After 11 years as Senior Associate Athletic Director for Grand Valley State University, Lisa M. Sweany will be saying goodbye to her Midwest roots and hello to Savanna, Ga. Effective July 18, Sweany will become Director of Athletics for Armstrong Atlantic State University.

While also being Senior Women Administrator at GVSU, Sweany was also responsible for personnel, facilities and budget. During her time, Sweany was directly overseeing game and event operations, seven coaches and all aspects of compliance and eligibility for over 500 student athletes.

“I was at that point in my career where I was ready to make that next step,” Sweany said. “I had been actively looking but selective because I had a great situation here at Grand Valley.”

With eight national championships, 86 NCAA championship appearances and 35 conference championships along with 174 All-Americans, Armstrong is much like GVSU in terms of athletic success. Sweany says it is this history of success which was one of the many reasons for her interest in Armstrong.

“We are proud and excited that Lisa has been named the Director of Athletics at Armstrong Atlantic State University,” said Tim Selgo, GVSU’s director of athletics. “She is well deserving of this opportunity and has been an integral part of our success at GVSU over the past eleven years. Our loss is Armstrong Atlantic’s gain.”

Because Armstrong is already a successful athletic program Sweany says her most immediate challenge will not be with athletics but dealing with the people she will be leaving behind at GVSU.

“I’m going to miss the people,” Sweany said. “They are just absolutely wonderful people. We’ve got great coaches, we’ve got a great administrative staff and I can’t say enough about Tim Selgo as a professional leader, but I also consider him a very good friend.”

In addition to missing many people at GVSU, Sweany also adds that uprooting and moving to Georgia will be difficult as well.

“I’ve been a Midwest born and raised gal all my life,” Sweany said. “I’m originally from the Indianapolis and that’s the furthest south I’ve ever lived. It is a little daunting sometimes to look at the big picture, it can be overwhelming. So I’ll take it one day at a time.”

Sweany is leaving GVSU with her mark left on the institution and the athletic department. As a prime player researching and implementing a plan, Sweany has brought women’s lacrosse to GVSU as the 20th varsity sport.

“That is one thing that I’m most disappointed in because I am leaving and I won’t get to see them play,” Sweany said. “But it’s definitely one thing that I will walk away from with a sense of pride. “

Sweany is completely focused on her future at the helm of the athletic department at Armstong and cannot say what her future will look like. But she did say she will always feel like she has a home in the Midwest.

“Who knows what will happen as my career develops and unfolds at Armstrong,” Sweany said. “But when you have good places that you’ve been to it certainly makes it easier to say, yes I would go back.”

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