Charged with overseeing 13 varsity sports teams as well as the club and intramural programs, Sarah Kurpel joins Penn State Brandywine as the new athletic director.
Since 2006, Kurpel was an assistant athletic director for student services and compliance, senior woman administrator, and head field hockey coach at Neumann University.
“I’ll have oversight of adding and managing positions and coaches, the budget and compliance,” Kurpel explained, “I also want to make sure athletes are having an awesome experience.”
Growing up, she was always around sports. She enjoyed many sports including softball, field hockey, lacrosse, track, dancing and cheerleading, so Kurpel is comfortable in the sports area.
“. . . months ago when this position opened, I did research about Brandywine and I was really interested in the residence aspect. I remembered how fun it was when the dorms opened at Neumann and how campus life expanded. I wanted to be a part of that.”
Kurpel believes in Penn State and is sure that she could not have been an athletic director anywhere else.
“I applied in a let’s-see-what-happens kind of way and everything went great,” she began. “This is a great opportunity for me. I’m eager to focus on the enhancement of the student-athlete experience, while we transition to a residential community in the coming academic year.”
Working at Brandywine, she wants to get to know everyone. She is looking forward to exploring options of additional sports and activities. Kurpel hopes to continue the work already in place for bringing sports to next level of competition as appropriate.
While at Neumann, Kurpel saw the sport teams increase from 12 to 24 and new facilities built and improved—similar to Brandywine’s current growth.
Referring to the need for activities on nights and weekends once Brandywine is residential, Kurpel said, “I want to increase the night life to include more recreational opportunities so students have something to do at night.”
Kurpel is excited for the residence halls and thinks they can help in many ways. She believes it will open opportunities for coaches to recruit students from further distances.
A native of Delaware County, Kurpel believes the residence option appeals to local students too.
“Students want a college experience and degree but don’t want to go two hours away,” said Kurpel.
Kurpel is excited to hear from the students and wants them to come to her with ideas.
“My door’s open and I want to hear from people,” Kurpel concluded. Kurpel is located in the Commons Athletic building by the gym.
Lion’s Eye Staff Editor, Alyssa Abbonizio, aqa5498@psu.edu