Peg Bradley-Doppes would love to say the unique situation amid the University of Denver athletic department was the result of some grand plan, one designed meticulously and executed flawlessly.
Yet the fact of the matter is that Bradley-Doppes, DU's Vice Chancellor for Athletics and Recreation, has always been focused on assigning the best person possible for the various job openings that she has overseen during her tenure at DU. The fact that DU boasts an inordinate number of females among its senior athletic administration-at a ratio far superior to the national average at NCAA Division I institutions-has been a testament to the quality of the individuals that have been brought into the university, regardless of gender, and the devotion and talent that has allowed those individuals to rise through the ranks.
A glance through the senior staff at DU is to peruse a list of women that have, to a large degree, grown into their jobs with the Pioneers, putting the university in a bit of a groundbreaking position in a profession that, even in modern Title IX times, historically has been a male-dominated industry.
"I take great pride in these individuals, like I do all of our employees," Bradley-Doppes said. "I think it's wonderful that they are up for the challenge. They've demonstrated that not only can they manage, they can lead, and that they're doing a great job here at DU. I think it's wonderful when I see employees that want to contribute more. They want to take on a leadership role and make our university better. I applaud them and it's good stuff."
The argument that DU is far ahead of the curve when it comes to having women employed at high stations within the athletic department is supported irrefutably, as many things in the sports world are, by the numbers.
According to figures compiled during the 2011-12 academic year, Bradley Doppes is one of just 33 women who serve as a school's head athletic director out of 347 Division I institutions. That means only about 9.5 percent of all Division I athletic directors are female, putting Bradley-Doppes in an incredibly low minority.
However, she hardly is the only pioneer in her field among the Pioneers. A total of 452 people filled the role of director of media relations across the nation during the 2011-12 year, but only 52 of them (12.4 percent) were female. DU added a female to this role this year, as Nicole Bostel was promoted from associate media relations director to the head job after former director Erich Bacher left for Virginia.
Some figures are even more astounding. A reported total of 1,207 people served as strength and conditioning coaches in 2011-12, but only 157 of them (13 percent) were female. However at DU that role is filled by Kathryn Whartenby. Julie Campbell, DU's director of sports medicine is not quite in that small of a minority, but nevertheless only 18.4 percent of the 369 professionals that filled that role at Division I schools last year were female.
"Everyone has a Senior Woman Administrator, as mandated, but when you have a director of sports medicine, a director of strength and conditioning and a director of media relations being outstanding, outstanding females, it's all a strong testament to these people's characters," Bradley-Doppes said.
"All of these are very strong, hard-working employees who have proven themselves. And it's often much more difficult to be promoted internally. Everybody looks better from a distance. But this speaks volumes of the outstanding work ethic day in, day out, the personal relationships and professional relationships these individuals have, and how they've been able to create kind of a collective spirit not only within their division, but across campus and even in the Denver community."
Perhaps even more rewarding for Bradley-Doppes and her staff is that many of these women-including Whartenby, Bostel and Campbell-were promoted from within after first being hired at other positions at DU.
"I think the university takes pride in having really good people that fit," said Pam Wettig, Senior Associate AD and Senior Woman Administrator. "I don't think it's a gender issue. There are some coaches, for example, who will do great in some situations and not so well in others. I think all the stars have kind of lined up right and we've been able to get really good people. A lot of people moved into their position, like Katherine in strength and conditioning, Julie in sports medicine and Nicole in media relations. They were not originally hired in those positions, but they moved up and they proved themselves and they've done a great job. I think that's a testimony too in terms of being able to hire good people and being able to keep them so they can move into leadership positions."
The unwavering mission of DU's athletic department is to find the best people for each job, regardless of gender. Bradley-Doppes and Wettig both readily admit they received a significant level of criticism when Erik Johnson was hired as the Pioneers' women's basketball after Pam Tanner left following the 2007-08 season, but Johnson proved his worth with four winning seasons in four years before departing for Boston College. His spot was assumed by Kerry Cremeans, who is beginning her first season with the Pioneers.
And make no mistake, having such accomplished women situated atop the athletic department hierarchy can only help with recruiting for a number of women's programs on the cusp of breakout success. This season, DU's women's soccer team advanced out of the first round of the NCAA tournament. Cremeans' women's basketball team expects to be a force in the Western Athletic Conference. And the future looks bright for a DU volleyball program under first-year head coach Jesse Mahoney.
"No matter what, at the end of the day my responsibility is to hire the best individual," Bradley-Doppes said. "I will guarantee you that for every search there is a search committee, and we have very proactive, diverse candidate pools. We don't post a position and wait for people. We post a position and we get on the phone and we make calls. I don't make a hire. We have a search committee to make sure. The old coach in me looks at hiring as our recruitment. You can't win the race if you don't have the horses."
Follow Pat Rooney on Twitter: @prooney07
