Jun 04, 2008 - 04:07:01 CDT
After Sister Thomas Welder officially welcomed Roger Thomas to the campus of the University of Mary, she presented him with a gift.Welder, the school's president, handed Thomas a blue and orange U-Mary hooded sweatshirt on Tuesday morning at a press conference on the school's campus. Thomas quickly removed his suit coat and handed it to athletic director Al Bortke, and pulled the hoodie over his head.
Thomas officially became a member of the U-Mary athletic staff.
Thomas was named the second athletic director in the history of the school. He will succeed Bortke, who served U-Mary for 35 years. Bortke will stay on staff as an associate for a year.
Thomas will begin his duties on July 1.
"When you talk about dreaming big dreams, you don't have to look any further than Roger Thomas and his remarkable record," Welder said. "Roger not only brings us NCAA Division II experience, but it was clear to us that Roger is a leader with integrity. Roger has wisdom about him. I call him a visionary. Those qualities will continue the legacy of the leadership of Al Bortke."
To most observers, Thomas probably looked out of place wearing the school colors of U-Mary. He's known for wearing the green and white - with the controversial Sioux logo -of the University of North Dakota. Thomas coached the UND football team from 1986-98. He gave up coaching when he became UND's athletic director, a position he held from 1999-2005.
After leaving UND, Thomas has held the position of commissioner of the North Central Conference. The NCC will cease operations in all sports at the end of the month. The 60-year-old Thomas is set to receive the Legacy Award, an honor given to individuals who have provided long-term and successful service to the NCC.
Thomas will now make the transition from green and white to blue and orange, something he says will be simple for him to do.
"I had such a great experience at UND," Thomas said. "It's such a super place. I haven't worn the green for quite awhile. If I would have gone from one to the other it would be a little tough. But there's a three-year gap in there."
Thomas heard about Bortke's retirement through Bill Gross, the athletic director at Augustana College in Sioux Falls, S.D. U-Mary wasn't Thomas' only option for employment after the NCC disbands.
He interviewed at UND for a non-athletic fundraising position and was offered the job. He checked out other athletic director jobs, including Hamline in the Twin Cities. He also had an opportunity to become commissioner of the Northeast-10, the largest NCAA Division II conference, with headquarters located near Boston. He was approached by several headhunters to get into financial management.
Thomas said he wanted to stay in athletics. He wanted to continue to live in the region, and he wanted to stay involved in NCAA Division II sports.
"I wanted to stay in college athletics, and I like to lead a program," Thomas said. "It comes to personal choice. Where you want to get up every day and where you want to work. It's the passion of the business."
Welder said U-Mary received "a number of applications" for the athletic director's job. U-Mary conducted phone interviews with five candidates. Thomas was the only one brought in for an on-campus interview. With U-Mary in the early stages of making the transition from the NAIA, one of the school's criteria was NCAA Division II experience.
The move to NCAAIItook only three years after the NCAA waived the final two provisional years shortly before this past school year. That made U-Mary's transition to active membership one of the quickest in the organization's history.
"In my heart I've always felt we should try to get the very best person we could, whether it would be a coach, and in this case AD, in this region," Bortke said, "and Roger Thomas is one of them. He's so well-respected in the state, region and NCAA. God has once again blessed the athletic program at the University of Mary with the naming of Roger coming to our school to serve as our leader in athletics and a member of this school."
Thomas is no stranger to the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference, in which U-Mary competes. Four former NCC schools -Minnesota-Duluth, MSU-Mankato, St. Cloud State and Augustana - will join the NSIC in the upcoming school year. Thomas and NSIC commissioner Butch Raymond engaged in regular conversations in the last year concerning the move of the four schools.
Thomas hopes to absorb what he can from Bortke in the next year.
"We have known each other for a long time," Thomas said. "It's a neat idea to have Al and I work side-by-side for a year. Al will certainly guide me early on, because I'm going to need that help to figure things out."
Thomas is excited to focus on U-Mary athletics. While he speaks fondly of his time spent at UND, he was also presented with challenges - the opening of three facilities (Ralph Engelstad Arena, Betty Engelstad Arena and the Alerus Center), the legal controversy over UND's Fighting Sioux nickname and logo and the decision to move to NCAA Division I.
"I won't have all those things on the table at the same time, beside the normal run-of-the-mill athletic director business, and that excites me," Thomas said. "UND was fun at times and very difficult at times. I think a lot of it was due of circumstances because of all the external issues going on at the time - the Division I, the logo and the building of all those buildings. There were a lot of things on the table, and that made it harder as opposed to just being the AD."
When Thomas took the athletic director's job at UND, the school was already an established Division II program and competed at a high end in many sports. Thomas is looking forward to helping U-Mary become established. One of Thomas' side jobs was serving on the NCAA's membership committee. Thomas was involved in the discussions when 12 schools, including U-Mary, applied to join the NCAA.
"At that point I could have told you that Mary would be a successful Division II school because I saw some of those folders from some of the other institutions," Thomas said. "They were nowhere close to being ready to be full-fledged good Division II institutions. - U-Mary jumped through all the hoops it could to move through very quickly. The fun challenge now in being AD is where do we go from here, and what are the next steps in being an ultra-competitive school?"
The first item on Thomas' agenda is getting to know the communities of Bismarck-Mandan, and the U-Mary coaches.
"I really want to get to know the staff and listen to them," Thomas said. "It's great having been a coach because you've been there and done that. What do they feel they have that helps them be successful? What is it that they don't? I will certainly rely on Al for that.
"- I will assess that and blend in with the institution to say what are the overall goals and long-term goals? There are some things you can do with fundraising, with staffing and with facilities,"Thomas continued. "What are the ingredients the school would need to take this culture forward?"
UMary Student wrote on Jun 4, 2008 7:13 PM:
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