Boggs named Grand Canyon’s permanent AD
Nearly two years after taking over the Grand Canyon University athletics department on an interim basis, Jamie Boggs was introduced at a news conference on Monday as GCU’s permanent athletic director.
Student-athletes attended the event at GCU Arena, where GCU President Brian Mueller introduced Boggs, lauding the job she has done, especially with the transformation of the Western Athletic Conference, and being the key figure working with four athletic directors in Texas and another in Utah to expand the league.
“The entire university is supportive,” Boggs said. “It’s an honor and a privilege because I believe so much in GCU, and for the opportunity to serve the university and the student-athletes, that has always
been in my heart.”
Boggs, raised in the Valley and a Phoenix Xavier College Prep graduate, who started her career in college sports in the compliance department at Duke in 2003, stepped in as the interim athletic director on Aug. 12, 2019, after Steve Vaught resigned.
Since then, she was instrumental in GCU’s hiring of men’s basketball coach Bryce Drew and women’s basketball coach Molly Miller, who both had strong first seasons leading their respective teams this past season.
Both Drew and Miller spoke during Monday’s news conference.
“Her transparency, I felt I could trust her right away,” Drew said about his first conversation with Boggs, before becoming head coach last year. “Just extremely honest. I felt there was alignment from the president to her to the athletics department. And for me that was really important that we were all on the same page.”
Miller compared the “permanent” status to Bogg’s role as vice president of athletics to sealing a key recruit.
“It’s almost like when you land that big-time recruit, that difference maker, that game changer,” Miller said. “I’ve been known to do some cartwheels in the hall of our office. I will refrain today from doing cartwheels today.
“That’s how excited I think everyone is in the athletics department. Both President Mueller and Jamie are thought leaders. And to me they inspire. They’re innovative. There’s just this whole mindset around what they do. To me it’s really special to work for someone who cares and invests that much.”
The GCU men reached the NCAA Tournament for the first time in Drew’s first season, capturing the Western Athletic Conference tournament championship. Miller, who as the NCAA Division II National Coach of the Year at Drury, led the GCU women to the WAC Tournament championship game in her first year.”
Baseball coach Andy Stankiewicz talked about how smart and passionate Boggs is.
“She is driven, and like Coach Drew said, she is passionate about GCU,” said Stankiewicz, one of the longer-tenured head coaches at GCU at 10 years. “She is passionate about her position here and the mission statement of this university, what this university is about, what it’s always been about and what it will continue to be about.”
Boggs was instrumental in helping Mueller expand and strengthen the
WAC to 13 teams with the upcoming additions of Abilene Christian, Stephen F. Austin, Lamar University, Sam Houston State and Southern Utah.
“I can’t tell you how many sleepless nights I had on the future of the Western Athletic Conference, because it was very dicey for four or five years.
“I worked hard in becoming the best leader I could be be with the leaders of the WAC to forge a new future. But Jamie definitely became the leader of the athletic directors in our current conference and our future conference. She played a huge role in us doing the unthinkable, really. There hasn’t been this big a movement in a conference in a long time. We added more schools in Texas that completely reshaped this conference.”
Mueller praised the high academic marks in with a combined 3.41 gradepoint average among athletes. He was impressed with the job Boggs did during a challenging school year, not knowing if there would be any athletics because of COVID-19.
In almost eight years, GCU’s on-campus enrollment has grown from 900 to 25,000.
“Our athletic program is so well-integrated into the student body in every way,” Mueller said. “That is very important to us.
“As we go forward now, we’re going to achieve incredible success in athletics. We have a beautiful city, a beautiful state. We have some of the best athletic facilities in the country, and we’re going to continue to improve them. We have fantastic crowd support from the students. All of those things are putting us on the map. And it couldn’t be done without the support of the entire institution. But the entire institution is supporting the athletic department, because of the tremendous cooperation we get from the athletics leadership. Jamie has made a huge impact on this university from that perspective.”
Boggs graduated from the University of San Diego with a degree in psychology in 1999. In 2002, she received her Juris Doctor from the University of Arizona law school. She is a member of the State Bar of Arizona.
She joined GCU in 2015 as deputy athletic director and senior woman administrator, helping with the transition from NCAA Division II to I. Before that, she was executive associate athletic director and chief operation officer at Georgia State, chairing the Football Bowl Subdivision Committee and leading the school’s transition from FCS to FBS.
Women’s senior volleyball player Kairia Moss, who spoke on behalf of the student-athletes, said she got to know Boggs during the last year.
“She listened to me, made time for me, and addressed the things that were on my heart,” Moss said. “She was exceedingly approachable and reached out as a mentor on several occasions. Her Christina morals and values align with the university and they greatly exemplify the interactions and the godly people she surrounds herself with.”
Boggs wants to see the teams build championships not just in the WAC but nationally. She feels the entire school is working together to give the university the best chance.
“We’re innovative, we’re problem solvers,” she said. “It’s only going to get better from here.”