Bobby Martinez – Sports Reporter
With Jay Moran hired as Southern Connecticut State University’s new athletic director, additional changes to the athletics department staff have ensued.
Matthew Letkowski is currently serving as Southern Connecticut State University’s interim director of compliance after two years being assistant director of compliance at Southern. Prior to Southern, Letkowski served as Assistant Director of Compliance at the University of Hartford (UHart).
Letkowski said his job title despite currently being an interim, does hold a lot of responsibility because he has to make sure the student-athletes have all the resources they need and also stay out of trouble.
“We assist our student athletes in making sure they are enrolled full-time in classes and also make sure they get the proper support they need throughout the year in order to achieve academic success,” said Letkowski.
He added “Also, I have to make sure that our student athletes follow not only the school rules, but also the NCAA rules because they do have more rules to follow than a normal student. They’re student-athletes who have to comply with the NCAA and make sure they don’t get into any trouble.”
As for Letkowski’s academic resume, he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree at the University of Connecticut and went on to receive his masters at St. Johns University. From 2005-11, Letkowski served a paralegal at the Ryan Ryan, Deluca Law firm in Stamford, Conn.
Moran, who was previously the University of Bridgeport’s athletics director the past 10 years, said his first few weeks here at Southern has gone “great” and hopes to achieve a lot of success this year.
“Some expectations this year,” said Moran, “is to help our student-athletes graduate college and become better people than they were in the beginning of the year. We also want to be successful in every sport as well on and off the field or gymnasium.”
Last year, the athletic department assisted their student-athletes in achieving the highest grade point average in school history with a 3.04 total. This year, the athletic department is currently in talks with a new academic advisor in Michael Dodge. Michael Kobylanski, who is the athletics department’s associate director of athletics and communications, said Dodge is not hired yet but talks are still taking place.
When asked about former academic advisor Leonard Barbieri on whether or not he was let go or resigned, Moran said “I can’t comment on other people’s jobs.”
For the 2013-14 academic and athletic year, the Owls as a program reached and achieved numerous success. The men’s swimming and diving team captured another championship, the men’s basketball team won their first Northeast-10 Conference title. The women’s lacrosse team won a school record in wins and Nick Lebron captured his second National Title in track and field.
The athletic program did have some obstacles to overcome last year. The Owls women’s basketball coach Meghan Brown, was replaced by Bert DeSalvo. The athletic department said last year that the reason behind Brown leaving was due to “personal reasons.”
In addition, the men’s soccer teams, despite defeating Franklin Pierce University in the NE-10 quarterfinals 2-1, the Owls were eliminated after using an ineligible player.
As several Owls team prepare for their respective season, Moran said his staff is set to do a very good job in helping his student-athletes out as much as possible.
