the Parks and Rec department said that he is surprised the city went with Dodd.
"Why would you not find somebody that has experience in such an important job in this town?" Samules said.
We also asked Dodd about his relationship with City Manager Peter Zanoni.
"To be honest, I coached his kid, that was it," he said. "Peter, I saw him at games, i knew who he was, we didn't have a lot of communication or talking."
Zanoni says Dodd making this kind of career change after 27 years in education means he is in for the long haul. Something Zanoni says the parks and rec department needs.
"That was one of the criteria we had in recruiting is somebody that can give us five maybe ten years, or even more in the Parks system for that many years, probably many decades," Zanoni said.
Dodd invited us back in a year to get a progress report on how the department is doing. We'll certainly follow up.
