Associate Director of Athletics for Compliance and Operations Mandy Prusia served at Allegheny College for 36 years. Prusia served in her most recent role for 10 years.
According to the official Allegheny College Athletics website, “prior to her tenure in athletics, Prusia spent seven years in the Business Office as the purchasing manager and insurance coordinator, during which she implemented the College’s first online purchasing system.”
Pursia announced her retirement on Monday, Feb. 21, and left Allegheny on Monday, Feb. 28.
Prusia was a member of the senior management team and was responsible for ensuring compliance with NCAA guidelines in athletics.
The official Allegheny College Athletics website also states that “Prusia monitored, documented and evaluated NCAA compliance policies and procedures through rules education for coaches, student-athletes and various campus-wide constituencies.”
Prusia’s responsibilities also included roster management, schedule coordinating and communicating with the dean of students, registrar and the academic standards committee to monitor student-athlete academic progress.
Director of Athletics and Recreation Bill Ross described Prusia as a liaison between the college and NCAA.
“(Prusia) was instrumental in ensuring compliance with mandatory NCAA collegiate regulations,” Ross said. “The NCAA regulations are very precise and are continuously changing and (Prusia’s) main role was to understand and keep up with them.”
Ross reflected over his time working with Prusia as a colleague.
“I’ve been at Allegheny for 26 years and (Prusia) has been there with me since my first day here,” Ross said. “I’ve also held a few positions during my time at Allegheny but (Prusia) and I had been working closely together, particularly over the last three years in the athletics department.”
Assistant Athletic Director for Communications Sean King mentioned that Prusia was known across the athletics community for her professionalism.
“Although I only started at Allegheny four years ago, I had known of (Prusia) long before,” King said. “(Prusia) was known for working as long as she did and for being great at her job.”
Ross also mentioned that Prusia was recognized across the athletics community as being an outlier in her position.
“(Prusia) was someone that compliance directors at other institutions would use as a resource,” Ross said. “Especially when a new compliance director was appointed at another institution, they would always ask (Prusia) for guidance.”
King mentioned that it was not just Prusia’s experience and ability at her job that made her so impactful to the community but also her personality.
“(Prusia) was great to work with because she never made you feel under pressure or that you could not ask for help,” King said. “(Prusia) was so easy to talk to and always went above and beyond to develop good relationships with those around her.”
King also recalled his experience working under her leadership.
“(Prusia) was so professional but was also such an understanding and patient person,” King said. “She always encouraged my ideas and pushed me to work on them rather than being overly critical.”
King said that Prusia’s absence will be felt heavily in the athletics department and will likely create a gap. Ross also stated that Prusia’s absence will be a challenge for the department.
“I worked very closely with (Prusia) and she taught me a lot about what her job entails,” Ross said. “However, running a whole department is much more complicated than knowing what to do and I am sure that (Prusia’s) ability to be there for everyone will be heavily missed.”
Ross confirmed that Prusia had always been sure of when she would retire despite the shock of some community members.
“This was just the right time for (Prusia) to retire as she needed to take care of some personal business,” Ross said.
The athletic department will not immediately fill the position of associate director for athletics of compliance and operations, according to Ross.
“For the continuation of this semester, we will spread the workload of (Prussia’s) role,” Ross said. “When fall comes we will decide on what the best decision is regarding the position.”
Ross remarked that Prusia’s experience and abilities were invaluable to not only the athletics department but to the entire institution.
“(Prusia) is simply irreplaceable,” Ross said. “The amount of knowledge she has for her job, the area, the community, the NCAA, the athletes and the department is immeasurable and irreplaceable.”