Merritt Leaving CSI Post
Dolphin athletic director departs to
take similar position in Washington, D.C.
Staten Island Advance - Monday, January 23, 2006
College of Staten Island athletic director Harold
Merritt is about to change schools -- and hats.
Merritt has resigned his position at CSI to take on
the same position at the University of the District of Columbia, a
NCAA Division II school. His last day at the Willowbrook school will
be Feb. 10 at which time associate athletic director Jason Fein will
become interim acting athletic director, according to CSI's vice
president for student affairs Carol Jackson.
But Merritt's role will be drastically different at
UDC.
When he arrived at CSI in June, 1999, Merritt's job was to build on
what his predecessor, Gene Marshall, accomplished.
Not so at UDC.
"We have suspended intercollegiate athletics for
this academic year," UDC spokesman Michael Andrews said, declining
to discuss specific reasons. "We want to establish long-term
solutions ... to go back to square one and start again on the right
foot."
With a new sheriff in town.
"Not a new sheriff," UDC vice president for student
affairs Clemmie Solomon protested. "A new educator. A teacher.
Someone who's going to emphasize academics before athletics and who
will put learning first.
"When we established a task force to look at
reforming our athletic program," Solomon said, "we wanted to move in
the direction of a high-caliber, experienced athletic director, and
Dr. Merritt fits that role. He has a doctorate with an emphasis on
sports management.
"We're getting an educational leader with excellent credentials," he
said.
Solomon also could have added a role model for
students at the school which has a large number of African American
students.
Merritt, a Harlem native and a basketball standout
at Columbus HS, went to SUNY-Albany for his bachelor of arts degree
in education, and during an 18-year intercollegiate coaching career,
he obtained his masters and his doctorate.
He was assistant director of Parks and Recreation in
Houston, Texas, when he was hired as CSI's athletic director.
Merritt admits to mixed feelings when he took the
CSI position and to mixed feelings now that he's leaving.
"I was really apprehensive about coming back to New
York," he said yesterday, a reference to his being away from the
city for a quarter-century.
"But this -- CSI -- has been a great experience with
a wonderful staff and a great bunch of student-athletes. Until UDC
came along, I thought I'd retire here," Merritt said. "I hope I've
left a positive mark and given a lot. I know I've learned a lot."
Knowledge which the new sheriff will bring to UDC.
By Jack Minogue
Reprinted here with permission
from the
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