In front of a standing-room-only crowd inside The Tin Tabernacle Club in George Washington University's Charles E. Smith Center on Tuesday, GW President Ellen M. Granberg formally introduced new Associate Vice President and Director of Athletics Michael Lipitz to the university community.
Noting that "it's a very special day for the university and in particular, GW Athletics," Granberg cited Lipitz's ability to lead in an environment that strives for both academic and athletic excellence.
Lipitz, a former tennis student-athlete at the University of Maryland, said that his roots as an Olympic sport student-athlete helped him understand that "as a basketball school in a basketball conference, we know that success on the hardwood elevates all of our teams, our entire athletics program and our institution."
He cited recent changes to intercollegiate athletics that includes financial opportunities for student-athletes with their name, image and likeness, the introduction of the transfer portal, Alston educational awards, and the coming introduction of revenue distribution units for the women's basketball championship. "We have to be nimble, we have to be innovative, and as the landscape continues to evolve, we have to participate to the fullest extent possible to ensure that our student-athletes have every opportunity to succeed in and out of competition, and that our teams have every resource they need to compete at the highest level," he said.
Lipitz also gave special recognition to former Athletics Director Tanya Vogel, as well as to his mentor, Debbie Yow, the pioneering coach and leader in collegiate athletics who was his own athletic director when he was competing for the University of Maryland.
On the matter of competing in today's intercollegiate athletics space, Lipitz said that the university "will aggressively pursue a culture of competitive excellence. GW competes for conference titles year in and year out, in multiple sports, and in all of our fully resourced programs we do expect to compete for Atlantic 10 titles and earn NCAA Tournament bids.
"Our flagship men's and women's (basketball) programs have rich tradition and history—a combined 29 NCAA Tournament appearances. Championship basketball is very much in our DNA. We embrace the expectation to compete for titles and play deep into March."
