AVRIL KING
Social Media Manager
Assistant Sports Editor
After several months of seeking potential candidates, Fredonia has chosen its next athletic director, Jerry Fisk.
The announcement came on Nov. 9, but the search itself began long before this. The national search to replace former Athletic Director Greg Prechtl began over the summer.
A search committee was created and made up of nine members, three of which were student athletes. Their job was to meet with each of the final four candidates and attend their open forums.
Those candidates included Fisk, John Czarnecki of Hilbert College, Bill Wilson of Pratt Community College and Fredonia’s own Megan Valentine.
After discussing the strengths and weaknesses of each individual, the search committee met with Vice President Cedric Howard to share their findings and who they believed would be the best athletic director.
“It became clear to me that there were a couple candidates that had emerged as the leading set of candidates,” said Howard.
However, it took him about five days to decide who would assume the role of athletic director.
Now, the question that student athletes are asking themselves is, who exactly is Fisk?
Nicole Burrows, the vice president for the Student Athlete Advisory Committee at Fredonia, an athlete on the women’s lacrosse team and a member of the search committee was optimistic about the appointment in regards to the well-being of student athletes.
“I think Jerry will bring a lot of great, new, fresh ideas to Fredonia and I’m excited to see what he has in store for us as an athletic department,” she said. “I was happy to hear that he got the job and was hopeful that he would receive it.”
Receiving a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from Roberts Wesleyan College and a master’s in Sport Administration from University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Fisk has experience as an administrator for college athletics, as well as a coach. He worked on advisory committees for UNC. He was the associate director of athletics for Notre Dame and was an associate director of engagement, as well as a coach, for Hobart and William Smith.
Among many other positions he has held around the country within athletics, Fisk’s most recent job was as associate director of athletics at Elmira College. This is the position he will be leaving to join the Fredonia community, come Dec. 13.
His many experiences were what those involved in the process found to be most reassuring.
“He has a wealth of experience,” said Eileen Lyon, the faculty athletics representative and a search committee member. “He seems to be a good fit.”
The area of Fisk’s resumé that most impressed Howard, however, was his education. This was especially important when considering Fisk was entering a Division III institution where athletes are expected to be students first.
“He understood some of the nuts and bolts of the off-the-field operational components of athletics, as well as the on-the-court, more competitive components of the athletic department,” said Howard. “I think for me, there was also an added notion that came into consideration and that was the fact that he had published an article as part of his experience in his graduate studies. That was a value-added proposition because I thought it would add to his connection to the academic mission of our institution.”
For the first time in 20 years, Fredonia is welcoming a new person into the position of athletic director. Although Prechtl will be missed, the athletics department is interested to see what Fisk will bring to this new era of Blue Devils athletics.