Cedars, December 2019

by Abigail Hintz D r. Alan Geist serves as Cedarville University’s athletic director, and many parts of his job could be con- sidered mundane day-to-day responsibili- ties. But those are the ones that impact Geist the most. The values he holds that make this true, overflow to everyone in the athletic depart- ment and those they interact with. The AD role is a dynamic one. Geist oversees 16 intercollegiate sports and cheerleading at Cedarville. That is just short of 400 student-athletes as well as around 35 staff members who are under his leadership, not counting part-time assistant coaches. “We have grown tremendously in the last 12 years,” said Geist. “And the Lord has blessed us a lot just like He has the whole university.” Geist is also in charge of representing Cedarville in the Great Midwest Athletic Conference (G-MAC), where he serves as the chair of the Athletic Directors Council, as well as the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). How things operate now is not how it has always been for Cedarville athletics. When Geist took the AD position in 2008, he was already working as a faculty member in the sport management program for three years. He had also served as a Resident Di- rector for three years. Because of this, he had a relationship with members of the ad- ministration. They approached him before he even started his work as AD about the possibility of Cedarville moving from the National Association of Intercollegiate Ath- letics (NAIA) to the NCAA. This was a big decision and a big change, if they were to go through with it. Geist was first introduced to the idea in May of 2008 when he was already hired as ath- letic director but had not yet started work. When he officially started the job on July 1, to say he hit the ground running would be an understatement. It was the beginning of what would be a three-year transition. “I think that process took a lot out of him because it was just a lot of work,” said assistant AD Stephanie Zonars. “But he be- lieved that it was the best direction for the university. Most people at this point know that we’re on the other side of that see that we’re in a really good conference, we’re aligned with a lot of schools that are similar to us in terms of being private institutions and having some of the same goals that we have.” Cedarville applied to move into the NCAA Division II along with six other schools. Out of those six schools, only Ce- darville and one other school were accepted. The logistical day-to-day happenings of Cedarville athletics definitely changed when they entered the NCAA, but Geist says it did not change who the school is. “We’re a Christian institution, we’d been very successful with sharing Christ in the NAIA. As I had one of my coaches say to me at the time, ‘It’s just a new mission field,’” he said. The spectacular moments of evange- lism are exciting and powerful, but there are a lot of moments that occur in the daily lives of the coaches, players and administration of Cedarville athletics. Geist said that day- to-day gospel living is what gets him most excited. “That’s who we’re trying to be. And ev- ery day we fail, but every day we have some neat successes and the Lord has just blessed us. And I think probably that’s a microcosm of what’s going on within the university,” he said. The outpouring of the values Geist holds is shown in the missions trips the student-athletes take as well as the prayers they share with opposing teams after every match. Geist has seen the life of the stu- dent-athlete from all angles after working as an RD and faculty member. Geist greatly enjoyed teaching and found it challenging to leave the position for the AD job. “I think that he would say that he is an educator, he is a teacher,” said Zonars. “He loved his time as a faculty member and be- ing in a classroom. I see remnants of that even in his role as an athletic director.” December 2019 12 SPORTS Geist Focuses on Day-To-Day in AD Role Photo by Lauren Jacobs “God has blessed Cedarville with tremendous student athletes. It is my privilege to work with them,” said athletic director Dr. Alan Geist.