By Suzie Roth
Cardinal Staff
Tom Wistrcill’s dream job growing up was to become the NFL quarterback for the Pittsburgh Steelers. Although he never became a prominent NFL player, Wistrcill has become victorious in his own right, recently becoming the new athletic director at the University of Akron (U of A) in Ohio.
A 1992 Saint Mary’s University graduate, Wistrcill is still the leader in assists for the SMU basketball team, but sports was not the only area of campus life that he excelled in. He was also part of the Broadcasting Club and attended as many theatrical and musical performances as possible. Wistrcill credits the broad-based education that he received at SMU, as well as the access to professors and diversity of students, as being the biggest impact that helped him achieve his high level of success after graduation.
Wistrcill will face many challenges as he looks forward to his new adventure of meeting the student-athletes, coaches and staff at U of A. Not only will he constantly be trying to find new revenue streams, but as athletic director, Wistrcill will be responsible for creating new and better growth opportunities for the university’s student-athletes, coaches, fans, alumni and staff to grow. Wistrcill will also atttempt to raise graduation rates for student-athletes and winning Mid-American Conference (MAC) championships. Nevertheless, Wistrcill welcomes these new challenges by embracing the best advice he ever received, “Chase your dreams and goals no matter what people will say or do, and always have a smile and a positive attitude. You might be the only smile [a] person sees each day!”
Wistrcill’s life mottto is, “failing to prepare is preparing to fail”, and he offers current SMU students advice: “Take advantage of everything you have available at Saint Mary’s. Try lots of things, events, clubs, etc. You’ll meet some amazing people and having a broad based experience will help you later in life.”
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