Montana Tech Athletics Fully Staffed and Ready to Dig In
The Montana Tech Athletic Department is fully staffed and looking forward to great things. As Athletic Director Chuck Morrell looks to 2015, he has three priorities he wants to accomplish within the first few months. “First and foremost, our team will re-engage with the Butte community. Secondly, we want to drive up attendance at basketball games. And, third, we will be getting ready to host two great fundraising events: Diggers Uncorked on February 6 and the Digger Athletic Association Auction on April 25.”
Morrell, who has been in the role since October, has recently filled two key positions in the department. Matt Stepan, Butte native and Montana Tech alumnus, has been hired as the External Associate Athletic Director and Ricardo Sanon has been hired to as the Athletic Department Coordinator.
“I am excited to have a great, full team in Athletics. Both Ricardo and Matt will bring a tremendous amount of knowledge to the Athletic Department. Add these two to Nick Bowsher, who has kept the Athletic Department running for the last few months, and we are going to do great things in 2015 and beyond,” noted Morrell. Bowsher stepped into the role of interim Athletic Director at Montana Tech after the departure of Dave Lau. Bowsher has been at Montana Tech since August 2011 serving currently as the Assistant Athletic Director of Facilities and Communications. He directs sports information, marketing, communications, facilities, and game day management in the Athletic Department. “Nick played an instrumental role in Montana Tech Athletics over the past few months,” added Morell. “Nick did a tremendous job in keeping Montana Tech Athletics rolling in the transition. He was on the ground every day making sure our student-athletes, coaches, and community were taken care of. I thank him for all his hard work.”
Stepan graduated from Butte Central High School in 1999. He then continued his education at Montana Tech where he played football under Bob Green earning First Team All-Conference honors in 2002 and 2003. He graduated with a bachelor’s degree in Business & Information Technology in 2004 and worked in the heavy construction industry for eight years in both business and engineering roles. Prior to joining Montana Tech, Stepan spent the last two years as a Financial Advisor with the Chamberlin Group, Inc in Butte where he resides with his wife Sarah and their children: Will, Mattie, and Ty. Stepan is actively involved in youth sports in the Butte community, which includes coaching young athletes in football, wrestling, baseball and serving on the board of directors of the Mining City Little Guy Football League. He is also an active member of the Montana Officials Association as a high school referee in both football and wrestling. Stepan’s family has a long tradition of Montana Tech running through their veins. His father Ed, who currently is a senior Human Resources Representative for REC Group, played football at Montana Tech and graduated in 1980 with an Occupational Safety & Health degree. Stepan’s sister, Amy Hogan, graduated from Montana Tech in 2002 with a Metallurgical Engineering degree and currently works for Chevron in Salt Lake City, UT. "I'm very honored and extremely excited to work for Montana Tech,” explained Stepan. “After meeting with Athletic Director Morrell and many of the coaches, it was obvious to me that the Department has a clear vision and steadfast determination to move athletics at Montana Tech forward and I can't wait to be a part of it. If you could buy stock in Montana Tech Athletics, I'd be buying today!"
“The addition of Matt will allow us to have a very strong and hard-working team who is committed to Montana Tech and our student-athletics,” explained Morrell.
Sanon will fill a key position on campus that is in charge of the day to day operations in athletics. Sanon joins the Orediggers after serving as the Academic Success Coordinator for student-athletes at NCAA D-II Central Washington University. Before CWU, Sanon was an athletic academic advisor at Old Dominion University, in Norfolk, Va. While at ODU, Sanon oversaw academic support for the teams of rowing, men’s soccer, men’s and women’s swimming and wrestling. Prior to ODU, Sanon worked as an assistant academic counselor at the University of Nebraska, where he mentored incoming student-athletes in the transition from high school to college for the sports of women's basketball, football, rifle, soccer and wrestling. Sanon, a Brockton, Mass. native, graduated from Lasell College with a bachelor's degree in Sports Management and completed his master's degree in Sports Leadership at Northeastern University.
For more information about Montana Tech Athletics, please contact 406-496-4105.