Visker to Retire, Natali Named New Athletic Director
MISHAWAKA, Ind. – Tom Visker, Athletic Director at Bethel College for the last five years and professor and chairperson of Kinesiology and Dean of Arts and Humanities Division for parts of 11 years prior to that, has announced his plan to retire at the end of the 2018-19 academic year.
“As a professor, Dean, and most recently Athletic Director, Tom Visker has led our campus with humility, steadiness and determination,” stated Bethel College Vice President of Student Development Shawn Holtgren.
“Under his leadership, the Athletic Department has added new sports, renovated some key athletic facilities, and created a game plan for future growth. Through it all, Tom’s focus has never wavered in his desire to see young men and women develop fully in their faith, character and life calling. Tom embodies what it means to be a servant leader and has earned the deepest respect from coaches and athletes alike. His impact will be felt for decades to come.”
After being named Athletic Director in the summer of 2014, Visker helped lead the Pilot athletic program to new heights, overseeing the addition of eight new athletic teams—beginning with coed drumline, women’s lacrosse, and men’s rugby in 2014-15, coed competitive cheer in 2017-18, and most recently the formation of men’s and women’s swimming and diving, and men’s and women’s bowling in the fall of 2018. Under his leadership, Pilot teams have won three conference championships, five national championships, and finished as high as fourth in the Crossroads League All-Sports standings.
“The decision to retire is the result of a prayerful process that began over a year ago,” explained Visker. “I have been in Christian higher education for over 40 years and am very grateful for the opportunities that Bethel College and Dordt College (Iowa) have provided for me and my family. I feel that the time has come for me to look at other opportunities in which I can continue to serve God and others.”
Visker has influenced the Bethel athletic department in a number of ways, including implementing a focused staff development plan designed to enrich the staff’s understanding of who they are and why they do what they do, opportunities to influence more student-athletes through athletic expansions mentioned above, and new and renovated athletic facilities—including an agreement with the Elkhart Health, Fitness, and Aquatics Center as the home facility for Bethel swimming and diving, development and planning of a new Track Training Facility, renovations on softball’s Gardner Field, and a new Athletic Park entrance.
Under Visker’s leadership, the department has been named an NAIA Champions of Character institution all four years and has had teams named NAIA Scholar Teams 57 times—including being one of five NAIA institutions to have 100-percent of at least 17 teams be named a Scholar Team in 2016-17.
A Kalamazoo, Michigan native and graduate of Calvin College (Mich.), Visker came to Bethel from Dordt University (Iowa) after spending 24 years as a baseball coach for the Defenders. An avid motorcyclist, Visker plans on taking several motorcycle trips in retirement and exploring part-time and volunteer opportunities.
In conjunction with Visker’s retirement announcement, current Assistant Athletic Director and men’s and women’s track and field head coach Tony Natali has been named as Visker’s successor as Athletic Director. Natali will assume the role on July 1.
“Tony Natali is a gifted and proven leader,” stated Holtgren. “He has shaped a dynamic and successful Track & Field program, and we are excited to see him expand his influence as he steps to this new role. Tony has a heart for Bethel, our mission, and our students, and he will lead the department well as we look to the future.”
Natali has served as the head men’s and women’s track coach since he came to Bethel in the fall of 1999. He has coached the Pilots to 10 NCCAA team national championships and 7 NAIA individual national titles. He steps aside from a program that has produced 137 NAIA All-Americans and 728 NCCAA All-Americans thru 2017-18. The 19-time Coach/Coaching Staff of the Year recipient (across the NCCAA and the Crossroads League) was recently inducted into the NCCAA Hall of Fame in the 2018 class.
“I am extremely excited to have the opportunity to be the next Athletic Director at Bethel College,” affirmed Natali. “Bethel has been a huge part of my family’s lives and I can’t wait to serve as best as I know how in this capacity.
“I am looking forward to seeing how God leads in the next phase of this institution’s great heritage. I have been blessed to work under many great athletic directors in my time at Bethel such as Mike Lightfoot, Mark Lantz, Jody Martinez, and our current A.D., Tom Visker. I have learned many great attributes under each one that I can now use moving forward. They have laid a great foundation that can now be built on in the near future.”
Natali will oversee the department’s 29 intercollegiate athletic programs, including men’s and women’s swimming and diving, and men’s and women’s bowling which are set to begin their first years of competition in the fall, more than 60 staff members, and more than 350 student-athletes.
“My vision is to have a Christ centered department that puts our tremendous student-athlete population in a position to have the best possible experience they could have here at Bethel,” continued Natali. “I would love to hear from our student-athletes and work with them to make their experience top-notch while always making Christ central in all we do.
“We are all called to excellence and I am looking forward to lead that way. We have a great community of faculty, staff, alums, administrators, and students that I am so looking forward to serving the best way possible. It will all be a process, but I know that as long as we stay focused on Christ and give Him all the glory, He will lead this department in years to come. I am so very thankful to our administration for this opportunity to lead this department in the days ahead. I feel very blessed.”
Among Natali’s tasks at the helm of the department, will be helping forge the new identity for athletics as Bethel College will become Bethel University in May, as well as helping the men’s and women’s basketball teams navigate a new national landscape as the NAIA consolidates its basketball championships to one division from two in 2020, and continued work on the planned track & field training facility.
Natali was selected following input from multiple departments, leadership groups, and individuals from all walks of Bethel College. A search for his replacement for track and field head coach is underway.
