Seattle University welcomed its new Athletic Director, Shaney Fink, on Wednesday, Sept. 28. Fink, who has worked in athletics administration for nearly 20 years, joins Seattle U from the University of San Diego, where she held the position of Senior Associate Athletic Director.

Shaney Fink is introduced as the new Athletic Director.

During her college years, Fink served as the captain of the volleyball team at Cal Berkeley. She began her athletics career in 1999 as the Assistant Volleyball Coach at the University of San Diego, eventually making her way up to Senior Associate Athletic Director. During a press conference held on Sept. 28, Fink spoke of her goals as Athletic Director with energy and enthusiasm.

“I really like to win. I really like to make championships,” Fink said of the focus on success within ultra-competitive Division I Athletics. “I want every one of our student athletes and coaches to know and believe that they can win championships.”

While winning games is an important focus for an Athletic Director, Fink also emphasized meshing the Jesuit mission of the university into the athletics program: build the whole person, give back to the community, and focus on academic success.

She says her philosophy as an Athletic Director is to develop exceptional leaders. “Our real success is going to be when we see our athletes five, 10, 15 years later, and see the success they have in the community and the world, and the success that that inspires in other people,” Fink said.

Fink also emphasized the need to prepare student athletes for careers beyond professional sports. “We hope some of them are off going and playing professional sports and we know they will, but we want them also to know that they are ready for the world,” Fink said. Fink says she is excited to be a part of the Athletics community at Seattle U because of the bold vision for the development of Athletics and the university at large over the next several years.

During the press conference, President Fr. Stephen Sundborg, S.J. expressed his confidence in Fink’s abilities to not only lead Athletics successfully, but to also embrace the Jesuit mission of the university and integrate that mission into the Athletics program.

“When I met her and had a chance to talk to her, I said, ‘What I see in front of me is a winner, and I see a person whose values are out of our values, and someone who’s really, really ready for this next level of leadership in Athletics’,” Sundborg said during the press conference.

Fink is replacing Bill Hogan, who served as the Seattle U Athletic Director for the last 10 years. She will officially begin her term as Athletic Director on Nov. 1.

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