Mike Hermann really is the big man on campus at Division I Towson University. At least in the athletic department.
He is slated to begin full time at Towson as the school?s new athletic director.
Hermann, who was the athletic director at Division I Niagara for the last eight years, will officially take over for retiring Towson athletic director Dr. Wayne Edwards on July 1, 2006. Hermann will start full time at Towson April 26 as an advisor, said Peter Schlehr, a Towson athletic spokesman.
Hermann?s resignation as Niagara?s athletic director takes affect April 21, and he will be replaced in New York by interim athletic director Bill Agronin.
“We have the framework of a 12-point plan to move this athletic program forward,” Hermann said. Those points include academic achievement, university?s compliance program, resource development and facility Improvement.
“The entire months of May and June will be a transition period,” Schlehr said.
“As I look in the toolbox of this Towson athletics program, I see some great tools,” Hermann said. He expressed his respect for Towson?s core of coaches whom he called, “well-respected, experienced, successful.”
Hermann has a background in marketing and fundraising stemming from his time as associate director of athletics at Xavier University before he went to Niagara. Hermann led an athletic expansion movement at Niagara while also focusing on academics.
Dr. Robert Caret, president of the university said: “We were looking for someone who could really strengthen and build on the academic foundation and build on the very strong athletic base.”
Hermann, a 1982 graduate of John Carroll University in Cleveland, thinks that the university will grow with the help of the Colonial Athletic Association. “It?s our goal not to just be a contributing member of the Colonial but to be the best member of the Colonial,” Hermann said.
The Hermann File
School: Towson University
Position: Athletic director
Did you know?: In Hermann?s tenure, Niagara captured six of its all-time NCAA tournament bids. Hermann helped with the expansion of the basketball and hockey venues, as well as adding women?s hockey as a varsity sport in 2002-2003.
