SSU’s Fusco honored by Athletics Director Association

The Division 2 Athletics Director Association has selected former Sonoma State University Director of Athletics Bill Fusco and former MIAA commissioner Dr. Bob Boerigter as this year’s Lifetime Achievement Award winners. The two have been recognized for their exemplary contribution to Division II athletics and the student-athlete experience.

“It is with great enthusiasm that the D2 ADA bestows its highest honor on two absolute legends in the business,” stated D2 ADA President and Bellarmine University Director of Athletics Scott Wiegandt. “Bob and Bill have led storied careers and have made countless contributions to Division II athletics. My most sincere congratulations to both Bob and Bill on this well-deserved honor. We thank them for their dedication to our association, their conferences, institutions and communities. We are proud to recognize them in the 10th anniversary of our most prestigious award.”

Before his retirement in 2017, Fusco led Sonoma State athletics for 20 years after being named director of athletics in 1997. Under his leadership, the Seawolves earned two NCAA Division II national championships, eight regional championships and 20 conference championships, while more than 70 student-athletes earned All-American laurels. He helped guide Sonoma State into the era of athletics scholarships and membership in the California Collegiate Athletic Association.

With Fusco at the helm, Sonoma State acquired funding for multiple on-campus sports facility upgrades resulting in millions of dollars going toward the development and improvement of Seawolves athletics facilities and the student-athlete experience. Over two decades in Rohnert Park, he was instrumental in the addition of three athletics programs (men’s and women’s golf, women’s water polo) as well as the reinstatement of the Sonoma State women’s track and field program in 2013.

From 2012-14, Fusco served as a mentor in the NCAA & Division 2 Athletics Directors Association Women and Minorities Mentoring Program.

Fusco has served on countless committees including as the President of the CCAA twice, a member of NACDA’s Executive Committee from 1999-2003, a member of the NCAA Division II Degree Completion Scholarship Committee and as a member and eventually the chair of the NCAA Division II Championships Committee.

With more than 36 years of combined athletics administrative experience, Fusco served as director of athletics at the University of San Francisco and Dominican, where he was named NAIA West Region Administrator of the Year twice (’95-’96; ’96-’97). In 2003, Fusco was appointed D2 ADA’s seventh president and was integral in developing the Division II Model Athletics Department, a program that establishes the guiding principles of operating a Division II intercollegiate athletics program.

Fusco received both his undergraduate and graduate degrees in sports management from USF where he started his career as a student sports information director.

In 2016, Fusco was named the Under Armour Athletics Director of the Year. The D2 ADA Lifetime Achievement Award comes as a cherry on the top of an incredibly impactful career in collegiate athletics.