Ithaca College Director of Intercollegiate Athletics & Recreational Sports Susan Bassett has announced the hiring of Will Rothermel as Associate Director of Athletics for Compliance, Facilities and Events. Rothermel is a highly-successful athletics administrator with proven success and demonstrated achievement at the NCAA Division I and Division II levels.
"After a rigorous national search Will Rothermel emerged as the ideal leader to join our administrative team for Ithaca College athletics. As a former basketball student-athlete with experience at three other excellent institutions, Will has a passion for student-athlete experience and embraces Ithaca's commitment to excellence," Bassett said. "I am confident that he will provide effective leadership with our students and staff and represent IC in a first-class manner. He displayed the energy, passion and commitment that we sought throughout the search process. I am proud to welcome Will to the IC family."
Rothermel joins Ithaca College following his most recent position at Virginia Commonwealth University, where he served as Director of Corporate Partnerships and was then promoted to Assistant Athletic Director for Corporate Development. In those roles, Rothermel directed a corporate sponsorship program and staff that generated more than 2.3 million dollars in revenue and directly oversaw a portfolio of more than 125 corporate sponsors and donors.
Prior to his time at VCU, Rothermel spent four years in athletics administration and as a staff member at Merrimack College. He was assistant athletic director at Merrimack for two years and served as a member of the department's leadership team. He contributed to a period of growth for the department, as varsity sports programs were added during his tenure. His duties and achievements also included oversight of staff and operations for external operations including marketing, ticketing and corporate sponsorships. He was tournament director for NCAA regional tournaments in men's tennis in 2012 and 2013 and helped in planning Merrimack's athletic center expansion project. Rothermel was promoted into the leadership role after holding roles as assistant sports information director and athletics marketing coordinator and director of club sports.
"I could not be more excited to join the Ithaca College community as part of Ithaca athletics with Susan Bassett and her talented team. Having the opportunity to join an athletics department with Ithaca's rich tradition makes me eager to get to work and help continue the program's upward trajectory," Rothermel said. "I also want to thank the search committee, members of the Ithaca College community and the student-athletes that have welcomed me to the Ithaca family with open arms. It's truly a great day to be a Bomber!"
Rothermel is a 2006 graduate of Saint Michael's College of Colchester, Vt. where he earned a bachelor's degree in business administration and was a member of the men's basketball program. After beginning his career in the financial sector, Rothermel earned a master's degree in education and sport management from Old Dominion University, where he coordinated the undergraduate and graduate internship program and enhanced mentoring and networking systems for students in the sport management program.
Rothermel formally begins his tenure at Ithaca College on June 1. He will lead the department's efforts in compliance, facility management and improvements and event operations and planning. Rothermel will provide supervision of select sports which will be determined in the summer of 2015.
