Because it ventures into the brand new and altering world of the enterprise of school athletics, Indiana State launched Nathan Christensen as its new director of ahletics on Thursday morning in Hulman Middle.
“This is a vital second for us right here at Indiana State College, and this [hiring] was considered one of my prime priorities,” stated the college’s president, Mike Godard, who’s in solely his third week on the job.
Mentioning Christensen’s “ardour and stage of enthusiasm,” Godard added, “His means to fund-raise is key in supporting the athletic division.”
The president spoke to an meeting of media representatives and ISU coaches, but in addition a major variety of native businessmen, and Christensen addressed that group as properly.
“Indiana State picked me and I picked Indiana State,” Christensen stated. He appears to be like because the job as a technique to “put money into our scholar/athletes, put money into our campus and put money into our group. … I stay up for constructing on [Indiana State’s] previous success. I’m honored, humbled and excited.”
The brand new athletic director was accompanied by his spouse, Kalli, and youngsters Eleanor and Kelby. Kelby discovered time because the assembly was breaking as much as apply on considered one of Hulman Middle’s targets, with assist from males’s basketball coach Matthew Graves.
Christensen involves Indiana State from Missouri Valley Soccer Convention rival South Dakota State, the place he was senior affiliate athletic director of improvement, and is acquainted with a few of the challenges he will probably be going through.
“I need to meet with as many individuals as attainable,” he advised the Tribune-Star when requested about his priorities. “Basketball is clearly what makes this place tick, however I need broad-based successes. And soccer is a precedence for me.”
South Dakota State is a two-time defending nationwide champion within the Soccer Championship Subdivision, so Christensen is used to success in that space. He expressed enthusiasm for coach Curt Mallory on Thursday, much less enthusiasm for ISU’s soccer amenities.
And he did not downplay what’s forward for him.
“We now have work to do,” Christensen acknowledged, “and we now have to work on constructing some significant relationships.”
Along with being a fellow FCS and MVFC member with the Jackrabbits, the Sycamores are — like SDSU — additionally a mid-major competitor within the different faculty sports activities and — as evidenced just lately in basketball and baseball — are experiencing the vagaries of the switch portal and the compensation that athletes are actually in a position to obtain.
“There are going to be 40 or 50 [bigger and richer schools] which might be going to go off and do their very own issues,” Christensen stated. “We should be one of the best model of Indiana State on the finish of the day … and we need to be able to have conversations about convention alignment.”
And the Sycamores do have some optimistic issues of their favor, he identified.
“We have been third [in the Missouri Valley Conference All-Sports Standings after the 2023-24 school year] and we gained essentially the most convention championships,” Christensen identified.
“And I would be prepared to say that have been have extra [sports] historical past than every other faculty within the Missouri Valley Convention.”
