Kris Diaz '78
BEREA, OHIO --
Kris Diaz, assistant athletic director at Baldwin-Wallace College, has been named the school’s new Athletic Director. The selection follows a national search and is effective July 1. Diaz, a 1978 B-W graduate, succeeds Steve Bankson, who retires on June 30 after 28 years at B-W as head basketball coach and athletic director.“The opportunity to lead a storied athletic program, such as B-W, is a dream come true for me,” said Diaz, who will continue as line coach in football for the coming season. “ For more than a century Yellow Jacket athletics have been built on the broad shoulders of exceptional athletic directors, like Ray Watts, Lee Tressel and Steve Bankson, as well as coaches such at Bob Packard, Dave Demmerle and Sparky Adams. It’s very humbling to be asked to build on that tradition.”
“It is a challenging time for colleges and for college athletic programs,” said Diaz. “Our goal will remain to help our student-athletes grow, develop and become the best that they can be and to help our athletic programs continue as leaders in the Ohio Athletic Conference and in NCAA Division III.”
Diaz is not new to B-W. He has been an assistant football and track coach at the College since 1998 and served as the assistant athletic director since 2006. He is a tenured member of the health and physical education faculty and has been a program coordinator in that division. In 2006, he served as a faculty fellow in the office of the vice president for academic affairs.
“Kris Diaz is well-known and well-respected on campus for his outstanding work as a professor, coach and administrator,” noted B-W president Richard Durst. “He personifies the attributes that we were seeking in the leader for this program. We’re looking forward to our work together in the coming years.”
A graduate of Amherst Steele High School (1974), Diaz graduated with honors from B-W in 1978. He earned his master’s degree in physical education from the University of Akron the following year and a specialist’s degree in educational administration from Moorhead State (Minn.) University in 1994.
He began is coaching career in 1976 at B-W as a student assistant under the legendary Lee Tressel and was a graduate assistant coach at the University of Akron during the 1978-79 school year.
The following fall, he joined Friends University in Wichita, Kansas where he served until 1983 as an instructor in physical education, as an admission counselor, assistant coach in football and basketball and as head track coach. He received an Outstanding Young Man of America award in 1982.
From 1983-89, Diaz was an assistant professor of physical education at Moorhead State as well as an assistant football and track coach, assistant athletic director, interim facility director (1985) and on a number of other university committees In 1989, he accepted a position an assistant professor of physical education and as head football coach at Bemidji State (Minn.) University where he stayed until 1996. Twice at Bemidji State, Diaz was selected as Coach of the Year.
Prior to returning to B-W in 1998, Diaz returned to Ohio and served as a teacher and the head football coach at Elyria Cathloic High School in 1996 and 1997.
Diaz and his wife Debi reside in Amherst, Ohio and have three children, including Jessica, a 2008 B-W graduate, and sons, Jacob and Nicholas.
FOR MORE INFORMATION, please contact B-W Assistant Vice President for College Relations George Richard by telephone at 440-826-2328 or via cell phone at 440-897-2853 or via e-mail at grichard@bw.edu. You also can reach Sports Information Director Kevin Ruple by telephone at 440-826-2327 or via e-mail at kruple@bw.edu. To contact Senior Vice President Dick Fletcher by phone at 440-826-2323 or via e-mail at rfletche@bw.edu. Kris Diaz can be reached via telephone in his office at 440-826-2309 or via e-mail at kdiaz@bw.edu.
275 Eastland Rd.