Susan Harriman to step down as UCSC’s athletics director

SANTA CRUZ — UC Santa Cruz Director of Athletics and Recreation Susan Harriman, who led the Banana Slugs to significant growth and success over the past 5 1/2 years, announced she will step down from the post effective May 5.

Courtnie Prather, UCSC’s senior associate director of athletics & recreation and senior woman administrator designate, will serve as interim director of athletics & recreation.

Harriman’s leadership led to the university becoming a founding member of the Coast-To-Coast Athletic Conference in 2020. The structure and format of the conference was innovative and imaginative for enhancing the student-athlete experience while balancing the prestige and geographic challenge of being the only remaining Division III institution in Northern California. The formation of the new C2C conference was also paramount in allowing UCSC to compete for automatic bids to NCAA championships in 13 of its 17 varsity sport programs.

Eight teams have made the NCAA championships during Harriman’s tenure.

Harriman also hired five new head coaches who have each brought new energy, subject-matter knowledge, and support for student success.

Harriman’s leadership also facilitated academic excellence in classrooms and laboratories around campus. In the past two seasons, 299 student-athletes across all varsity programs have earned Academic All-Conference (cumulative 3.20 GPA or greater) honors.

Athletically, seven Banana Slugs have been named All-Americans during the last five years among the countless, individual school records broken by the student-athletes. Women’s basketball, women’s golf, and women’s volleyball each earned their highest national rankings. The athletic success continued after graduation, with three alumni continuing their basketball careers in international professional leagues and six Banana Slugs called to represent their respective national teams in various sports.

Recreationally, Harriman focused on increasing equitable program and facility access to the student body. Working with the campus’ Educational Opportunity Program (EOP), Harriman facilitated increased opportunities for students to participate in all recreational programming at no additional cost and ensured the effort was funded by existing institutional funding while simultaneously decreasing barriers to entry for students. This effort impacted first generation college students, students who come from historically low-income and/or of a low socioeconomic background, students who have experienced educational disadvantages, as well as undocumented students, former foster youth students, and current or veteran military service members. Additionally, Harriman restructured the Slug Membership program allowing all students and other Slug Recreation members to participate in group exercise programming as part of their existing membership. During the pandemic, Harriman championed staff innovation for virtual programming for all areas of the department where possible.

Harriman’s service as director of athletics & recreation also included a full organizational restructure and rebranding resulting in increased connectivity and integration of a large athletics and recreation unit comprising multiple, diverse program areas.

Prather oversees all internal operations, physical education programming and serves as the sport administrator for men’s basketball, men’s volleyball and women’s golf. Within her senior woman administrator designation, Prather serves as the liaison between campus and local community resources for students and staff, particularly for those from marginalized populations. She was honored with the 2022 NCAA Division III LGBTQ Administrator of the Year Award, serving as the department’s LGBTQ OneTeam representative. Additionally, Prather serves as the department’s adviser for Title IX and Title VII compliance and education and is a member of numerous campus-wide committees.

Prather joined UCSC from Loyola University New Orleans, where she served as the assistant director of athletics from 2016-19. Prather led the athletic department’s internal affairs, assisted with sport supervision, financial operations, and external affairs for Loyola Athletics. She also served a critical role in developing the Southern States Athletic Conference Women Leaders Initiative (WLI), which provides mentoring, professional development and networking opportunities that aid in advancing the professional and personal goals of women coaches, administrators, and support staff.

Prior to joining the Wolf Pack, Prather spent three years (2013-16) at Southern University in Baton Rouge as the women’s soccer head coach after serving as the program’s assistant coach from 2010-13 and worked as an assistant soccer coach at William Carey University from 2004-10.

During her time at William Carey, Prather earned her bachelor’s degree in Psychology and Coaching and her master’s degree in Psychology. Before entering the coaching profession, the San Antonio native had two separate stints in the United States Armed Forces, serving in the Air Force and Texas Army National Guard.