DiBartolo named SU Athletics Director
After a two-year stint as the interim director, Gerry DiBartolo has officially been named the athletics director at Salisbury University.
The former men’s soccer coach replaces longtime athletics director Michael Vienna, who left Salisbury in the summer of 2015 to take the same position at Emory University.
“I’ve had a love of this place for a long time," DiBartolo said in an interview Monday afternoon. "This place has been really good to me and my family over the years, and I felt that anything I could do to help and give back, I would do whatever I could. This is an opportunity where hopefully I can provide some assistance and some help.”
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DiBartolo has been a household name around Salisbury for the last four decades. In 1979, he began his coaching career as an assistant soccer coach and was promoted to the head spot in 1982.
As head coach, DiBartolo compiled a 411-179-30 overall record, earned seven Capital Athletic Conference Coach of the Year awards, won eight conference tournaments and appeared in the NCAA tournament 13 times.
He retired from coaching after the 2015 fall soccer season and was replaced by assistant coach Alex Hargrove.
DiBartolo thanked University President Janet Dudley-Eshbach for her continued confidence in him and said he was looking forward to working with the athletics and campus recreation staff, SU leadership and Sea Gull fans.
“That first semester where I was still coaching and serving as the interim athletic director, that was a pretty hectic semester. If it wouldn’t of been for the supportive administrative staff helping me to stay focused and lead me in the right direction, it would have been a real nightmare,” DiBartolo said. “I still rely very heavily on them.”
As the interim athletics director, DiBartolo oversaw the opening of the new Sea Gull Stadium, which hosts football, field hockey and lacrosse, and the Sea Gull Softball Stadium. He has also helped develop the new men’s and women’s soccer fields, intramural fields and baseball stadium, according to a SU press release.
He plans to expand East Campus, which is home to several of the school’s athletic facilities. DiBartolo also hopes to bring a field house to the campus which would help cut down on a crowded Maggs Physical Activity Center facility and give athletes a brand-new area in which to compete and train.
“That is a very large ticket item and is something I think we’re all trying to figure out a way we can make that happen,” DiBartolo said. “We want to keep providing resources for our teams, help our coaches, continue to provide outstanding opportunities for our athletes and we want to be the best Division III program in the country.”
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Though the new facilities and improvements have made athletics an important and prominent part of campus life, DiBartolo was quick to point out that athletes will always be regarded as students first.
Their work in the classroom and through internships and career building activities is what will decide whether they walk across the graduation stage and receive their diplomas – not their performance on field or court.
In DiBartolo’s eyes, Salisbury is and will always be an academics-first university.
“The primary focus of this campus is always going to be about the academic component. At the end of the day they’re students, so I don’t think this is going to become what is known as an athletic campus,” DiBartolo said. “I hope it’s known as a comprehensive university that has outstanding academic programs, outstanding athletic programs and outstanding facilities.”