A look into the future of UW-Milwaukee Athletics.
By Joe Horning
Assistant Sports Editor
Last Wednesday, the UW-Milwaukee announced it had selected 3 finalists for the Athletic Director position. This week, they will host each candidate with an open forum for the public to listen to their pitches.
The candidates announced are: Amanda Braun, Executive Senior Associate Athletic Director at Northeastern University; Paul Plinske, Athletic Director at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater; and James Schmidt, Athletic Director at the University of Illinois-Chicago.
Amanda Braun is a native of Wisconsin and earned her master of arts in sports administration from North Carolina. At Northeastern, she oversees the strategic planning and day-to-day operations of the Northeastern athletic department and serves on the department’s senior management team. Braun also oversees Northeastern Athletics’ business, human resources, compliance, enrollment management and student-athlete support services areas; manages the department’s scholarship budget; and supervises men’s and women’s basketball, field hockey and men’s rowing.
Before coming to Northeastern in 2006, she served as associate and assistant athletic director at the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay for several years. While at Green Bay, she supervised several sport programs, designed a new athletic fundraising event, assisted in the design and planning of a $32.5 million facility renovation and oversaw compliance and financial aid.
Paul Plinske is a native of Minneapolis. He received his doctorate in sports administration from the University of Minnesota. He earned a master’s degree in athletic administration from the University of Illinois and a bachelor’s in physical education from Bethel University. His area of academic focus has been in athletic fund raising, management, leadership and organizational structures in sport. Since he became AD of Whitewater, he has worked tirelessly to grow their programs into a powerhouse amongst Division-III.
During Plinske’s tenure at UW-Whitewater, student-athletes have improved their grade point averages from about an average of 2.95 to 3.03. For eight consecutive years, UW-Whitewater Athletics has won the WIAC All-Academic Award with higher grade point averages than the general student body population. Of special interest has been Plinske’s commitment to Title IX and creating opportunities for women in sport.
In eight years, UW-Whitewater Athletics has experienced tremendous financial growth to support its programming and operations. Plinske has worked collaboratively with Whitewater Student Government to attain an additional $319,000 in operation funds. Corporate sponsorships and ticket revenue have quadrupled the past four years at Whitewater. At Whitewater, one of Plinskes major accomplishments was enhancing their athletic facilities. As a fund raiser, Plinske has secured over $11 million to support facility enhancements.
James Schmidt is the longest tenured Athletic Director in the Horizon League. Since 1997 under Schmidt’s direction, The University of Illinois-Chicago has advanced to NCAA postseason competition on 47 occasions while amassing a total of 72 conference championships. UIC has won the James J. McCafferty Trophy, the award honoring the most successful all-around athletic program in the Horizon League each season, in 2000 and 2007 under Schmidt’s watch.
Like Plinske, Schmidt and his department has done a lot for women’s athletics. Schmidt played a key role in the local and national exposure of UIC Athletics. He partnered with ESPN Radio 1000, one of the premier sports radio stations in America; to make WMVP-AM and ESPNChicago.com the exclusive radio broadcast homes of UIC men’s basketball. Schmidt has also done a lot of work to improve scholarship funding and renovate their current athletic facilities.
All three candidates will come to campus next week open forums named “Defining Success in UWM Athletics: On the Field, in the Classroom, and in the Community.”
-Paul Plinske is scheduled for 10 a.m. on Tuesday, February 12, in Union Room 191.
– James Schmidt is scheduled for 10 a.m. on Wednesday, February 13, in the Regents Room of Chapman Hall.
– Amanda Braun is scheduled for 10 a.m. on Friday, February 15, In Union Room 191.
UWM Post Sports 