WVU to launch national search for Athletic Director; Pastilong will stay on as key advisor through 2012
West Virginia University will launch a national search for a director of athletics this month to succeed Ed Pastilong, WVU’s long-serving athletic administrator who helped shape and build the department’s national reputation, WVU President James P. Clements announced today (March 3). Pastilong’s retirement from his position as athletic director takes effect June 30, 2010.
Pastilong, who has successfully led WVU’s Department of Intercollegiate Athletics for 20 years – from spearheading major capital improvements to growing the athletic department budget –will continue in a key advisory role as athletic director emeritus through 2012, as previously announced.
“I want to thank Ed for all his many contributions over the years,” Clements said. “On so many fronts – from initiating major new facilities and capital projects to more than doubling the athletic department budget and making sure our student-athletes are successful on- and off-the-field – this department is strong and poised for the future.
“Ed has spent a lifetime helping to build this department to where it is today – and I cannot imagine the next years without him as a continuing part of the team,” Clements said.
Click to hear Clements and Pastilong
“With the University’s strategic plan initiative under way, this is an ideal time to find the person who will both participate in the planning process and lead our athletic department through the next decade,” Clements said. “We’re poised to enter the next chapter in WVU’s athletic history.”
Pastilong, who has been with WVU since 1976, said, “It has been my greatest honor and pleasure to have served WVU for more than three decades – 20 as director of athletics. We accomplished much together, and we’re at a great place in the history of the WVU athletic program and our 17 varsity sports.
“Our teams have had great success on the field, on the court and in the classroom. We have had outstanding student-athletes, coaches and staff who have each worked with the common goal of making WVU successful. And we have succeeded while operating our programs financially self-supporting.
“But there comes a time in a career when you have to make a transition, and that time is now. With the long-term strategic visioning of the entire University under way, it’s the right time to let a new athletic director play a key role in the future of intercollegiate athletics at WVU.
“And there is no doubt I will remain close to my Mountaineer athletic family because this is where my heart is.”
Clements said the University will begin the initial steps of the search process over the next few weeks. If the search goes beyond June, Clements said Pastilong has agreed to stay on as athletic director until the position is filled.
“It’s an exciting time for WVU and Mountaineer athletics,” Clements said, “and I am committed to finding the best candidates in the country to join our administrative team. The field is wide open and we expect to attract some of the most talented people in the nation.”
Pastilong’s contributions are numerous. He spearheaded more than $85 million in facility renovations, including many at Mountaineer Field at Milan Puskar Stadium – making WVU’s football facility among the nation’s best. Suites to three sides of the stadium were added, along with a club seating area, the Caperton Indoor Practice Facility, new locker rooms, the Reynolds Family Academic Center and the Donald J. Brohard Hall of Traditions.
Other facility improvements include the Dick Dlesk Soccer Stadium and women’s soccer training facility, Cary Gym for gymnastics and a state-of-the-art wrestling facility, plus renovations to the Coliseum and Hawley Field.
The department’s budget grew from $20 million to more than $59 million under Pastilong, and he steered WVU into the BIG EAST football conference in 1991 and into full-fledged member status in 1995.
Recognizing a need to provide future funding for athletic scholarships, Pastilong also started the athletic endowment fund in the 1980s. He was instrumental in soliciting contributions, which grew to $32 million, and today is one of the leading athletic endowment funds in the nation.
He also initiated the Athletic Director’s Academic Honor Roll, which has recognized close to 4,000 student-athletes for outstanding academic work, and founded the Sports Hall of Fame, where more than 120 former athletes have been honored
On the playing field, WVU has finished in the Top 50 in the Director’s Cup standings two out of the last three years. Points are awarded based on each institution’s finish in up to 20 sports. WVU is ranked No. 28 this year.
Community service has also been a hallmark of Pastilong’s administration, with WVU student-athletes involved in outreach at WVU Children’s Hospital and the Betty Puskar Breast Cancer Center, among other initiatives.
Pastilong joined the athletic department in 1976 as football recruiting coordinator and two years later became the program’s scholarship officer. He was named assistant athletic director for facilities and operations in 1979 and associate athletic director n 1987.
Prior to joining WVU, he coached football at Scott High School in Madison and at Salem College, where he was also the school’s dean of health and physical education.
He received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from WVU, and lettered in football in 1964 and 1965 as a Mountaineer quarterback.
Pastilong and his wife, Mona, have two daughters, Kim DeFelice and her husband Anthony, and Amy Richter and her husband Pat, and four grandsons – Michael and Nick DeFelice and Ryan and Shawn Richter.
As the search moves forward, Clements said updates will be provided through WVU’s News and Information Services unit.
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