For as long as he’s been at Franklin College, Andy Hendricks has been big on multitasking. He’s worn multiple hats ever since arriving in 2008 as the men’s and women’s swimming coach.
Now, he thinks he’s found the hat that suits him best.
On Friday, Hendricks was named as the school’s new athletic director. He succeeds Kerry Prather, who vacated the office in February when he was named the president of the college. Lance Marshall, the Grizzlies’ baseball coach, had been serving as the interim AD since then.
Prather said in a statement that he is "excited to watch the entire athletic program prosper under (Hendricks’) leadership."
Hendricks — who has previously worked as the school’s student employment coordinator, a research analyst, director of institutional research and the acting vice president of admissions — says he had thought about eventually moving into athletic administration for some time, and he’s excited about the opportunity.
"Probably from the beginning of my time at Franklin College, I’ve always been anxious to do more, and I’ve had that opportunity in several capacities," he said. "My fondness has always been with athletics, and my heart. I’ve enjoyed the coaching aspect and getting to know the ins and outs of not only the business, but just being attached to these student-athletes is hard to get away from.
"Following in coach Prather’s footsteps and the success that he’s had over the years is really pretty humbling."
Hendricks has helped the Grizzlies become more successful each year in the water, winning seven Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference championships with the men’s team and claiming the last three on the women’s side while producing nine All-Americans, including five this past season.
He’s confident that moving into this new role will help, rather than hinder, his coaching and recruiting efforts.
"I think there’s some credibility factor with that and some opportunities there — versus what I was doing before was outside of athletics," Hendricks said. "So I think the fact that this is inside athletics actually works to my advantage."
Hendricks hopes to see all of Franklin’s other teams continue to grow as well, and he’s not afraid to take bold steps to help make that happen.
"I definitely am one to push the envelope and make change," he said, "build confidence in our coaches, give them the resources. I want to help them so they can focus on coaching, focus on recruiting. I’m definitely not one to sit back.
"Our roster sizes are very healthy. I would say now it’s a question of taking those healthy rosters and starting to move us to the next level in terms of competition on a regional and national scale, and I think we have a lot of coaches that are very, very willing and wanting to do that."
