By Bob Sutton
Special to The Alamance News
Jennifer Strawley is coming from Miami to be the next athletics director at Elon University.
Her hiring as the school’s first female A.D. was announced Thursday. She has been the senior deputy athletics director at Miami, where she has been employed since 2012, and her background includes time in the NCAA office.
Strawley, who begins her new job August 1 as the 21st A.D. at Elon, replaces Dave Blank, whose retirement was announced in March. Blank completes 17 years in the position this summer.
“Jenn stood out in the search process as a strategic and visionary leader who is dedicated to the enhancement of the student-athlete experience and the holistic development of student-athletes,” Elon president Connie Book said in a statement.
Strawley was the sport administrator for football and women’s baseball at Miami, where she also was the senior woman administrator. She served as interim A.D. for a month in 2021.
In 2021, Strawley was named the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association’s Administrator of the Year.
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Strawley has spent time on various committees within the NCAA and the Atlantic Coast Conference. Those assignments include roles on the NCAA Strategic Vision Committee, the NCAA Women’s Basketball Oversight Committee, the NCAA Championships Finance Review Working Group, the NCAA Football Recruiting Working Group, and the NCAA Men’s Basketball Non-Scholastic Working Group. In addition, Strawley has served on the ACC board of directors as chair of the ACC senior woman administrator group, the ACC television committee, the ACC equity committee, the ACC infractions and sportsmanship review committee, and the ACC football schedulers group.
Prior to her time at Miami, Strawley worked for the NCAA as the Director of Academic and Membership Affairs. She began her career at the NCAA managing student-athlete reinstatement and eligibility, and serving as a liaison to multiple committees within the NCAA governance structure.
Between her two stints at the NCAA, Strawley worked at Columbia University, where she was the Associate Athletics Director for Intercollegiate Sports Programs and the Senior Woman.
As a college student, she played softball at Pennsylvania, where she’s a 1998 graduate. She earned a master’s degree in sports administration from Miami in 2021.
Strawley will be introduced to the community July 21 at a campus event.
