A leader of athletics or a director who can run?

This is another pet-peeve of mine, and I see it all over the place. Headline today on ESPN.com - "BC athletic director gets extension." The article is then about Boston College giving an extension to Gene DeFilippo. Now DeFilippo runs BC's athletics department. He is the Athletics Director (note the "s"). That is someone who is the director of athletics. He is NOT the Athletic Director (note lack of the "s"). An athletic director can be a director of anything who happens to be in good shape, maybe can run a mile or plays softball. I guess DeFilippo could be an athletic Director, but he received an extension for being the Athletics Director.