The U.S. Olympic Committee and college athletic administrators for years have talked about the need to work more closely together, but the talk has led to few tangible results.
Now Team USA has hired Sarah Wilhelmi to make college alliances a full-time job and, they hope, strengthen the crucial but threatened NCAA feeder system for Olympians.
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WILHELMI
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Wilhelmi will join the USOC on June 13 to serve as the organization’s first director of collegiate partnerships, a newly created role devoted to protecting and improving Olympic sports on campus. She comes from the West Coast Conference, where she’s been working mostly on governance and compliance issues.
According to her job description, Wilhelmi will develop a campaign promoting variety in intercollegiate sports options, look for ways to reduce expenses in threatened sports, find ways to make the U.S. Olympic brand more prominent in the college scene, and coordinate ties between sport national governing bodies, conferences, coaches and the NCAA.
The challenges facing low-revenue-producing college sports are vast. But creating a structure of cooperation and a common message is a crucial first step, said Alan Ashley, chief of sport performance for the USOC.
“While I’m not trying to boil the ocean with creating all these grassroots programs, I’m looking at it from a practical standpoint,” Ashley said. “And if we are good partners, and create good partnerships with the NCAA on behalf of the NGBs, and we’re part of the network that creates those partnerships, it supports our efforts down the road.”
The USOC did not make Wilhelmi available for comment prior to her start date. She beat out more than 100 applicants for the job, Ashley said, and will report to Rick Adams, chief of Paralympic sport and national governing body organizational development.
Wilhelmi’s hiring comes amid renewed concerns that schools will further cut low-revenue programs or divert funding to support the moneymaking sports of football and men’s basketball. College and Olympic sports officials are optimistic the new position will help but say Wilhelmi has her work cut out.
“I think it’s going to be important to be as proactive as possible,” said Dave Roach, athletic director at Fordham University who also serves on the U.S. World University Games board. “Go out and meet with every conference, make presentations about the benefits of Olympic sports and why it’s in their best interests to keep them. Somebody has to be working with the NCAA, the power five and the other conferences to make sure Olympic sports are protected. That’s the backbone of the Olympic team.”
The NCAA and USOC coauthored a report in 2005 suggesting solutions, but it collected dust. USOC Chief Executive Scott Blackmun rejuvenated the issue in 2014 when he approached the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics with a series of fresh proposals. Blackmun proposed that the NCAA and its conferences could work with national governing bodies to stage revenue-generating championships and combine forces for fundraising and facilities. Ashley and Adams began writing the job description in late 2014.
There are few easy solutions to the threats facing Olympic sports in the NCAA. Federal and state law, legal cases, private and public funding trends and NCAA rules have all contributed to the gradual decline of sports such as gymnastics, swimming and wrestling.
“The opportunities are incredibly diverse, and the challenges are diverse,” said Rich Bender, executive director of USA Wrestling and chair of the NGB Council. “I don’t think it’s a one-size-fits-all solution. It’s going to be breaking down specific sports on specific campuses, and in some ways developing some specific strategies first. … Hopefully when there’s focus put on the issue with this new hire, there will be some low-hanging fruit and initiatives that will have a positive impact on a broader number of sports and campuses.”
The USOC is counting on Wilhelmi’s experience in conference offices and college campuses to help in the relationship building. Applicants came from a range of current jobs, but over the course of the search the USOC focused on college experience as a key factor, Ashley said.
Chuck Wielgus, executive director of USA Swimming, called Wilhelmi “potentially one of the most significant USOC hires” because of how valuable improved college relationships could be. “With so many Olympians, including the majority of swimmers, developing as NCAA student-athletes, this is important for the future success of our sport on the podium and to provide opportunities for young swimmers whose goal is to compete at the college level.”
