By John F
As the school year is winding down, one of the major questions on the campus of Western New England University is who will be the school’s next athletic director. The school has been without an athletic director since the summer of 2021 with the departure of Matthew LeBranche. LeBranche was the athletic director from 2018 to 2021 and was also the head baseball coach at WNE from 2000 to 2013.
Since Lebranche’s departure, the school’s three associate athletic directors, Lori Mayhew-Woods, Jennifer Collins, and Ryan Guers, have been managing the athletics department and the 21 teams (10 mens’ and 11 womens’) within it. These three have also been tasked with overseeing the university’s newest sport, women’s wrestling, which has its first recruiting class coming to campus this fall.
The following is a summary of a statement that The Westerner obtained from school officials about how the process has worked.
Although a hire has not been made yet, the university has made a lot of progress and there are signs that it could be made soon. After the university went through all of the resumes and applications they narrowed it down to ten candidates.
After the first round of interviews which were conducted via Zoom, the university trimmed its candidate’s list to seven. After another round of interviews, four candidates remained. The four finalists were each invited to come and visit campus.
During their visits, the finalists were met by various campus groups, employees, and administrators. These groups included coaches, athletic administrators, student-athletes, deans, campus partners, and other people who have upper-level positions at the university. As of now, information about each of the four finalists is being reviewed and it seems that the university is getting close to making a hire!
