The formal partnership has existed since October of 2006. By both sides, the commitment to it has been renewed.
Late last week, members of the Timberwolves Athletic Association sat down with new UNBC athletics director Jason Kerswill for the first time. During the meeting, the TAA -- a fundraising arm for UNBC athletics -- brought Kerswill up to speed on its past activities and discussed with him its goals for the future.
Kerswill, hired as athletics director in July, was encouraged by what he heard. In the interests of advancing the UNBC athletics program, he has pledged to work with the TAA.
"I understand that they meet once a month as a group and I definitely want to be part of those meetings to figure out exactly what they see for the Timberwolves and then try and blend my vision with their vision," Kerswill said. "When you get a group of passionate people that want to help out, you want to embrace that."
TAA president Jeff Rowland saw the meeting as productive.
"All we talked about, generally, was getting stuff ready for this year and Jason indicated he's moving ahead with most of it and that they were preparing to put another strong bid forward for CIS (membership)," Rowland said. "Those are the things that we were looking to hear."
See Wednesday's Citizen for more.
