In the aftermath of our August 25th home soccer
opener, “I” received a number of congratulatory notes,
e-mails, and phone calls about what a good job “I” had
done on our inaugural home intercollegiate athletic event.
Well... “I” was involved with the
event, sure – but it takes a great team, working together, to
pull off a day of that magnitude. The combined effort of the
Athletics Department team is what made our August 25th home opener
such a success. Indeed, it is this “team behind the teams”
that keeps the whole Athletics Department functioning every day.
Here is the Athletics Department Team:
 Becky
Aarestad (Administrative Support Coordinator):
Becky is probably the most organized person I know – and
that is the reason we put her in charge of the myriad of detail
that is part of everything we do in Athletics. Becky sometimes
refers to herself as the department “paper-pusher,” but
that doesn’t begin to describe the important role she plays
here. Becky organizes and tracks our student-athlete paperwork
(including information on insurance, physical exams, liability
waivers, travel information, personal data); she processes all the
travel claims for our coaches, almost a full-time job unto itself
(think about it: 10 teams, 240 student-athletes, all traveling
numerous times per year…); she handles our department
purchasing processes; she somehow manages to keep track of a host
of other details – even things like where we are on our
monthly water cooler spending. I don’t know how she does it;
I’m just glad that she does.
 Dr.
Ben Cherry (Faculty Athletics Representative):
The Faculty Athletics Representative’s role is dear to my
heart: it was my position in the Athletics Department from 1998 to
2004. And I have to admit, Dr. Ben does it better than I ever did.
Ben exercises oversight regarding the academic eligibility of our
student-athletes, to make sure that all are in compliance with
NAIA rules. He does so with the thoroughness, efficiency, grace
and good humor that seems to characterize all he does (except,
perhaps, judging from the battle scars, his mountain biking!). Ben
is a professor in the College of Business, where students and
colleagues alike rave about him. It’s easy to see why.
 Debbie
Dale (Assistant Director of Athletics, Business Manager):
Debbie is the heart and soul of the Athletics Department. She has
been here since our inception, and over the years has undoubtedly
put in more hours than anyone else in the entire department. She
has done most everything in the department, much of it
simultaneously – in fact, Debbie alone used to perform the
functions that we have now hired two separate people (Becky and
Todd) to do. Most recently, Debbie has taken on the role of
Business Manager – she keeps good track of our increasingly
complicated budget. Debbie is famous throughout campus for her
spirit, good humor, optimism, and enthusiasm. We simply could not
get along without her.
 Jennifer
Milo (Assistant Director of Athletics for Development):
We hired Jennifer last year as our softball coach, but it soon
became obvious that her talents extend well beyond the playing
field. Last Spring, I served as a juror on a trial that lasted 6
weeks, forcing me to delegate many tasks; much of it I delegated
to Jen. She took on the work of guiding our new spirit logo
through the campus approval process; she worked with colleagues in
the Clarke Field House and Student Health Services to open our DJO
Sports Medicine room; she is almost wholly responsible for the
excellent new web site you are now on. Much of Jennifer’s
work pertained to our development and fundraising efforts, and it
became apparent that we had a budding superstar in our midst: last
summer, we named her our Assistant Director of Athletics for
Development.
 Cory
Scoggin (Artistic and Creative Genius):
Cory is our assistant golf coach; a graduate of Cal State San
Marcos, he was an All-American golfer here. He also earned a
degree in Visual and Performing Arts, and we have put his talents
in that arena to work, too. You probably saw the eye-catching
posters announcing our home soccer inaugural, or perhaps you have
seen the beautiful cover design on our Athletics Highlight Book;
you have almost certainly viewed the great action photography on
this web site. All of that – design, layout, photography --
is Cory’s handiwork.
 Todd
Snedden (Athletics Coordinator):
We take the term “student-athlete” quite literally and
very seriously here, and Todd has a great deal to do with both
aspects every student-athlete’s dual existence. Before a
student can compete, they must be admitted to the university
(obviously), and must meet NAIA eligibility requirements. There is
much to do on both fronts, and Todd oversees it all. In addition,
once a student-athlete is here, the most important thing is that
they stay on track (or in the fairway, or on course, or…pick
your bad pun) to graduate – and Todd also oversees our
mentoring advising, and other academic support services for
student-athletes. We cherry-picked Todd from SDSU, at the same
time we stole Jen Milo from them (thanks, Aztecs!).
 Kyle
Trembley (Sports Information Director):
Like the proverbial tree falling in the forest…if an
athletic event occurs, and there is no one there to report on it,
did the event really occur? Kyle Trembley is the person who saves
us from that conundrum. Kyle is our conduit of information to the
university, the community and beyond. He attends our events, keeps
statistics at them, writes up news releases with the results, and
sends those to the local press. Kyle has also done a number of
feature stories on developments within athletics, all of which you
can read on this site; for that matter, much of the writing on
this site – the section headings, bios, descriptions, etc. –
is Kyle’s, too. He also joins Cory as our staff photographer;
several of the images on the web site were taken by Kyle. Kyle is
finishing up his business degree here at CSUSM this semester; we
are very lucky to have him.
So there you have them, the “team behind
the teams” you see in competition. Next time you want to pass
along your compliments on something “I” have done, send
them instead to these folks. The credit is most definitely theirs!
Sincerely,
Dr. Steve Nichols
Director of Athletics |
