Trio of top administrators in the athletic department are new in 2024-25
Fans following Linfield’s athletic programs over the past couple of decades probably know of Scott Brosius ’01. He’s arguably the best-known professional athlete among Linfield alumni – 11 years in Major League Baseball, more than 1,000 hits, three World Series titles and a World Series Most Valuable Player award will do that – and he came back to campus after retirement to coach the Wildcat baseball team to a national championship and four NCAA Division III World Series trips.
In May, Brosius came out of retirement again – this time, to manage all of Linfield’s sports teams as vice president for athletics and athletic director.
“I know what Linfield athletics has meant in my life,” Brosius said. “How much I learned, how much I grew up here. I want to do what I can so others can share the same type of experiences.”
Brosius quickly set about building an administrative team to help usher in a new era for the athletics department.
In June, he named Jessica Hollen as assistant director of athletics and senior woman administrator in the department. Hollen was a four-time softball Northwest Conference Coach of the Year at George Fox. She also handled compliance issues and served as senior woman administrator there.
Then in July, Brosius named Casey Powell ’97 as assistant director of athletics for facilities. Powell, a former baseball conference player of the year for the Wildcats, filled a similar role at Pacific University. Powell also did stints as the head baseball coach at Whitman College and general manager of the Bend Elks minor league team.
“I think goal No. 1 when I arrived was to get the right team in place,” Brosius said. “Jessica and Casey are quality people with the right backgrounds and experience. Now, we can refocus and start to re-envision where we are going forward.”
Brosius said he and the athletic leadership team have spent a lot of time in recent months meeting with chief financial officer Mike Wenz and budget director Mike Nardoni ’16 about department finances. Figuring out a realistic budget for each program and then holding coaches accountable to live – and flourish – within it is a high priority.
Another priority is raising the floor for Linfield athletics, bringing lower-performing programs up to the level of perennial powerhouses like softball and football. Focusing on fundraising in order to upgrade some of the athletic facilities will also be necessary soon, Brosius said.
“A year from now, I hope everybody on and off campus notices that athletics is really clicking, running on all cylinders,” he said. “Some of those long-overdue facilities improvements should have been made by then, and people will be able to recognize that things are going well.”
