West Virginia State University is transferring oversight of the school’s athletics department to student affairs as part of an ongoing organizational restructuring within the institution.

In conjunction with the transfer, Sean Loyd has been named the interim director of athletics. He replaces Robert Parker, who has served in the dual capacity of AD and vice president for finance since 2002. Parker will continue as VP for finance.

Loyd, a former Yellow Jacket baseball student-athlete, is a 1995 graduate of West Virginia State.  He has served as the department’s assistant AD since 2003, handling the department’s day-to-day operations. Loyd will continue his duties as an assistant baseball coach.

West Virginia State Vice President for Student Affairs Bryce Casto said the restructuring restores the athletics department to its former home. The department previously had been housed under the auspices of student affairs from 1988-96.

“Having athletics in student affairs is not unusual for West Virginia State. It’s an appropriate location for athletics, since student affairs already houses admissions, financial aid, all the residence halls and student support services – having the athletics department in this division makes a lot of sense structurally for our university,” Casto said.

Casto also said the move corresponds with President Hazo W. Carter Jr.’s examination of where athletics best fits given the university designation the institution received from the state of West Virginia in 2004.

Casto said the move is not unusual for institutions in the West Virginia Intercollegiate Athletic Conference since many have their athletics departments operate through student affairs.

Gordon Gee, now the president at Ohio State University, gained national attention when he eliminated the athletics director position at Vanderbilt when he was president there in 2003, moving athletics into his office’s division of student life and university affairs. Casto said while the restructuring at West Virginia State resembles the Vanderbilt model in some ways, the school felt it was important to retain the athletics director position.

Casto should know, since he was the school’s AD from 1996 through 2002, when athletics reported to the president’s office. In 2000, though, he was appointed as the interim vice president for student affairs (in addition to AD) before he became the full-time VP in 2002.

“President Carter felt that a return to student affairs was a better fit,” Casto said of the latest move. “It makes great organizational sense. I believe in fact that the student affairs philosophy is good for all athletics departments. I heartily endorse the move here.”