Greensboro College AD Kim Strable to Retire
Greensboro, NC (01/09/2024) — Greensboro College has announced the retirement of long-time Director of Athletics, Kim Strable, effective June 30, 2024. Strable became GC's first full-time athletic director in the spring of 1989, succeeding Dr. Milton I. Reece who served from 1966 to 1989 as a professor, coach and athletics administrator.
A native of Celina, Ohio, Strable earned his B.A. from Albion College (MI) in 1975 where he was a varsity letterman in football and baseball. He served two stints at his alma mater, first as an Admissions Counselor, and later as the Director of Alumni Relations. While completing his M.A. degree from Western Michigan University in 1981, he served as an administrator at the Calhoun County Juvenile Home in Marshall, (MI), a 42-bed detention and treatment facility for unadjudicated as well as delinquent boys and girls.
In 1987, Strable was appointed Director of Alumni Affairs and Annual Giving at Guilford College (NC) where he played an instrumental role in increasing alumni giving in the final year of the school's Quest capital campaign. Transitioning to Greensboro College in 1989, he inherited a small athletics program with only 4 men's and 4 women's sports, the minimum required to be a member of NCAA Division III. In less than six years, he and his team doubled the number of sports offerings including the addition of large roster sports such as men's lacrosse, football and baseball while also adding women's soccer, lacrosse and swimming to the line-up.
After two decades of service to Greensboro College, Strable departed in 2009 to become President of the Greensboro Sports Commission, a sports tourism initiative that helped secure and service a variety of sporting events to produce a strong economic impact for Greensboro and the Triad. He was appointed Deputy Director of the Greensboro Sports Foundation in 2018 to enhance and grow the Tournament Town volunteer base.
In 2020, as Covid 19 was creating havoc and disrupting intercollegiate athletics play nationwide, Strable was invited to return to his previous role as GC's Director of Athletics. Among the early priorities for enrollment stability was to launch new sports offerings, which included Women's Triathlon, a restart of a Men's and Women's Cross Country (a sport that had been eliminated 7 years prior), and a Co-Educational Esports club program. Also scheduled to be added in the fall of 2024 is a non-varsity club program for Men's Triathlon.
"Leadership has been a significant strength throughout Kim's 24 years serving this institution," said Greensboro College President Lawrence Czarda. "Among other notable achievements, Kim launched and sustained our Athletics Hall of Fame, served two stints as President of the conference, was a head coach of Men's Tennis for 6 years and named 'Coach of the Year' in his third season, and hired many exceptional coaches through the years. His induction into our William Smith Ariail Athletics Hall of Fame in 2010 speaks loudly of his legacy and how much he has meant to Greensboro College. Kim is the architect and builder of what Greensboro College Athletics is today."
In addition to his Greensboro College achievements, Strable served as a member of the NCAA III Men's Soccer Committee and was credited with introducing the combining of NCAA III Men's and Women's Soccer semis and finals at one neutral site, the very first being staged at Bryan Park's Macpherson Stadium in 2004. The neutral site championship model involving both genders returned to Greensboro in 2005, 2008, 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2021. This neutral site dual-gender championship model soon became commonplace in Divisions II and III and led to the creation of the 'Championship City" concept employed by the NCAA.
As a founding member of the Greensboro Sports Commission in 1989, one of the first such commissions in the country, Strable was well-positioned to be a part of a significant run of championship events over the next 9 years, including several ACC and NCAA conferences and national championships. Riding the wave of major events successfully hosted by the Greensboro Coliseum Complex, Strable was a team member for the 2015 Prudential U.S. Figure Skating Championships which was selected as "Event of the Year" by Sports Event Magazine. The following year, the same publication recognized Greensboro and the United States Masters Games Committee for the "World's Best New Event."
Strable earned Certified Sports Event Executive status from the National Association of Sports Commissions, a distinction that contributed to his selection as an Adjunct Professor in Event Management for five years at High Point University. He has served on several local and regional boards and commissions throughout his career and currently is a member of the Greensboro Sports Council, the Guilford County Sports Hall of Fame Board, and the Corrigan-Faircloth Chapter of the National Football Foundation Board of Directors. He was inducted into the Greensboro College Athletics Hall of Fame in 2010 as an administrator and coach, a model that his predecessors, William S. Ariail and Dr. Milton I. Reece, established as leaders who wore many hats.
"Without question, it has been a tremendous privilege and honor to serve Greensboro College and the City of Greensboro in so many ways, and I feel incredibly blessed to have had meaningful opportunities to contribute to the sports landscape at GC and throughout the community," Strable noted. 'I will be forever grateful for the friendships and support my family and I have experienced through the years, and we will always be proud to call Greensboro home."
A national search will be launched in the coming weeks with the help of Chapel Hill Solutions, an executive search firm in Raleigh, NC. They will conduct a nationwide search for the Director of Athletics. Julian Rives, Managing Partner, will be heading the search. Contact information regarding the opening is 919-338-0840 and julian@chapelhillsolutions.com.
Greensboro College provides a liberal arts education grounded in the traditions of the United Methodist Church and fosters the intellectual, social, and, spiritual development of all students while supporting their individual needs. Founded in 1838 and located in downtown Greensboro, the college enrolls about 1,000 students from 29 states and territories, the District of Columbia, and seven foreign countries in its undergraduate liberal arts program and six master's degree programs. In addition to rigorous academics and a well-supported Honors program, the school features a 19-sport NCAA Division III athletic program and dozens of service and recreational opportunities. Learn more at greensboro.edu. Think critically. Act justly. Live faithfully.
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