Hastings College President Dr. Travis Feezell announced today that, following a national search, Burt John “B.J.” Pumroy has been named the College’s next athletic director and will officially start at the College July 1. Pumroy will also serve on the College’s cabinet.
“B.J.’s broad experience and background, and belief in supporting and mentoring students to be their best in competition and the classroom, is exactly what we were looking for in our next athletic director,” Feezell said. “We are excited to have B.J. lead our athletic department, and look forward to continued success of our athletic teams and student athletes.”
Pumroy said he’s thrilled with the opportunity and is looking forward to moving back to the Midwest.
“I’m appreciative and thankful to President Feezell and the Hastings College family for allowing me this unbelievable opportunity,” Pumroy said. “I am both excited and honored to become a Bronco. The Broncos are led by a number of superb coaches and the campus has a long history of athletic and academic success. I feel fortunate to be playing a role in guiding the future success of the athletic department and campus as a whole.
“During my on campus interview I felt a comfort and easiness like when coming home after a long vacation. The opportunities that this position will bring to myself and my family are immeasurable. With great anticipation I look forward to getting to campus, beginning my duties and to being able to say with pride, ‘It’s a great day to be a Bronco.’”
Since 2016, Pumroy has served as athletic director for St. Mary’s Ryken, a college preparatory private high school in the Washington, D.C. suburb of Leonardtown, Maryland. He oversees daily operations of 24 varsity and 14 sub varsity sports.
From 2010 to 2016, he served as athletic director for Shepherd University in Shepherdstown, West Virginia, a NCAA Division II school. At Shepherd, Pumroy increased community and campus engagement, created donor programs, secured funding for facility improvements, developed programs that increased student athlete GPAs and served on a committee to form the Mountain East Conference.
From 2007 to 2010, Pumroy served as athletic director for Valley City State University in Valley City, North Dakota. He was named the 2009-10 Dakota Athletic Conference Athletic Director of the Year. At Valley City he increased and met fundraising goals, expanded the number of varsity sports and maintained the department’s status as a NAIA Champion of Character institution.
During his career as an athletic director his teams have won 15 conference titles and made one national championship appearance.
Prior his time in Valley City, Pumroy served as assistant athletic director from 2000 to 2007 at Truman State University in Kirksville, Missouri. He was also head baseball coach at Truman State from 1993 to July 2000 and an assistant baseball coach from 1990 to 1993. Prior to that he coached high school baseball at Linn-Mar High School in Marion, Iowa.
Pumroy earned a bachelor’s of science degree from Truman State University and a master’s of education in sports administration from Northwestern State University in Natchitoches, Louisiana. He is the husband of Kaela Pumroy and father of sons Kinnick (12) and Maddux (10).
Pumroy replaces current Athletic Director Patty Sitorius, who is retiring at the end of the academic year. Sitorius, a 1981 Hastings College graduate and member of the College’s inaugural Athletic Hall of Fame class for track, basketball and volleyball, has served as the College’s athletic director since 2015.
Hastings College fields 22 athletic teams, with the Broncos participating in the Great Plains Athletic Conference (GPAC) and the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA).
Hastings College Broncos teams are consistently some of the best in the GPAC and NAIA, in terms of both competitiveness and academics — with multiple national and conference championships and more than 500 scholar athletes in the last decade.
Hastings College is a private, four-year institution located in Hastings, Nebraska, that focuses on student academic and extracurricular achievement. Hastings College has been named among “Great Schools, Great Prices” by U.S. News & World Report and a “Best in the Midwest” by The Princeton Review. For more, go to hastings.edu.
