Editor-in-Chief

In Kenneth Siegfried’s first year as interim director of athletics, CSU Bakersfield saw unprecedented success by winning two Western Athletic Conference tournaments and making it to four WAC tournaments championship games.
Siegfried is currently one of the two finalists for the director of athletics position. The other candidate China Jude, who is the assistant vice-president and director of athletics at Queens College in New York.
CSUB has said that they will announce the who will be the new director of athletics today at 10:30 a.m. in the Icardo Room.

Siegfried said after meeting with the search committee and Vice-President of Student Affairs John Wallace he feels great about his chances to get the job.
“It’s one of those thing where the last 13 months have been the most rewarding of my career,” Siegfried said. “Just the fact that I know that we’re doing special things and the feedback I get from our staff and from our student-athletes.
“To have 30 people show up when they were interviewing me at 8 a.m. for the community portion of it is great because I can remember when the other ADs came in the last time they opened the job and there were a lot fewer. It feels great that the community feels that I might not be from Bakersfield, but I am a Bakersfield guy. I feel really good about it.”
Siegfried attended the University of Memphis where he earned a bachelor’s degree in education and sports management. He earned his master of science degree in sports administration from Middle Tennessee State University and is nearing the completion of his doctorate with an emphasis on leadership in higher education as well.
Before coming to CSUB, he worked at Memphis for eight years. During his time at Memphis, he served on the senior staff of the athletics department and was also on the university fundraising leadership team.
A big goal of Siegfried is that he would like to integrate CSUB athletics more with the campus by having more athletes live on campus and eat on campus so that all the students and faculty know them better. He wants athletics to partner with other departments such as: the Health Center, Associated Students Incorporated and Student Union.
“It is continuing to show the campus that this is a bigger picture thing,” he said. “We want success all around and what will separate us that family-type atmosphere between our students and our student-athletes.”
He added that he would like for athletics to show more support of campus events.
He said that to build a bigger fan base CSUB needs to go out to the community rather than waiting for the community to come to them.
“It’s going to be critical [to have athletes and coaches go out to the community],” he said. “It has to be more than just me out there telling our story.”
He added that it’s not something that will be built over night but getting more students to come to the games will be crucial.
“If we can get the students to fill up just the student section, then when the community comes in, it is just fuller,” he said. “It is more exciting. It is fuller and they continue to come back. They tell their friends to come back… It is build over time and we do have to create that demand. Once they hear that it is big event here that’s when everyone feels they have to be here.”
He said that it would mean the world to him if he got the position.
“I always focused on being in a position that I love,” he said. “To be able to wake up every morning, be excited about coming into work and be able to make an impact on so many people… that’s what I love to do.”