Theresa Yetmar came to Baker University 13 years ago, not entirely knowing what she wanted to study, but was determined to be an exceptional student-athlete as a member of the women’s basketball team.
Yetmar, who graduated from Baker in 2002 with a bachelor of science in business management, was named BU’s Athletic Director in December after serving as Assistant Athletic Director from 2003 to 2009 and Associate Athletic Director from 2009 to 2010.
“The opportunity to give back to the university in a different way was exciting to me,” Yetmar said.
Julie Work, director of communications for the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics, said Yetmar is the youngest athletic director of the 11 schools in the HAAC.
Former Athletic Director Dan Harris said he felt comfortable handing things over to Yetmar.
“I wanted to hand things over to someone that was going to continue what we had created, what we had established and the successes that we wanted to create,” Harris said. “Not only hand it over to that person, but know that person was going to take it to the next level.”
Harris is glad to see Yetmar in the position, and thinks she has done things at her young age that most people would do later in life.
“Nowhere in the nation were you going to find somebody of her age and experience as the full-time director of athletics at a major institution,” Harris said.
Yetmar began playing basketball at the age of six and attended St. Edmund High School in Iowa, where she led the team in assists.
Head women’s basketball coach Susan Decker, who came to Baker in 2000 during Yetmar’s junior year, coached Yetmar for two seasons.
“Theresa was a dedicated, hard-working young lady,” Decker said. “… Somebody that was a good leader on our team, somebody that the kids respected.”
Decker has recently resigned as the head women’s basketball coach, leaving Yetmar in the position of hiring a replacement for the woman she helped hire 11 years ago as a student member of a search committee.
“I was excited for her to come 11 years ago, so we’ll just make sure we’re really working hard to find the right person to continue building on all the foundation that she’s laid for our program,” Yetmar said.
While she was a student, Yetmar was a member of several honor societies and was a two-time academic All-American.
“It was a nice recognition for the hard work in the classroom,” Yetmar said. “I think it helps me having my experience here as a Baker student-athlete to relate to our current student athletes.”
After graduation, Harris helped her get an internship at the NAIA national office before asking her to return to Baker to be the assistant athletic director a year later.
For Yetmar, being named athletic director is an experience that has come full circle.
“It’s not often that someone can be a student-athlete, then be able to come back to an institution,” Yetmar said. “So it was kind of like coming home for me … It’s not necessarily a job when you’re doing something you love.”
