Welcoming Jill Bodensteiner to Hawk Hill

St. Joe’s announces new athletic director

It has been 30 years since the university has had to search for a new athletic director. The search came to an end last week when the university announced Jill Bodensteiner, J.D. as the next athletic director.

St. Joe’s Athletic Director Don DiJulia is retiring after a 35-year career in Division I athletics.

Bodensteiner’s appointment makes her the first female athletic director in St. Joe’s history.

“If the fact that I’m a woman could help other women, that’s a great thing,” Bodensteiner said. “I’ve already heard from numerous young women who said ‘this gives me hope’ and ‘thank you for being a role model’ so if that’s an extra benefit, I’m really delighted to be able to play that role for them.”

Bodensteiner, who graduated from the University of Notre Dame, will be among a mere nine percent of athletic directors who are female. At the start of the 2017 season, there were 35 female athletic directors out of 351 NCAA Division I schools.

University president Mark C. Reed, Ph.D. was responsible for hiring Bodensteiner, along with the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC).

According to Reed, over 50 people expressed interest in the athletic director position. After reviewing applications, the search was narrowed to 12 applicants and from there, they seriously considered three candidates.

Bodensteiner will be working closely with Reed as the director of the university’s Division I athletic programs.

“I was looking for someone that I would partner well with, that wouldn’t necessarily tell me what I wanted to hear but would tell me at times what I needed to hear,” Reed said.“Someone who could challenge me and someone who perhaps I could challenge going forward.”

Bodensteiner began working at Notre Dame in 1997, as an attorney in the Office of the General Counsel. She worked closely with athletics in this position, providing legal advice and handling coaches’ contracts until she made the move to the athletics department in 2009. Five years ago, Bodensteiner was promoted to senior associate athletics director.

Bodensteiner has worked with the NCAA on issues such as financial support for student athletes. In the past, scholarships only covered their tuition. Bodensteiner’s work with the NCAA helped change the definition of a scholarship, as many institutions around the country now offer stipends for personal expenses for students who are on full scholarships.

Most of her work at Notre Dame was done with women’s basketball as the team’s sport administrator. She worked closely with the program’s head coach, Muffett McGraw, a 1977 St. Joe’s alumnus.

Bodensteiner has certainly left her mark at Notre Dame, and she intends to leave a legacy on Hawk Hill as well.

“I want to put my own stamp on a place, and I couldn’t be more excited about the opportunity to do that here,” Bodensteiner said. “There’s a great foundation, and we’re going to think big. I’m really excited to put my stamp on it, but it won’t be just my stamp because we’re going to do this collectively.”

What drew Bodensteiner to St. Joe’s is the sense of community along with the Jesuit tradition. Not only did she come from a Catholic institution like Notre Dame, but she also has a background of faith.

Bondensteiner’s father is a civil rights lawyer, her mother was a therapist and her sister is an educator at Notre Dame Law School.

“I was raised with primary values of social justice,” Bodensteiner said. “The whole notion of a holistic education and social justice is really what drew me to the Jesuit tradition.”

For Bodensteiner, the Jesuit education offered at St. Joe’s is invaluable for student athletes.

“We will not shy away from issues of social justice, and we will embrace and model our inclusion and love for one another during these divisive times in our society,” Bodensteiner said. “We will strive to live greater.”

The student athlete experience is Bodensteiner’s main focus coming into her new role, and she said it is why she is involved in college sports. Notre Dame is famous for its academics along with its athletics; in 2017, the university posted the highest NCAA Graduation Success Rate (GSR) at 98 percent.

Graduation in Bodensteiner’s eyes is a minimum requirement, but it should not be the only concern of an institution. The only way students will get the most of their experiences is if they immerse themselves in their education.

“There’s a difference between getting a GPA and enough credits to graduate and engaging in the process,” Bodensteiner said. “What these student athletes are getting in exchange for all the wonderful moments they give us and our fans is an education, and if they don’t take advantage of it by truly engaging in the Jesuit tradition and a holistic education then they’re missing out.”

Reed emphasized the academic expectation of student athletes as well, along with the notion that they should feel confident in their ability to be successful in competition.

“Winning and competing is for the student athletes; we want them to take the court, go out on the field, on the water, wherever it is, and feel good about themselves, feel that they’re prepared, feel that they have the support of the institution, and feel that we are doing everything we can to support them in their athletic endeavors and their academic endeavors,” Reed said.

Notre Dame basketball is part of the Atlantic Coast Conference, and Bodensteiner is excited to be part of the Atlantic-10 and  the Big 5 Philadelphia rivalry, which she referred to as one of the best in college sports.

Bodensteiner’s athletic background is in basketball, as she played in high school and coached at St. Mary’s College, a Division III program for six years when she was practicing law. She considers St. Joe’s to be a good fit for her because of its prestigious basketball program.

“I’m a basketball person, it’s a basketball school, and I couldn’t be more excited to work with the basketball coaches, Phil [Martelli] and Cindy [Griffin],” Bodensteiner said.

Bodensteiner will officially begin work at Hawk Hill on June 1.