By Hannah Armstrong//
Over two years ago, a newly hired athletic director entered Hood’s athletic department, eager to start a position that became her passion, even though it may not have been where she pictured herself when she started her academic career.
Susan Kolb grew up in Springs, Pennsylvania. An only child, she developed friendships in athletics. “I think my parents gave me siblings through sports,” Kolb said.
Kolb played three sports: softball, soccer, and basketball.
She was recruited by college for all three sports. Ultimately, Kolb chose to play soccer for Davis and Elkins College, a Division II school in West Virginia. She also walked onto the college’s softball team and spent a season her senior year on the ski team.
When she graduated with a degree in early education it was the Great Recession and she had trouble finding work. “Even with my mom being an administrator in the early education school system, there were no jobs,” Kolb said.
Kolb’s friends encouraged her to become a graduate athletics assistant, which allowed Kolb to “stay in the game” by helping coach both the men’s and women’s soccer teams. She went on to earn her master’s degree in instructional leadership at Bluffton University in Ohio.
During that time, Kolb was given the exciting opportunity to play soccer with the Charlotte Eagles, a semi-professional team. The group toured in South America throughout 2010.
“It was an amazing experience, but then again, after that tour I realized my heart was more into coaching at that point,” Kolb said. This realization led her to deviate from her original goal of becoming a school principal to becoming a coach instead. “Working as a graduate assistant really made me fall in love with coaching, and I was hungry to lead a program on my own,” Kolb said.
This hunger was satisfied in 2011 when Kolb received the position of head women’s coach at Eastern Mennonite University at the age of 23.
While at EMU, Kolb was introduced to entirely new aspect of athletic departments—administration as she was promoted to assistant athletic director. “Every time I thought I wanted something, another thing came along while I was there that I didn’t even realize,” Kolb said.
Although Kolb has many accomplishments, she is most proud of obtaining her Ph.D. in athletic administration from North Central University. “I was so determined to be the best at what I have done and what I wanted,” Kolb said. “I did not want anything to hold me back.”
In 2018, Kolb knew that she wanted something more in her career. She was drawn to Hood, and once she visited, she knew it was the next step for her. “I left here after my interviews thinking I will be devastated if I don’t get this position,” Kolb said.
Hood College’s President Andrea Chapdelaine remembers the day Kolb first arrived on campus for her interview. Chapdelaine was impressed with Kolb’s extensive knowledge about Hood. “She had obviously done her research, and she was very enthusiastic as well,” Chapdelaine said.
Luckily, Kolb was offered the job. Her transition to Hood was smooth, even though she was much different from Hood’s former athletic director, Tom Dickman. “I felt as if the staff really welcomed some new ideas from a younger female,” Kolb said. “I think we were able to really appreciate everything Tom had done and build off of that for new ideas moving forward.”
Kolb’s role as athletic director led her to oversee many things, such as coaches, teams, events, and more. Despite this, she says no day is the same. “The best thing about this job is that there is no typical day for me,” Kolb said.
“I still want to learn new things and work in areas that I may not have worked in before,” Kolb said, citing her role as COVID Response Coordinator as an example.
Before COVID, Kolb typically had multiple meetings with coaches, staff members, and even athletes. Besides this, she would brainstorm ways to improve the culture and experience for everyone within the department. If she wasn’t doing these things, she would attend games on campus.
Strength and conditioning coach Erika Moyer was very excited to work with a female athletic director. “Typically, college athletics are very male dominated, especially as you move up divisions,” Moyer said. Moyer was introduced to Hood a year after Kolb.
Kolb is still early in her career at Hood, and she is just starting to introduce and implement new programs for student athletes that teach them about topics such as leadership and diversity.
“I always want to be doing things that make the experience better for our student-athletes as people, as students, and as athletes,” Kolb said. “We can always get better, and we are constantly working to see where we can improve.”
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