Cochran-Fikes tracks eligibility of Penn athletes

Since exchanging the large Harvard University track where he once coached for the small Weightman Hall office he now occupies, Elton Cochran-Fikes might have become detached from the student-athlete population. But the one-time director of W.E.B. DuBois College House, who now oversees the Athletic Department's compliance and eligibility programs, said he still relishes contact with Penn students and wishes he had more time to spend with them -- if only his job required it. "In my current position, I'm not quite sure if more is possible," he said. "Not every student-athlete wants to have anything more than a relationship that is absolutely necessary with the compliance and eligibility offices." Along with Senior Associate Athletic Director Carolyn Schlie Femovich, Cochran-Fikes also oversees half of the intercollegiate sport programs. But while Cochran-Fikes, the associate athletic director, said he is "having a great time" at the University, he hinted that he may one day hang up his administrative shoes, trading them in for coaching or residential life. "It was extremely enjoyable [and] pleasurable working with the students [at DuBois], helping them with some of their transitions to the University," said Cochran-Fikes, a 1974 College graduate who also holds a graduate degree from Wharton. After his stint at DuBois in 1980, the North Carolina native became an athletics administrator at Harvard -- and a successful women's cross-country coach, leading his teams to a 14-0 record and two Ivy League and Heptagonal titles. He came to Penn in 1986. Cochran-Fikes said his Wharton degree, normally a ticket to a high-salaried position, originally hindered his career goals. "Once the prospective employer learned of my Wharton MBA, they became very leery that they wouldn't be able to hold on to me," he said. These days, though, an advanced degree is a plus for aspiring athletics officials, he added. Cochran-Fikes, a star distance runner as a Penn undergraduate, said he identifies with the concerns of today's undergraduates, especially on residential issues. He noted that students were "real excited" about the construction of the high rises in the 1970s. Several years after they opened, the buildings lost popularity. "The sense of community was really lost, not for everyone, but for a lot of students," Cochran-Fikes said. "If we could somehow have a mixture of college-house communities and apartment-style living, then I think that [Penn] would have a very good mix," he said. Despite his interests in residential life, Cochran-Fikes devotes most of his time to the Athletic Department, which he thinks is headed in the right direction. "I think there's an increased sense of direction, hope for the future, that we're going to realize some of the dreams that we have, especially in the area of authority," said Cochran-Fikes.