ROWAN’S SOLOMEN NAMED TO NCAA FOOTBALL COMMITTEE

GLASSBORO, NJ – Rowan University athletic director Joy Solomen has been named to the NCAA Division III Football Committee.

 

Solomen will serve a four-year term starting in September. She is only the second woman appointed to the NCAA Division III Football Committee. The first was Debra Warren (2003-04) from Chowan College.

 

\”I am honored to have been selected for the national football committee,\” said Solomen. \”It is a wonderful opportunity to represent our region. I am excited to accept this new challenge and look forward to working with a group of outstanding individuals.\”

 

The NCAA football committee is responsible for evaluating teams throughout the season, participating in regional and national conference calls, assisting with the selection of teams and the creation of the national championship bracket and assigning crews of officials to work the playoff games. The committee staffs selected playoff games and attends the championship game, the Amos Alonzo Stagg Bowl. In addition, the members serve as chairs of respective regional committees, develop and review agenda items for the annual meeting and attend the meeting.

 

The NCAA Division III Football Committee consists of eight members, two from each of the four regions (East, North, South, West). This year’s committee members are: East – Michael DeLong, Head Football Coach, Springfield College and Joy Solomen, Athletic Director, Rowan University; North – Dick Kaiser, Director of Men’s Athletics/Compliance Director, Defiance College and Norman Eash, Associate Athletic Director/Head Football Coach, Illinois Wesleyan University; South – Chris Smith, Associate Professor/Head Football Coach, Grove City College and Steve Mohr, Head Football Coach, Trinity University (TX); West – Michael Maynard, Head Football Coach, University of Redlands and Chad Eisele, Athletic Director, Knox College.

 

At Rowan, Solomen was appointed the director of athletics in 1993 after serving as the director of women’s athletics since 1986. She directs a NCAA Division III athletic program of 18 sports, eight for men and 10 for women. 

 

Solomen has been active at the state, regional and national levels. She was president of the New Jersey Athletic Conference, the New Jersey Association of Intercollegiate Athletics for Women and the Collegiate Athletic Administrators of New Jersey (CAANJ). 

 

Solomen was a member of the NCAA women’s basketball committee and the region chair for seven years. In addition, she has served on the region volleyball committee and several Eastern

College Athletic Conference committees. Solomen completed two years on the Board of Director for the National Association of Collegiate Women Athletics Administrators (NACWAA). 

On the national level, she was elected chair of the NCAA Division III Management Council in 2001 and served as the vice chair the previous year. She was a member of the NCAA Executive Committee and was chair of the Division III Women’s Basketball National Committee from 1996-98. Solomen represented Division III on the NCAA association wide Recruitment Committee and the Competitive Safeguards and Medical Aspects of Sports Committee. She was also the chair of the Division III Championship Committee and the NCAA convention planning sub-committee and a member of the Division III Initiatives Task Force.

 

Solomen graduated from Glassboro State College, now Rowan University, in 1969 with a bachelor’s degree in health and physical education and later earned her master’s in 1975. She was a three-sport athlete and a captain of the field hockey, lacrosse and basketball teams. From 1973-74, she was a graduate assistant for the Profs and was the assistant coach for the field hockey, basketball and lacrosse teams. She taught and coached at Houghton College (NY) and Moorestown High School (NJ). 

 

At Biola University (CA) from 1981 to 1986, Solomen coached volleyball and was an assistant professor. Her volleyball teams were second in the NAIA National Championship in 1985, NAIA District III Southern Division Conference Champions in 1984 and 1983 and NAIA District III Champions in 1982. She was also the chair of the health and physical education department at Glassboro High School from 1974 to 1981 where she coached girls’ field hockey, basketball, softball and track and field.

 

Solomen was inducted into the Gloucester County Hall of Fame, the South Jersey Basketball Hall of Fame and the Rowan-Glassboro State Hall of Fame. In 2002, she was honored by the National Association of College Directors of Athletics as the Division III Athletic Director of the Year for the Northeast Region and recognized as the Administrator of the Year by the CAANJ. She was named the 2003 Division III Administrator of the Year by NACWAA and received the General Robert R. Neyland Athletic Director Award from the All-American Football Foundation. 

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