DiStanislao returns to athletics as associate AD

Mary DiStanislao takes over as the No. 2 official in Penn's Athletic Dept. Mary DiStanislao isn't exactly a stranger to big-time college athletics. DiStanislao, Penn's newly appointed associate athletic director, has coached high-level women's basketball teams at Northwestern and Notre Dame during the past 20 years. Not that she misses Big Ten basketball, though. Having grown up in New Jersey, DiStanislao spent many a night at the Palestra watching current Athletic Director Steve Bilsky lead the Quakers to national prominence in the early 1970s. Now, working in the Athletic Department and sharing a Weightman Hall office across from Bilsky himself, DiStanislao is enjoying a homecoming of sorts. "The Palestra is a fixture of my youth," she said. "I came from a family that was very basketball-oriented, to say the least." "I don't know if you could call a packed, sold-out Penn-Princeton game any less exciting than a packed, sold-out Michigan-Ohio State game," she added. In her new position, DiStanislao oversees the off-the-court operations -- including budgeting, recruiting and eligibility -- for about half of Penn's varsity athletic squads. "There are certain sports that are more capital intensive than others. There are certain sports that are more operationally complex," DiStanislao explained. DiStanislao fills the void left by Carolyn Schlie Femovich, who worked at Penn for 17 years before leaving to become the executive director of the Patriot League this summer. Prior to coming to the Athletic Department, DiStanislao served as assciate director of the Wharton School's MBA Career Management Program, where she helped MBA students consider job opportunities and improve interview techniques. As a basketball coach at Northwestern from 1976 to 1980, DiStanislao's Wildcats won two Big Ten championships. Her Notre Dame squad later won three conference championships. From her experience as a coach, DiStanislao said she better understands what it takes to be a successful coach and is fully aware of the responsibilites and duties that today's coaches face. "I understand the stresses of the daily life of a coach as well as the other directions that a coach gets pulled," she said. "An administration is really around to make the off-the-court life a coach easier." DiStanislao noted that although she currently has no plans to pace the sidelines as a coach in the near future, she can't help feeling pangs of nostalgia every basketball season. "My internal clock always goes off come the 15th of October and I have to say I always get a little nostalgic at the end of March," she said. DiStanislao's appointment is the third major hiring in the Athletic Department in the past two years. Associate Athletic Director Earl Cleghorn and Assistant Athletic Director Rosemarie Burnett were both appointed last fall. One of the current main areas of focus for the Athletic Department is the issue of student-athlete eligibility, which exploded two years ago when star defensive tackle Mitch Marrow was discovered to be academically ineligible. "We have to be very attentive to making sure that nothing falls through the cracks," DiStanislao said. "The idea behind all the checks and double checks in eligibility is to make sure there are no errors of omission." Bilsky said he expected DiStanislao's experience in college athletics to benefit the Athletic Department. "We had some very talented applicants, but Mary stood out because of the diversity of experiences she has had in her career," Bilsky said in a statement. "She has the talent and sensitivity to relate well to coaches, staff and student-athletes and the confidence to manage our extensive intercollegiate program."

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