Olds College's athletic director Bob Murray has been elected as the next ACAC (Alberta Colleges Athletic Conference) president.
Murray was voted in by the conference's council of members, who represent 16 colleges from Alberta and one from Saskatchewan.
Murray will serve a two-year term.
“I am honoured and humbled by the decision of my colleagues to elect me as President of the ACAC. This is an exciting opportunity for me to continue to work towards the success of collegiate athletics in Alberta, while continuing to support the growth of the Olds College Broncos brand," he said in a statement from the Broncos.
He later explained that his role is to oversee the council and work with the conference's CEO to execute the ACAC's strategic plan, which covers innovation, governance and sustainability.
Murray says the goal will be “to put us into a position where we can continue to be the leading provincial conference within the Canadian Collegiate Athletic Association."
He has been the Broncos' athletic director since 2013. Since then, Olds College has hosted a number of championships for women's volleyball, women's basketball, men's basketball, curling and golf.
Expect more to come in 2016-17.
"Right now, we're looking at the opportunity to possibly host the ACAC women's conference championships … the bids go in by June 1 and then a selection will be done towards the end of June," he said.
"Other than that, we're hosting a couple regional competitions this year and we will be hosting the ACAC badminton championship in March of 2017."
The Broncos hired head coaches for two programs this spring.
Patrick Havard takes over the women's basketball team. He has coached at Crandall University in New Brunswick, overseeing a nationally-ranked program. He is currently finishing his contract with the Moncton Miracles of the National Basketball League of Canada, the country's only domestic professional league.
Darryl Noel will coach the men's volleyball team. He has been an assistant coach in the ACAC before and comes from the Cochrane Jaguars Volleyball Club, where he served as director.
"Administratively, being the director of one of the larger volleyball clubs in Alberta is (something) we really like," Murray said.
"He has an understanding and maturity about him that our men's volleyball program needs. Russ (Ogden) has done a great job to make some transitions over the year-and-a-half but we need someone that's got that background to him."
