Former Baker Athletic Director Dan Harris entered retirement being named the Under Armor Athletic Director of the Year for the NAIA Central Division, which was announced in late June. The award is given by the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics.
Harris accepted the award at a banquet at the NACDA Convention in Orlando, Fla.<br/>Harris said he was excited that his family was able to make the trip down to Florida with him.Harris said he was excited that his family was able to make the trip down to Florida with him.
Harris said he was excited that his family was able to make the trip down to Florida with him.
“It was obviously a humbling experience, but so exciting to be a part of,” Harris said. “Having family there just really, really made this a very special weekend and then being recognized nationally with all of the other ADs, it’s a pretty impressive way to go out and just left a smile on my face all the way home.”
The award includes all levels of schools; the NAIA, NCAA and junior and community college level, and is broken into seven divisions. Within each division there are four regional winners, from the Northeast, Southeast, Central and West. There are 30 athletic directors that are acknowledged each year, with 29 regional winners and one international winner.
“My feeling was, how could you go out in any better way than this,” Harris said. “One thing about national awards, it speaks highly of the people you are surrounded with.”
This is the second time Harris has received this award for the central division.
“Dan deserves all the awards he’s getting,” head football coach Mike Grossner said. “He’s not going to disappear. The football coach in him and the baseball coach in him will never leave, it doesn’t, and the more he can stay around our programs as a whole, I think the happier he will be and we will be too.”
Harris has been involved at the national level, working on committees for the NAIA during his time at Baker.
“I think it was extremely valuable having Dan for his involvement in just a variety of committees on the national level because then we had a strong voice as an institution and we received a lot of recognition nationally because of the work he did in those committees,” Assistant Athletic Director Theresa Yetmar said.
Yetmar said the transition since Harris retired has gone pretty smoothly and she is excited about the upcoming year.
"Just if I'm talking about the fall and the things that we already know, I think that we will be as strong if not stronger this year in the fall," Yetmar said. "So, I'm really excited about the direction we're heading in."<br/>&#160;