After teaching for over four decades, managing and competing in athletics at various schools around the country, Citrus College Dean of Kinesiology and Athletics Director Jody Wise is set for retirement.
She knew her passions were rooted in sports at an early age.
“It’s just been my whole life,” Wise said, “and it’s really something I can’t believe that I was lucky enough to do my whole life. Something that I loved.”
Wise played volleyball and basketball through high school and college. She attended University of Nebraska at Kearney, and later moved on to receive her Masters Degree at the University of Arizona.
She moved from the Midwest to southern California around 1996, where she was hired as a kinesiology instructor and volleyball coach at Concordia University in Irvine.
The athletic director at Concordia went away on sabbatical during her second year.
“I filled in and when he came back they just left me there, and I enjoyed it,” Wise said.
Wise said she appreciated the different dynamic that came along with the new position.
“It’s kind of a different concept because you’re working with coaches and athletes, instead of just primarily the athletes,” she said. “You get to watch coaches grow and athletes grow — to move to different aspects of their lives.”
Since leaving Concordia, Wise has served as the athletic director at Citrus College for the last 14 years.
Her career position is largely male-dominated, particularly in the southern California region.
“Our conference is the only conference, I think, in southern California that has a female athletic director, and we have two or three [conferences]” Wise said. “There’s not a lot of us.”
However, Wise said she has not faced significant problems in her field despite the gender disproportion.
“I don’t feel any resistance from male athletic directors. I think I’ve always felt supported by that,” she said. “I’ve found that, you know, a coach is a coach. Your expectations from every coach are the same.”
“Their expectations for an athletic director is someone who has their back and someone who is trying to move the programs forward and keep the integrity of the programs,” Wise said.
The job is still tough, regardless of gender. Wise said the pressure to uphold the integrity of the college through her department on a daily basis is one of the most challenging aspects of her work.
“If an English teacher does something wrong, you usually don’t hear about it in the paper. But if a coach or an athlete does something wrong, you tend to make the front page,” Wise said.
People who have worked by Wise’s side say she has fulfilled this role she’s expected to fill.
“If you had a class where, you know, students would learn how to be a professional, then, you know, you should study her,” Mary Brawner, a Citrus College kinesiology instructor and Wise’s former assistant said. “The work ethic is amazing,” Brawner said.
Wise sees the people she works with in the athletic department as teammates off the field as well.
“I’ve always felt wherever I am that it is kind of a teamwork situation. The staff, the faculty, the coaches, the students; it’s all a team working together,” Wise said.
Her legacy at Citrus has inspired several others in the rest of the athletic department.
“You can always just feel the support from her,” said Andrew Ammann, a Citrus College basketball player.
Brett Lauer, Citrus College’s head men’s basketball coach said Wise’s influence in the athletic department dealt with more than just winning or losing the game, rather, it emphasized academic success for all of the athletes at Citrus. “It’s because she set a tone with the academics,” Lauer said.
Lauer said one of Wise’s focuses as athletic director was to make sure athletes did not “just scrape by and be eligible,” but instead, “to truly achieve, the best that they can do and make sure they can get degrees.”
“I hope the next person to take her spot comes in with the same plan as her; put the students first, and grades. All that stuff.” Jeremy Smith, Citrus College basketball player, said.
One of Wise’s goals through her career was to focus on making athletics part of the entire college and giving back to the community. Her fulfillment of this goal has been apparent to the students and faculty who have worked with her.
She says she wants to use her time during retirement to visit friends and family in Nebraska and continue to go to sporting events.
“If I get really bored, I’ll volunteer somewhere.” she said. “There’s a time when you need to move on and have someone younger have their life and their opportunity to do the job that I loved doing.”
Although her days working as athletic director are coming to an end, her spirit and inspiration will continue to be a part of Citrus College for many years to come.
