Wells, McFeely earn Athletics promotions

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Author: Joe Siegal

The Occidental Athletic Department promoted Sports Information Director (SID) Michael Wells and women’s soccer head coach Colm McFeely to Assistant Athletic Director positions prior to the 2012-2013 school year. 

Both Wells and McFeely retain their original positions, while taking on their additional administrative roles. Their new positions will include added responsibilities and oversight of other Athletic Department employees. 

“We want to find ways to keep good employees at Occidental…these promotions make staying at Oxy more appealing for two good employees,” Director of Athletics Jaime Hoffman said via email. Hoffman praises Wells and McFeely’s abilities to multitask in their new roles. 

Wells, in his second year as SID, has been successful in expanding Occidental Athletics’ profile from a communications standpoint.

“He’s the hardest working person there. We always joke that he should have a mattress in there, because he’s there beyond hours,” Sports Information Assistant Mirin Fader (senior) said. 

Wells oversees the release of statistics and news for Occidental sports teams, and says he wants to continue to make sure that members of the Occidental community, including athletes, students and alumni are able to be informed followers of the college’s teams. 

He will also be helping with the new Occidental Sports Hall of Fame as well as Tiger Club, the Athletic Department’s donor group. For Wells, these new responsibilities reinforce his investment in Occidental. 

“I feel even more emotionally invested in Occidental…not just my niche of sports information,” he said. “It’s exciting that my boss and my peers trust me and respect me so early in my career.” 

While Wells has made his mark on Occidental Athletics in just two years, Colm McFeely has held soccer coaching jobs at the college for twenty years. 

In his new role, McFeely will continue to coach the women’s soccer team, while assisting Hoffman and serving as a liaison to other departments on campus, including Residential Education and Housing Services (REHS). Part of this liaison role is coordinating early arrival and winter housing for Occidental athletes.

“We’re very open with our communication. If there’s any issues that arise while we’re in the early arrival process or during winter housing, he’s always the first contact, and he’s always able to resolve it immediately,” Associate Director of Housing Services Michelle Saldana said.

In addition, McFeely also aims to provide oversight for other Occidental coaches to make sure that they are able to uphold the standards of the athletic department. 

“I know the values and principles that [Hoffman] wants to espouse across the Athletic Department. I believe in them, and I think there is a classy way we can go about competing and doing things right,” he said. 

McFeely cites his experience as a soccer coach, saying that he would like to be a guide to less experienced coaches.

McFeely and Wells aim to contribute to the growth of Occidental athletics in different ways, though both speak highly of the collaborative environment in the athletics office. 

“In small departments, everybody is going to lend a hand, and I think we have a tremendous environment here,” McFeely said.

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