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Longtime Augie AD Steps Down

Kealey Bultena
/
SDPB

For 28 years, Bill Gross has led Augustana College’s athletic department. Now he’s stepping down.

Gross went to Augustana College in Sioux Falls in 1969 as a student and basketball player. After graduation and few years away, Gross returned to Augie in 1979. He coached men’s basketball for the Vikings when then-President Bill Nelson asked Gross if he’d consider adding athletic director duties to his coaching.

"After telling Bill I wasn’t qualified to be a college athletic director, he said, ‘Ah, just try it for a year. We’ll see how it goes’. Well, 28 years later, I guess I’m still around," Gross says.

Gross worked under six college presidents, and he thanks colleagues, his family, students and donors.

He says he’s witnessed many changes during nearly three decades, including a change in focus on women’s sports.

"I do remember that we had five gals in women’s track in ’86. We didn’t have a women’s golf team; we didn’t have a women’s soccer team. We had part-time coaches in volleyball and everything. Scholarships were not where they needed to be," Gross says. "You know, I have two daughters who participated in sports. I have some very strong feelings about gender equity and opportunity, and we’ve always been committed to that principle, and all you’ve got to do is look at the success of our women’s program."

Gross says facilities have also improved during his tenure. When he started as athletic director in 1986, he says the Vikings used an old gym and a wrestling room that repeatedly flooded. He says the athletes didn’t even have a track. Now Augie boasts new facilities including an athletic complex built just south of the main Sioux Falls campus.

Augustana doesn’t need an interim athletic director. President Rob Oliver says Gross is staying on as AD until the college finds his replacement. Then Gross is moving into a position as major gift’s officer in Augie’s advancement office.

Kealey Bultena grew up in South Dakota, where her grandparents took advantage of the state’s agriculture at nap time, tricking her into car rides to “go see cows.” Rarely did she stay awake long enough to see the livestock, but now she writes stories about the animals – and the legislature and education and much more. Kealey worked in television for four years while attending the University of South Dakota. She started interning with South Dakota Public Broadcasting in September 2010 and accepted a position with television in 2011. Now Kealey is the radio news producer stationed in Sioux Falls. As a multi-media journalist, Kealey prides herself on the diversity of the stories she tells and the impact her work has on people across the state. Kealey is always searching for new ideas. Let her know of a great story! Find her on Facebook and twitter (@KealeySDPB).