Stock accepts new position at St. John’s University

by Cori Hilsgen

news@thenewsleaders.com

Tom Stock is leaving his position as St. John’s University athletic director. He has accepted a new position as a senior development officer for St. John’s Office of Institutional Advancement.

The local resident will continue as director of athletic marketing, a position he has held for the past 16 years.

Bob Alpers, who is the assistant athletic director and head golf coach, will replace Stock as the athletic director. Both will begin their new positions July 1.

Stock said when he accepted the athletic-director position he only wanted to be in the position for 10 years.  He is currently in his 11th year.

Stock said the athletic director job requires a lot of high energy and includes night and weekend hours.

“It’s a busy job but also a lot of fun,” Stock said.

The athletic director oversees SJU’s athletic programs, including all intercollegiate, club and intramural athletic teams. The director also oversees the department’s budget and staff, has oversight for National Collegiate Athletic Association reporting, oversees game management, athletic media relations, athletic marketing, athletic training, the equipment room and operations, athletic facility rentals and management of athletic summer camps and more.

Stock’s new position as a senior development officer will involve raising development dollars for the university.

“I am so excited for this new position,” he said. “I hope to build good relationships and raise enough money to stay employed.”

As director of athletic marketing, Stock will continue to be in charge of selling corporate sponsorships for SJU.  He said he enjoys fundraising and has built many relationships throughout the years.

After more than 10 years as athletic director, Stock said he wants to spend more time at home with his family – wife Lori and sons Jacob and Joseph. Both sons are students at St. John’s.

“Ten-plus years is a long time to have oversight of a high-profile department like Johnnie athletics,” Stock said in a press release. “I am very proud of everything we have collectively been able to accomplish as a department during my time as athletic director. I wouldn’t trade these years for anything. Yet, I know for me and my family, it was a great time to transition out as athletic director.”

He said Alpers will be a great athletic director for St. John’s.

“I am grateful to the entire St. John’s community for helping to make the Johnnie athletic department one of the most-respected in all of NCAA Division III,” Stock said in the press release.

During Stock’s leadership, the Johnnies won 15 MIAC regular-season championships and four MIAC playoff titles. He oversaw expansion and improvement of several athletic facilities including renovations to Clemens Stadium, Sexton Arena, Becker Park, Haws Field and the new Gagliardi Field and seasonal dome currently under construction.

Stock also helped with transitioning several retiring coaches, which included football coach John Gagliardi, basketball coach Jim Smith, track-and-field coach Tim Miles, hockey coach John Harrington and soccer coach Pat Haws.

“Tom Stock has provided exceptional leadership for Johnnie athletics for the past decade, and I am excited to continue to work with him as a senior development officer to support the St. John’s  mission,” said SJU President Michael Hemesath in the press release.

Stock grew up in the St. Joseph area and attended All Saints Academy and Apollo High School. He attended North Dakota State University in Fargo and earned undergraduate degrees in business administration and mass communications, as well as a master’s degree in organizational communication.

At NDSU, Stock was a four-year starter in baseball where he was team captain and most valuable player during his senior year. He also threw the javelin for the track-and-field team while in graduate school.

Stock played 14 years of amateur baseball in Minnesota and North Dakota, playing on two state amateur baseball championship teams.

He served as an assistant and associate director in the CSB/SJU admission office, volunteer SJU baseball pitching coach and director of athletic marketing, and fundraising in the Office of Institutional Advancement before accepting the athletic-director position.

He also worked in human resources, internal communications, training and development, and public relations and public affairs with Champion International Corp. and International Paper in Sartell.

Alpers, who is a 1982 St. John’s University graduate, has been the assistant athletic director for Stock for the past eight years. He will continue his position as SJU head golf coach.

Alpers is a four-time Golf Coaches Association of America Central Region Coach of the Year and a 10-time Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Coach of the Year. He also served as SJU’s recreation director, assistant basketball coach, and assistant coach for baseball and soccer.

Alpers was selected as the Johnnies’ Most Valuable Player and was named All-MIAC as a senior basketball player during the 1981-82 season.

Hemesath said in the press release that Alpers comes to his new role “exceptionally well prepared.” He added Alpers was “a great student-athlete, a great assistant coach, a nationally recognized head coach and an experienced department administrator.”

Alpers said he has been lucky enough to work at SJU since the mid-1980s.

“When the position was offered to me, it was a really easy decision,” Alpers said. “St. John’s is my home, and I’m so very honored and humbled for this opportunity. The new athletic facilities we have are some of the finest in the nation. This is an exciting time to be at St. John’s.”

Since he has been at SJU in a variety of capacities for about 30 years, Alpers said he feels he will bring experience to his new position.

“I’ll bring enthusiasm, and I’ll do my best to support and advocate for our coaches and student athletes,” he said. “I think St. John’s is the greatest place on earth to go to school and I’m really excited about our future working together.”

Alpers grew up in the Burnsville area, earned his undergraduate in political science from SJU and a masters in education from St. Mary’s University in Winona. His wife, Ellie, attended the College of St. Benedict in St. Joseph. They live in Avon and have a son, Robert James, who is attending SJU.