Toward the end of the last school year, the Braves Athletic Department underwent a significant change.
Ken Kavanagh stepped down as the Athletic Director and University President Joanne Glasser promoted Virnette House-Browning to the Interim AD spot from the executive AD position. But as this school year rolls around, the AD spot hasn’t been permanently filled. House-Browning comes into this year with both roles as interim AD and executive AD.
She said holding both positions had been more than enough to keep her busy.
“The key is recruiting – we have the quality coaches and new facilities like the Markin [Family Student Recreation] Center and the new performance center,” House-Browning said. “It helps to continue our success.”
An AD’s job is be to keep these programs at that status while continuing to further push other sports towards the same heights.
Normally, there are several people that take on these duties at the top of a sports department, but for now, House-Browning filling the top two positions in on the athletic department’s totem pole.
“It’s been great, definitely busy, but it’s been a smooth transition,” House-Browning said. “But that’s because there is a great team here to make that smooth transition.”
Throughout the years at Bradley, spots on the faculty have been filled through the process of creating a committee to find the best candidate.
But University President Joanne Glasser won’t begin the search immediately, though she is consulting with presidents of other institutions, Associate Vice President for Communication Shelley Epstein said.
At the moment, the department is in good hands, as House-Browning is “capably handling all of her duties.”