Winthrop formally introduces new AD
The setting for Ken Halpin’s first press conference as an NCAA Division I athletic director turned out better than he’d envisioned.
“I really thought the first time I got a chance to speak at a press conference to become an athletic director would either be in a room of people I knew, or just a room of one or two,” Halpin said Monday at Winthrop Coliseum. “So this is an amazing outpouring. I really appreciate everything about this opportunity.”
Halpin was formally introduced to a sizable group of Winthrop staff, coaches and boosters. It was the first chance for many of them to personally meet the new face of Eagles athletics.
Halpin plans to huddle with as many of those people as he can - coaches, staff and faculty members, student-athletes, and community members - in the days before and after he officially begins work on July 11.
“It’s the things they’re gonna say that provide the strategic direction for the next 20 years of Winthrop athletics,” Halpin said.
I cannot say enough about the amazing work that’s been done by Tom Hickman over the last 20 years. It isn’t easy staying with anything that long, let alone to keep managing an overachieving athletic department.
New Winthrop AD Ken Halpin had some kind words for his predecessor
Tom HickmanThe 34-year old associate AD at Eastern Washington was joined by his family - his wife, Amber, and two sons, Kenny and Jonathan. Attendees got to meet the family and also soaked in a first impression of Halpin, an engaging speaker that should have no problem communicating his ideas to anyone that will listen. That’s consistent with what Eduardo Prieto, who headed Winthrop’s athletic director search committee, saw during the interview process.
“We saw a vision right off the bat, somebody who had a plan, who obviously was very charismatic,” said Prieto. “We felt that all that together added up to a good package, a total package.”
One interesting and unusual tidbit from Monday morning: Halpin and Winthrop President Dan Mahony will co-teach a class this fall revolving around current events in college athletics. When Halpin was working on his doctoral dissertation at Washington State, he actually used research conducted and published by Mahony on the subject of donor motivation in college athletics.
“I didn’t have to ask if there would be a willingness to allow me to teach,” said Halpin. “That’s a piece that’s always been really important to me.”
This story was originally published May 23, 2016 at 4:00 PM with the headline "Winthrop formally introduces new AD."