Community college sports teams don't play in nationally televised bowl games or championship tournaments that inspire betting pools in offices across America, but athletic teams at community colleges, especially those in rural areas, play a vital role in attracting a cohort of students who are culturally diverse. This article discusses the challenges faced by senior administrators and athletic directors in terms of recruiting students. Faced with the challenge of building the needed housing space for students coming from a distance and fundraising to be able to offer at least modest scholarship aid, community colleges also need to maintain a fine balance between athletics and academics. Enrollment growth is one reason a lot of rural colleges have athletics, and in addition to general enrollment growth, sports programs bring racial, ethnic, and cultural diversity to rural colleges. Being an athletic director at a rural community college often presents a broad array of challenges. The athletic director also is many times a coach and/or head of an academic department. Broadly speaking, athletic directors and college administrators must be prepared to support student athletes and very often rural community college sports programs feel a great deal of pressure to succeed because those programs are so prominent in the communities.