St. Thomas Aquinas’ athletics program is generating excitement these days, what with the men’s golf team becoming the first Spartans team to advance to an NCAA championship (they begin competing Tuesday in the Division II Men’s Golf Championships in Blaine, Washington).

But athletics department staff and campus leaders are also excited about efforts to diversify the administration, particularly in the coaching ranks. In the last year alone, St. Thomas Aquinas officials have been able to fill coaching vacancies in a way that has led to an even split between genders − seven female coaches and seven male coaches.

“That has been a goal for a long time,” said President Margaret Mary Fitzpatrick, who recently completed a term on the Division II Presidents Council and has been a longtime advocate of diversity and inclusion in athletics. “You need to get the best person qualified to do the job, of course, and in the past, we often did not have qualified candidates who were the same gender as the team they were being hired to coach. With role-modeling being among the criteria we believe are important for head coaches, we think it is optimal to have the same gender coach men’s and women’s teams, if possible.”

“Many of our coaches are part-time, so it has been a little difficult to find the right mix,” said Athletics Director Gerry Oswald, former chair of the Division II Men’s Basketball Committee. “But we’ve taken our time and approached it strategically, and we were fortunate just in the last year to land a number of qualified women coaches.”

From April 2008 to April 2009, Oswald and Fitzpatrick oversaw searches that led to females replacing male departures in women’s soccer and women’s tennis, women’s basketball, women’s lacrosse, and men’s and women’s cross country.

“Part of the success was that we created a full-time position to be the head women’s soccer coach and an assistant women’s basketball coach, among other responsibilities,” Fitzpatrick said. “We also attracted an African-American woman to an assistant coach position.”

The college also added a female assistant in softball and two in women’s lacrosse.

While the number of openings in that short a time may be larger than normal, Fitzpatrick attributed that to the nature of part-time coaches, who tend to transition frequently to other opportunities.

The gender diversity is a success story at a time in which Division II is focusing on that very issue. At a recent Presidents Council session in fact, longtime diversity advocate Christine Grant urged Division II to take a leadership role in creating more opportunities for females in athletics, both as participants and as administrators and coaches.

Oswald applauded Fitzpatrick’s support over time, both in diversifying the campus staff but also in supporting athletics in general.

“She enjoys our athletics program and is one of our biggest fans,” Oswald said. “She makes an attempt to see all our teams play during the course of the season, which makes our student-athletes and students feel good, and she’s always giving our coaches accolades, which is important given the time commitments they make as part-timers.”

“The stars seemed to align recently, and sometimes that’s what it takes,” Fitzpatrick said of the recent hiring pattern. “We had the right people available at the right time.”