Q: This task involves creating answers to complex questions, from a given passage. Answering these questions, typically involve understanding multiple sentences. Make sure that your answer has the same type as the "answer type" mentioned in input. The provided "answer type" can be of any of the following types: "span", "date", "number". A "span" answer is a continuous phrase taken directly from the passage or question. You can directly copy-paste the text from the passage or the question for span type answers. If you find multiple spans, please add them all as a comma separated list. Please restrict each span to five words. A "number" type answer can include a digit specifying an actual value. For "date" type answers, use DD MM YYYY format e.g. 11 Jan 1992. If full date is not available in the passage you can write partial date such as 1992 or Jan 1992. If you find multiple spans, please add them all as a comma separated list. Please restrict each span to five words.
Passage: Washington Universitys sports teams are called the Bears. They are members of the National Collegiate Athletic Association and participate in the University Athletic Association at the NCAA Division III level. The Bears have won 19 NCAA Division III Championships one in womens Cross country running (2011), one in mens tennis (2008), two in mens basketball (2008, 2009), five in womens basketball (19982001, 2010), and ten in womens volleyball (1989, 19911996, 2003, 2007, 2009) and 144 University Athletic Association titles in 15 different sports. The Athletic Department was headed by John Schael for 34 years, who served as Athletic director in the period 1978-2014. The 2000 Division III (NCAA) Central Region winner of the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics/Continental Airlines Athletics Director of the Year award, Schael helped orchestrate the Bears athletics transformation into one of the top departments in Division III. Schael was succeeded by Josh Whitman, 2014-2016. The department is now led by Anthony J. Azama.
Question: How many years did John Schal serve as Athletic director?
Answer type: Number
A:
36.