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Sports

GGC Introduces First Athletic Director

Wilson brings enthusiasm to new intercollegiate sports program.

Before a standing room only crowd at 's Student Center, was officially introduced on Tuesday as the school's first athletic director. And with the mascot, General Grizzlie taking pictures and high-fiving people, the crowd was every bit excited. Coming into a raucus crowd and music of Gary Glitter's "Rock 'N Roll Part II," Wilson was more than welcomed to the Lawrenceville school.

Georgia Gwinnett College opened it's doors in 2006 and has gone from 118 students to . The school will have club sports, intramurals and, starting with soccer, baseball, softball, and volleyball.

GGC President Daniel Kaufman emphasized that he felt the search committee has made the best choice in finding Wilson. "Athletics are very important to what we do," Kaufman said. "And I feel we have made the best choice in Mr. Wilson."

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Wilson, who was chosen as the inaugural athletic director, came from Barbourville, Kentucky where he held the same position at Union College from 2003-2011. Before taking the AD job at Union College, Wilson was the baseball coach from 1999-2003. He began his playing career at University of Kentucky and transferred to Union College where as a senior he was named Male Athlete of the Year. He posted a 161-106-1 record while coaching at Union.

Wilson addressed the crowd and explained why he came to GGC. "The question I have been asked over the last three to four weeks is 'Why?' Why come to an institution that has been around since 2006," Wilson said. "Why settle for a program from scratch when you are already at a program with 23 sports? And the people that are in this room are why I was attracted to Georgia Gwinnett College. I thought about that and building a program from the start. I enjoy building and I enjoy seeing programs grow."

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Wilson explained what it takes to be a successful program. "There are five things that make a very successful cornerstone of an institution," Wilson told the crowd. "One is to graduate the student athlete in four years; two is operate in a fiscally responsible manor; three is use uncompromised integrity; four is to try to promote first class in all programs like dressing properly and representing GGC in a first class manner and last, but not least compete for championships, not only conference but national."

Wilson jokingly said that the opponents will be Georgia and Georgia Tech, and then continued on a more serious note. "Our goal even at the NAIA level is to compete and bring the best student athletes that we can," Wilson said. "We'll play a lot of Division II schools and a lot of strong NAIA schools."

As the school grows, the plan is to add sports. "I'm very fortunate to come into the situation where there isn't a staff yet but we are still in the planning phase," Wilson said. "We want to start the club and intramural levels very soon but once we get our staff for the varsity we'll start working on that as well."

There are no coaches or athletes as of yet, but Wilson says they will start the search for all sports in just a few weeks.

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