The search for a new Athletic Director at Keene State College continues.

The task of replacing former AD John Ratliff began in August  2015, when a 12 person committee was given the job of sifting through applications and conducting interviews in order to find the new head of Athletics.

According to committee chairman Wanda Swiger, the job opening was originally posted in August with the hope that the new A.D. would be in place by January 1.

However, even though there were in fact candidates under consideration for the position, most candidates were unable to start in the middle of the school year.

The committee, which meets once a week or biweekly, decided to repost the job listing and will continue the work of finding a new A.D.

Now, according to the job application posted by the college, the start date of the job is set to be on or before July 1. Swiger said that since the deadline has been extended, the committee can be more thorough.   

“There was a bigger time crunch [the first time], and so we were really rushing to try to get it done so that we could get somebody in place. Whereas now, I think we’re going to do due-diligence and really focus not so much on rushing, but to make sure that we actually get the right person for the position,” Swiger said.

Swiger also said that the original search was beneficial in that it allowed the college to narrow down and give specificity to what they wanted.

“What we found was that we really…on the Keene State side of things we needed to do more due-diligence in reassessing what those needs were so that when we hire someone, that they’re a good fit for that position and that they can take Keene State athletics and Keene State where we need it to go moving forward,” Swiger said.

Something that Swiger said the committee wanted to emphasize in the criteria was that the committee wants a candidate who already had experience with some of the duties associated with being an AD, such as working with NCAA compliance, managing a budget and fund raising.

“Coming in, they have to be able to hit the ground running in all of those areas,” Swiger said.

According to Swiger, the committee has already began reviewing applications.

Vice President of Student Affairs and interim AD Kemal Atkins said that the prolonged proccess isn’t surprising to him.

“This is not unusual of positions at this level…it’s a very attractive position. We have a strong department, It’s an attractive institution, good student-athletes, good coaches, so we expect that we’re going to have a strong pool,” Atkins said.

According to Atkins, there have been around 50 applications submitted to the committee as of this week so far. Despite the fact that he’s enjoyed taking on some of the AD duties, his application, he said, is not one of them.

“I think with my other responsibilities that position needs one person solely focused on athletics,” Atkins said.

The committee will be working on narrowing down its search by the middle of February.

Jacob can be contacted at jbarrett@kscequinox.com