{"id":221,"date":"2013-10-18T03:49:32","date_gmt":"2013-10-18T03:49:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cento.centre.edu\/?p=221"},"modified":"2013-10-18T03:49:32","modified_gmt":"2013-10-18T03:49:32","slug":"athletic-director-returns-home-to-centre-college","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cento.centre.edu\/index.php\/2013\/10\/18\/athletic-director-returns-home-to-centre-college\/","title":{"rendered":"Athletic Director Returns Home to Centre College"},"content":{"rendered":"

By HAYLEY HOFFMAN<\/strong> – STAFF WRITER<\/em><\/p>\n

One of the most identifiable parts of Centre College is the athletics program. This year, Centre gained a new Athletic Director, Brad Fields, who came to Centre from Eastern University, a Division III school in St. Davids, Pa.<\/p>\n

Fields grew up in Ashland, KY, and was a three-sport athlete in high school.<\/p>\n

\u201cLike most kids, I played a lot of different sports growing up, but I really latched onto basketball, football, and golf,\u201d Fields said.<\/p>\n

While in high school, Fields was a Governor\u2019s Scholar and attended the Governor\u2019s Scholar Program (GSP) at Centre College.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wasn\u2019t familiar with Centre at that point,\u201d Fields said. \u201cI got my assignment stating, \u2018You\u2019re going to Centre College in Danville, KY.\u2019 I went to see what this place was all about.\u201d<\/p>\n

After spending six weeks on campus with the program, Fields fell in love and later decided to come to Centre as a student. While working toward his degree, he didn\u2019t play any sports.<\/p>\n

\u201cI like to think I had the knowledge and the heart and the desire to play, but I knew I wasn\u2019t a college-caliber athlete,\u201d Fields said.<\/p>\n

Fields graduated in 1998 with a degree in Economics and hoped that his career path would bring him back to his alma mater.<\/p>\n

\u201cCentre is a great place to work,\u201d Fields said. \u201cJohn Roush is a wonderful leader and if you\u2019re connected with this college, you can\u2019t help but feel excited about its future. For me to be able to come back and be a part of that\u2026was a perfect fit.\u201d<\/p>\n

Working with Centre\u2019s student athletes is a daily perk of being the Athletic Director.<\/p>\n

\u201cI really believe that we attract the best and brightest kids,\u201d Fields said. \u201cThat extends beyond the classroom. These kids want to become better leaders, great athletes, musicians, etc. They\u2019re very well-rounded.\u201d<\/p>\n

The students help make Centre\u2019s athletics program unique. \u201cOur kids are student-athletes,\u201d Fields said. \u201cWe believe and support that. The kids that come here want a first-class education and the Centre experience. They also want to be in a highly competitive athletic program for whatever sport they play.\u201d<\/p>\n

As the Athletic Director, Fields has many different responsibilities, including: public relations; alumni relations; balancing a budget; and of course, working with and motivating Centre\u2019s sports teams.<\/p>\n

Fields\u2019 plans for the athletic program include a continuing effort to make Centre more recognizable.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think that Centre can be a model Division III program,\u201d Fields said. \u201cI think we can be nationally competitive and help spread the name of Centre College.\u201d<\/p>\n

Faculty and staff are already seeing a change in the program since Fields\u2019 arrival in May.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s been good for the athletic department,\u201d head football coach, Andy Frye said. \u201cI think it\u2019s been good for everyone to jump on board with him. He\u2019s steering the ship where he wants it to go and we needed that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jamey Gay, the Assistant Athletic Director, notes that Fields has a love for Centre that comes through into everything he does.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe listens and gathers input from an experienced staff and leads by working to help us formulate a plan to move forward in a way that increases our athletic success on the field while also improving our recreational offerings for the campus,\u201d Gay said.<\/p>\n

Fields says that one of the best things about working at Centre is the feeling of a true campus community.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople here are genuine,\u201d Fields said. \u201cThey care about the mission of the school and each other.\u201d<\/p>\n

The most important part of that community is the student-athletes.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey make you feel good about where the world is heading,\u201d Fields said. \u201cI have a young family, so they get to grow up watching these kids and have great role models. Watching the student-athletes is the best part of my job.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By HAYLEY HOFFMAN – STAFF WRITER One of the most identifiable parts of Centre College is the athletics program. This year, Centre gained a new Athletic Director, Brad Fields, who came to Centre from Eastern University, a Division III school in St. Davids, Pa. Fields grew up in Ashland, KY, and was a three-sport athlete […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-221","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cento.centre.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/221","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cento.centre.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cento.centre.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cento.centre.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cento.centre.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=221"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cento.centre.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/221\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cento.centre.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=221"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cento.centre.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=221"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cento.centre.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=221"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}