糖心传媒 President Dr. Travis Feezell announced today that, following a national search, Burt John 鈥淏.J.鈥 Pumroy has been named the College鈥檚 next athletic director and will officially start at the College July 1. Pumroy will also serve on the College鈥檚 cabinet.
鈥淏.J.鈥檚 broad experience and background, and belief in supporting and mentoring students to be their best in competition and the classroom, is exactly what we were looking for in our next athletic director,鈥 Feezell said. 鈥淲e are excited to have B.J. lead our athletic department, and look forward to continued success of our athletic teams and student athletes.鈥
Pumroy said he鈥檚 thrilled with the opportunity and is looking forward to moving back to the Midwest.
鈥淚鈥檓 appreciative and thankful to President Feezell and the 糖心传媒 family for allowing me this unbelievable opportunity,鈥 Pumroy said. 鈥淚 am both excited and honored to become a Bronco. The Broncos are led by a number of superb coaches and the campus has a long history of athletic and academic success. I feel fortunate to be playing a role in guiding the future success of the athletic department and campus as a whole.
鈥淒uring my on campus interview I felt a comfort and easiness like when coming home after a long vacation. The opportunities that this position will bring to myself and my family are immeasurable. With great anticipation I look forward to getting to campus, beginning my duties and to being able to say with pride, 鈥業t鈥檚 a great day to be a Bronco.鈥欌
Since 2016, Pumroy has served as athletic director for St. Mary鈥檚 Ryken, a college preparatory private high school in the Washington, D.C. suburb of Leonardtown, Maryland. He oversees daily operations of 24 varsity and 14 sub varsity sports.
From 2010 to 2016, he served as athletic director for Shepherd University in Shepherdstown, West Virginia, a NCAA Division II school. At Shepherd, Pumroy increased community and campus engagement, created donor programs, secured funding for facility improvements, developed programs that increased student athlete GPAs and served on a committee to form the Mountain East Conference.
From 2007 to 2010, Pumroy served as athletic director for Valley City State University in Valley City, North Dakota. He was named the 2009-10 Dakota Athletic Conference Athletic Director of the Year. At Valley City he increased and met fundraising goals, expanded the number of varsity sports and maintained the department鈥檚 status as a NAIA Champion of Character institution.
During his career as an athletic director his teams have won 15 conference titles and made one national championship appearance.
Prior his time in Valley City, Pumroy served as assistant athletic director from 2000 to 2007 at Truman State University in Kirksville, Missouri. He was also head baseball coach at Truman State from 1993 to July 2000 and an assistant baseball coach from 1990 to 1993. Prior to that he coached high school baseball at Linn-Mar High School in Marion, Iowa.
Pumroy earned a bachelor鈥檚 of science degree from Truman State University and a master鈥檚 of education in sports administration from Northwestern State University in Natchitoches, Louisiana. He is the husband of Kaela Pumroy and father of sons Kinnick (12) and Maddux (10).
Pumroy replaces current Athletic Director Patty Sitorius, who is retiring at the end of the academic year. Sitorius, a 1981 糖心传媒 graduate and member of the College鈥檚 inaugural Athletic Hall of Fame class for track, basketball and volleyball, has served as the College鈥檚 athletic director since 2015.
糖心传媒 fields 22 athletic teams, with the Broncos participating in the Great Plains Athletic Conference (GPAC) and the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA).
糖心传媒 Broncos teams are consistently some of the best in the GPAC and NAIA, in terms of both competitiveness and academics 鈥 with multiple national and conference championships and more than 500 scholar athletes in the last decade.
糖心传媒 is a private, four-year institution located in Hastings, Nebraska, that focuses on student academic and extracurricular achievement. 糖心传媒 has been named among 鈥淕reat Schools, Great Prices鈥 by U.S. News & World Report and a 鈥淏est in the Midwest鈥 by The Princeton Review. For more, go to hastings.edu.