Evergreen Will Have Athletic Director Vacancy After Weber Departs in 2010
OLYMPIA, Wash. - Dave Weber, Director of Athletics and Recreation at The Evergreen State College since 2000, announced Wednesday he will leave the school at the end of the 2009-10 basketball season.
Evergreen has had six athletics directors in its history and Weber will leave with the second longest tenure, behind Pete Steilberg, who held the position twice and worked at Evergreen for thirty years overall. In his tenth academic year, Weber is the second longest tenured current A.D. in the Cascade Conference, behind College of Idaho’s Marty Holly.
“This is the best job I’ve had in college athletics,” said Weber, who was previously the athletics director at Dominican University and Patten University, both in California, and worked seven years in various positions at the University of California during a career than began in 1985. “I’m blessed to work with a motivated, diverse group of student-athletes, a quality staff of coaches and administrators within our department and great bosses in (Vice-President for Student Affairs) Art Costantino and (President) Les Purce.”
During Weber’s first nine years in the job, Evergreen, which had never had a team sport qualify for the NAIA national tournament, has reached the Sweet Sixteen in men’s basketball twice (2002, 2009) and the Elite Eight in men’s soccer once (2004). He also presides over ongoing upgrades to both the college’s fitness facilities and its intercollegiate basketball, volleyball and soccer venues. More young athletes come to campus through Geoduck Sports Camps, which has expanded from one week in one sport in 2000 to multiple weeks in every sport the college sponsors.
“There have been a lot of great moments and accomplishments by our athletes and coaches over the last decade,” said Weber. “Hopefully, there will be a few more this year as well. Everywhere I’ve been I’m confident the program has been better for me having been there, but at some point you need new challenges and the institution needs new ideas. Art and I have always had a good rapport and an ability to converse about what would be the next best move. Over the summer, I realized it would be beneficial for me to seek my next opportunity and for the college to find a fresh voice to advocate for athletics and recreation.”
Costantino praised Weber’s tenure at Evergreen, saying “Dave is a person of integrity who has done a great deal to advance our athletic offerings and improve the facilities in our Recreation Center.”
Weber is involved locally through membership in Olympia Kiwanis and the Thurston County Chamber of Commerce as well as coaching off-season girls basketball teams of Timberline High School student-athletes. He formerly served on the Briggs YMCA Advisory Board and was the Y’s Policy Volunteer of the Year in 2004. He will remain at Evergreen through March to supervise the Geoducks busiest sport seasons, fall and winter, and to assist with the transition to a new director.
“Evergreen will be a terrific opportunity for some one,” Weber said. “We play in one of the strongest NAIA conferences in the nation, we have great facilities and a beautiful location.”