Dinos and Kinesiology great fit for new athletic director

He started the job only weeks ago. His office's decor appears to be a work in progress. His family will remain in Toronto until the end of the school year — wife Wendy teaching science, daughters Taylor and Peyton going to class — so Jason Kerswill is on his own, living in residence.

All of which means one thing — it's early days for the University of Calgary's new director of Dinos Athletics. But unsettled? Hardly. Kerswill is exactly where he wants to be.

"U of C, as a whole, is one of the leading institutions in Canada," he says. "I love the fact that it's research intensive. I also really like that athletics is within the Faculty of Kinesiology, just because there's so many great people and resources around our athletes, including the human performance labs, the sports medicine centre and the Oval.

"Having the facilities we do, everything's in place for us to be successful." And that expectation — as Kerswill begins to oversee 500 elite athletes on 14 varsity teams, in addition to club sports such as baseball and fastball, golf and tennis — is the whole point.

"Measuring success, we're always going to look at wins and losses," says the 38-year-old. "That's natural — we're in sports, right? We do want to see championships here at UCalgary, there's no doubt." It's a tall order for a tall man. Kerswill, all six foot eight of him, insists he's ready.

The Ottawa native is built for basketball — his sport of choice — and seasoned for his role on campus here. Four years as a power forward at St. Francis Xavier University produced four nods as Academic All-Canadian, two national crowns and a bachelor's degree in human kinetics. Mothballing his sneakers, Kerswill then earned a master's degree in sports administration at the University of Ottawa. He knew where he belonged.

"I was just amazed at the impact athletics had on my development during my time as a student-athlete," says Kerswill, "so I just wanted to be a part of that."

To Calgary, Kerswill wants to bring more USports championships — not only winning them, but hosting them, too.

"It's a way to highlight what we do, a great way to showcase the top student-athletes in the country," he says. "It brings the media out, it brings the student body out, it brings faculty out. It can really be a good rallying point."

Speaking of which, Kerswill inherits the Crowchild Classic. The hockey grudge match against Mount Royal University is slated for Jan. 25 at the Scotiabank Saddledome. The new boss likes the annual men's and women's games — especially as an indicator of potential.

"The biggest challenge … can we draw that same group to come out and cheer on the Dinos two days later?" says Kerswill. "That's something we have to work on." Which is all part of his aim to boost the profile of programs and players, who deserve recognition. "We've got tremendous athletes here that the community needs to know about."

In addition to the experience of his hoops heyday, extensive work as an administrator — Coaching Association of Canada, Calgary's Edge School, Prince George's University of Northern B.C., Canada Basketball, Toronto's Seneca College — means he can appreciate athletes. He understands their challenges.

"It's being able to manage those different pulls," says Kerswill. "Our student-athletes are not only doing individual workouts, they've got study halls, they've got team meetings, they've got practice time, they've got increased travel load. If they can't manage that, in addition to their regular academic schedule, it's an uphill battle. But this is something we can work on with the student.

"I want every one of our student-athletes to leave here with a degree and be able to contribute in a positive way, whether that's in Calgary or back in their hometown."

Dinos quick stats

• Dinos student-athletes on campus – 500-plus
• Dinos student-athlete average GPA – 3.0-plus
• Dinos student-athlete Academic All-Canadians in 2016-17 (3.3 GPA or higher) – 140-plus
• Dinos Athletics is the only member of Canada West conference to offer all USports teams
• Dinos championships in fall 2017 – Canada West Football, Women’s Rugby and Men’s Cross-Country Running