Former star athlete Nosovitch promoted to athletic director
Few people have ever been more qualified to lead the Allentown Central Catholic athletic program than Colleen Nosovitch.
She was a star athlete at ACCHS, shining in both basketball and volleyball.
Since 2015, she has been an assistant AD, working with Dennis Csensits and last year she was an assistant coach on Kathy Davidowich’s staff and helped to guide the Vikettes to Eastern Pennsylvania Conference and District 11 championships.
Now, she’ll get her chance to run the entire program after Csensits was promoted to full-time director of development. Csensits was also remain the school’s boys basketball coach.
“I’m very excited about this opportunity,” said Nosovitch, a 2010 ACCHS graduate. “I’ve been the assistant athletic director for eight-plus years working under Dennis and learning so much from him. You know I’m ready and I think I have been ready for this position. So I am excited for all the new challenges I am going to face. I’m looking forward to it,”
Nosovitch said the timing of the announcement is a little crazy with the fall sports season almost halfway done. She is also planning a wedding in December. She is engaged to former Parkland basketball standout and current Trojans assistant Austin Beidelman.
“It’s been a little chaotic with switching offices and adjusting to everything, but I am super proud and excited,” she said. “Obviously, I’m an alum here and had some great success as an athlete. We’ve had some great success with our teams here in recent years and I hope to help us continue that success and watch our programs grow.
“The best part of this job is watching the kids compete and watching our coaches interact with them,” she added. “So much time and effort is put into each team. We’re so incredibly thankful that we have these coaches who put in the commitment to make these teams and our student-athletes so successful.”
Nosovitch, who is 31, says he has a lot of energy.
“I’m pumped,” she said. “I’m ready to take this on and roll with it.”
She understands that ACCHS is a unique place. it was one of the area’s most historic venues in Rockne Hall where the basketball and volleyball teams play. The football team practices a short walk from the school at Jordan Meadows, but everything else takes place away the building at 4th and Chew Streets.
“We don’t have the facilities the other schools in the conference have,” she said. “So a big chunk of our time is spent on making sure our teams can practice and play at different places. We have built up some really good relationships over the years so that we can use other facilities and we appreciate everyone who works with us because it’s not easy. We don’t have a turf field; we don’t have practice facilities. We have a basketball court that can be used for volleyball and we have a weight room.”
But those limitations have not impeded the Vikings’ success.
In the calendar year of 2021, the school won state titles in boys basketball, boys lacrosse and girls soccer.
“Our student-athletes willingly make the commitment to drive or get on a bus to get to these other facilities and they make it work,” Nosovitch said. “We don’t have the best facilities, but we have these amazing programs that carry on with such great tradition. The football team takes a lot of pride in walking down to their practice field. It’s part of their routine and a tradition at the same time. There are challenges, but we strive to put our stduent-athletes in the best case scenarios.”
Nosovitch was an all-state basketball player at ACCHS where she helped the Vikettes win three league and four district titles. She was also a league MVP and The Morning Call’s player of the year. She continued her basketball career at UNC-Greensboro and then transferred to the University of South Carolina where she played sand volleyball and earned a degree in sports management.
When she returned to ACCHS in 2015, Csensits said: “She accomplished so much at Central as an athlete and she’s a great role model for all of our student-athletes, but especially our female student-athletes.”
Legendary ACCHS coach Mike Kopp said: “We’re extremely proud of Colleen and it’s great that she has come back home to Central Catholic.”
Most people know Nosovitch’s brother, Brendan, who led the 2010 Vikings football team to a state title and was a Parade All-American and Maxwell Club Pennsylvania Player of the Year. Another brother, Jack, was a standout football and basketball player.
But her sports-oriented family also includes an aunt, Sheila O’Donnell, who was one of the greatest tennis players in Lehigh Valley history, and a grandfather who played in the NBA, the late Andy O’Donnell.
She said her position as assistant athletic director at Central won’t be filled but she will receive help from several others including Csensits, principal Randy Rice and athletic office manager Melissa Stahley.
“The Allentown Central Catholic family is excited about the appointment of Colleen as our new athletic director,” Rice said. “As the assistant AD, she attained a wealth of knowledge and benefited from working with Dennis Csensits. She has a great feel for the culture of our school and the excellent student-athletes we have been blessed with. She is well-respected by the ADs in the EPC and we expect that she will provide the kind of leadership that is part of the ACCHS tradition.”
Nosovitch is the third female AD in the EPC joining Rebecca George of Emmaus and Denise Rogers at East Stroudsburg South.