Irma Garcia was the

athletics director An athletic director (commonly "athletics director" or "AD") is an administrator at many American clubs or institutions, such as colleges and universities, as well as in larger high schools and middle schools, who oversees the work of coaches and r ...

St. Francis College , mottoeng = My God, My All , established = , type = Private college , chancellor = , president = Miguel Martinez-Saenz , provost = Jennifer Lancas ...

up until the school disbanded its entire athletics program following the 2022–23 school year. When she took the job in 2007, Garcia was the country's first Latina athletic director in

NCAA Division I NCAA Division I (D-I) is the highest level of College athletics, intercollegiate athletics sanctioned by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in the United States, which accepts players globally. D-I schools include the major ...

sports.

Early life and education

Garcia was raised in a

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

- Puerto Rican family in

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

and has seven siblings. She attended St. Angela Hall High School in Brooklyn, New York. In 1976, she enrolled in

St. Francis College , mottoeng = My God, My All , established = , type = Private college , chancellor = , president = Miguel Martinez-Saenz , provost = Jennifer Lancas ...

and played women's basketball for coach Dianne Nolan. Upon graduation in 1980, Garcia taught physical education and coached girls' basketball at St. Joseph by the Sea High School on Staten Island. In 1988, she returned to be the head coach at St. Francis College. After 11 seasons, she stopped coaching and was hired as the associate athletics director. In 2001, while she was the associate athletic director at St. Francis, Garcia earned her master's degree from

Brooklyn College Brooklyn College is a public university in Brooklyn, Brooklyn, New York. It is part of the City University of New York system and enrolls about 15,000 undergraduate and 2,800 graduate students on a 35-acre campus. Being New York City's first publ ...

in sports administration.

Head coaching career

Administrative career

In 2007, Garcia became the athletic director of the Terriers replacing longtime director Edward Aquilone. At the time of her hire and as of 2010, she was the country's only female Latina athletic director in Division I sports. For the 2014–15 academic year, Garcia was named NACWAA D1 (FCS) Administrator of the Year. The award was in part because of the Terriers success in Men's Soccer (NEC Champions and NCAA Tournament Participants), Men's Basketball (NEC Regular Season Champions and NIT Participants) and Women's Basketball (NEC Champions and NCAA Tournament Participants). During Garcia's tenure as director of athletic the St. Francis College Athletics program changed their brand from St. Francis (NY) to St. Francis Brooklyn. The College previously came to be known as St. Francis (NY) when the athletics program joined the Division I Northeast Conference in 1981. In 2018 it was announced that women's soccer and men's volleyball would be added as sports programs to the existing 19 teams at St. Francis College. Both teams will begin play in the 2019–20 school year, with women's soccer starting in fall 2019 and men's volleyball in spring 2020.

References

External links

St. Francis Brooklyn Profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Garcia, Irma Living people American sportspeople of Puerto Rican descent Year of birth missing (living people) Brooklyn College alumni St. Francis Brooklyn Terriers women's basketball coaches St. Francis Brooklyn Terriers athletic directors