GOSHEN — Nestled in a corner of Gunden Gym watching the Goshen College women’s basketball team Saturday, Josh Gleason stood exactly where he wanted to be since June.
In June, Gleason was named the interim athletic director of Goshen College. Tuesday, Goshen College interim provost Lee Snyder removed the interim tag and named Gleason the fifth athletic director at GC since the school combined men’s and women’s athletics into one department in 1993.
The interim period was scheduled to last one year, but Gleason knew a decision would need to be made early in 2015 if GC decided to open up a search in order to gather a pool of well-qualified candidates. From the very beginning, however, Gleason made it known his desire was to stay in the position long-term.
After Snyder, Gleason’s direct-report, conducted a full evaluation of Gleason and also collected surveys from coaches and others on campus, she made a recommendation the Goshen College President James E. Brenneman and the President’s Council to make Gleason the AD. Gleason was informed of the ongoing process along the way by Snyder. A search was never made, as the president and President’s Council accepted the recommendation and made Gleason the AD.
Gleason, who had previously served as sports information director at Goshen College from 2008-2014, will be responsible for overseeing Goshen’s 13 intercollegiate sports that compete in the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics in the Crossroads League.
Saturday, following the women’s basketball game, Gleason expressed excitement for the job, noting strong confidence in the current coaching staff’s cohesion and leadership, additional support from the college’s administration and also a look ahead to future goals and projects.
“Probably the best thing about this job at this time is that we have a staff that is united in mission that understands what goes into being competitive, but to developing student-athletes, too,” Gleason said. “Our ultimate goal is developing them so that they make a difference after they leave here.
“We have a coaching staff that is very intentional about that development within their sport, in the classroom and that development as people of character who are going to make a difference.”
Gleason did say he is in the middle of making his first coaching hire, as the Maple Leafs are looking for a new women’s soccer coach. Joel Gonzalez served in an interim role last season, but due to a new three-year plan that reinstates junior varsity soccer and calls for “increased loading” for both the head soccer coaches and assistant soccer coaches, the college went away from Gonzalez because of his full-time teaching job within Goshen Community Schools.
“Nothing, by any means, that he did or didn’t do,” Gleason said of Gonzalez.
Gleason also praised the Goshen College administration, saying he believes it’s the most supportive it has been during his time at GC in terms of looking to “pursue excellence in competition.”
During the fall season, GC’s men’s soccer program, led by first-year coach Arron Patrick, advanced to the Crossroads League conference tournament championship game and the men’s cross country team advanced to the NAIA national championship under head coach Doug Yoder, who also serves as assistant athletic director.
“It changes the perception of the institution as a whole,” Gleason said of college athletics. “You hear all the time, ‘Athletics is a front porch.’ I think they’ve (the administration) understood that.”
Gleason said he is working with the rest of the athletic department to figure out exactly what the long term vision of the program will be, but noted he doesn’t see a need for any radical shift, just some fine-tuning.
He said his favorite part of being an SID was the creativity aspect, and has been pleasantly surprised during his time as interim AD with the number of opportunities he’s had to use creativity to solve problems. On several occasions, he mentioned creative problem-solving as a means by which to find solutions.
“I don’t see it as my vision, I see it as our vision,” Gleason said. “We need to take the time as a team to shape that a little bit more. That being said, we obviously do that often, even in this interim time. It doesn’t really change from what it has been. I think it’s refining and finding ways to do it better. We’re trying to pursue excellence in those three areas (competition, classroom, community).”
Gleason said his team faces clear obstacles being the smallest school in the Crossroads League, but believes the team around him looks forward to challenges, and views that opportunity to confront those hurdles as exciting.
He said he looks forward to figuring out ways to get more coaches on campus full-time and also how to maximize financial aid.
Gleason chaired the committee that oversaw the redesign of the Maple Leafs athletic logo and signage that was unveiled in May. He said that is a big step to helping advance the department.
He also has larger building project goals, including finding a way to build more locker room space. He added that overall, “a lot of our facilities are in good working shape, there’s just a number of minor things we can do to upgrade them.”
As recently as last week, a project wrapped up that converted the old swimming pool, which had been cemented over, into an indoor multipurpose facility with turf that also has batting cages for baseball and softball. The soccer and track and field teams will also use it.
But Gleason’s long-term dream goal is to one day build a fieldhouse.
“That’s for a long time been the one project that, if we had the funding for, we would pursue,” Gleason said. “I think going back to the drawing board and being creative with which issues we need to solve the most and in what ways we could do that is definitely something we’re going to spend some time on.”
