Member Profile: Dawn Rogers
By Dustin Dow, Cincinnati Enquirer, May 29, 2005

A little more than one year ago, Dawn Rogers inherited a job she had long coveted, the athletic director's position at Xavier. The year has brought change, tough calls and disappointment.

When she replaced former Xavier athletic director Mike Bobinski on May 21, 2004, she became the 29th female athletic director at a Division I school and the first at Xavier. It was a natural progression for Rogers as she had served as XU's associate athletic director for six years. But there was no time to enjoy the moment.

Six weeks after she started, Rogers witnessed men's basketball coach Thad Matta leave for Ohio State in dramatic fashion that put Matta and Rogers in the crosshairs of the Cincinnati media. She promoted Matta's top assistant, Sean Miller to head coach, but it was hardly the last personnel move Rogers would make.

Her first year has been busy. Five coaches in men's basketball, baseball, men's soccer, women's soccer and strength and conditioning have either been asked to resign or left voluntarily. A sixth coach, Alan Joseph, lost his job when the nationally successful rifle program was disbanded for budgetary reasons.

Question: Where do you think your greatest impact has been felt?
Answer: I think in a year's time, we've made a lot of changes. ... Philosophically, we're continuing on the path that we've been on for six years, to strengthen all of our programs, take our men's basketball program to the next level, to have our women's basketball program compete on a national level. All those things are the same. It's just that I think this was a key year in making some changes. ...

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