By Cassie Fuller and Robert Kennedy
IV Leader Sports Staff, Oct. 4, 2007
After almost nine years as the Athletic Director at IVCC, Mike Riley has left Illinois for a job at Manatee Community College in Florida. Riley’s departure left two spots for IVCC to fill — the Athletic Director and the Head Basketball Coach.
Tommy Canale, already the Head Golf Coach at IVCC, will fill Riley’s shoes and take the responsibility of being the men’s basketball coach. As for the other position, the Athletic Director, the IVCC Board is in the process of finding the perfect candidate for the job.
“We hope to have a time line determined within the next week,” says Robert Marshall, vice president of student services. “Right now, we are checking references of possible candidates and arranging interviews for next week.”
The Athletic Director will take on many different jobs right away, including keeping track of the eight sports there are at IVCC, organizing the intramural sports throughout the year, purchasing equipment for the sports, arranging schedules for games, assigning game workers, finding trainers to work during the games, and managing a budget.
Riley made his decision to seek a position outside of IVCC after the board agreed during the summer that the athletic director position should be a part-time post.
The move accompanied other cuts IVCC has made for the Athletic Department, including cutting paid assistants for sports programs.
School officials have suggested an advisory referendum to help pay for athletic expenses. In the spring, students may vote on whether to pay $3 per credit hour to go to the Athletic Department budget. This is expected to cost the average full time student with 16 credit hours $96 a year. The new Athletic Director search is expected to end within the next two weeks.