Stan the man

Stan Aldridge is the type of guy who likes improvement. Whether it’s raking new dirt on the ball fields before a baseball game, sweeping the water off the tennis courts after rain or improving an athletic program that can compete among the elite in its conference, Aldridge, the athletic director at Georgia College & State University, has helped put the Bobcats on top.
Stan Aldridge has served as athletic director at GC&SU since 1993 and, before that, served as the men’s head basketball coach starting in 1975. While coaching the men’s basketball team, he also taught classes and was named GIAC Basketball Head Coach of the Year in 1985 and 1986.
“When I first started coaching here in 1975, I took over a men’s team at Christmas time that was 1-8, had no talent, only one guy on scholarship, and we had to play on the third floor of a building over at GMC,” said Aldridge.
However, by working under Mike Peeler, he began turning this program around.
Mike Peeler was the athletic director before Aldridge, who many credit with taking the first steps in advancing the athletic program here by improving the budget, gaining more community support and having more scholarship money for athletes. In 1990, Peeler died of a heart attack and Aldridge was named the new athletic director of GC&SU in 1993. Despite Aldridge’s tenure and familiarity with the school, replacing a man like Peeler was no easy task.
“Stan was my teacher for grad level classes I took here; I coached with him and he was a very good friend of mine, but I was saddened by the fact that when Mike [Peeler] died that Stan was going to take over his position,” said John Carrick, women’s basketball coach at GC&SU. “I had a lot of doubts, but Stan was able to keep the ball rolling, pick up the same momentum where Mike left off and did 10 times better taking the program to another level, keeping the same philosophy.”
The philosophy that Aldridge learned and maintained from Peeler is to recruit quality athletes who are dedicated to their degree and to make sure that every sport, no matter its size, is treated equally. Last year, Aldridge made sure that the school had an equal number of men’s and women’s athletic teams by adding women’s soccer to the list of sports for student competition.
One of Aldridge’s characteristics that makes him stand out among other athletic directors, is his interest in all the teams and all the sports. He can be seen at almost every sporting event throughout the year from cheering on runners at a cross country meet, to visiting the golf team while they play a round, or at basketball games, men’s and women’s. Aldridge also loves to see the Bobcats on the road, making it to most away events and traveling to Oregon last year to encourage the women’s softball team at the Collegiate World Series.
“The thing I most admire about Stan is his interest in making sure that every sport is treated fairly and that not one gets any more special treatment than the other,” said Brad Muller, head of sports information at GC&SU. “He wants to see every team make it to a national championship no matter if it’s tennis, cross country, or basketball.”
During his tenure as athletic director at GC&SU, Aldridge played a big role in GC&SU’s move from NAIA to the NCAA Division II level.
“I felt like it needed to be done because in the NAIA we were pretty unhappy as a program,” said Aldridge. “A lot of the NAIA rules and NCAA rules conflicted and since the NAIA was mainly geared toward private schools, I knew moving up to NCAA Division II was best for the program.”
GC&SU has some of the highest academic standards for entering athletes in the Peach Belt, while operating on one of the lowest budgets among the top teams in the conference. Recruiting is hard, but Stan believes that good people make even better athletes.
“I don’t believe in using people just for their athletic ability,” said Aldridge. “I want to have them, to graduate them but I also want to make sure that every sport we have stays competitive and our goal with every team is to win.”
Part of Aldridge’s responsibilities as athletic director is to act as a liaison between coaches and administration, develop the budget and act as a mediator if any problems with his staff occur.
“The best thing about Stan is that whenever I have a problem with anything, he will stop what he is doing and listen to me,” said Carrick. “Even if he can’t do anything about the problem he is going to listen … always.”
During the rest of his time here, Aldridge said that he would like to see the school continue to build the budget to the point that they are included in the top schools in the Peach Belt. His number one desire is to see any of the sports here at GC&SU win a national championship.
Aldridge enjoys many hobbies including hunting, working on his tractor at home and spending time with his family. When Aldridge does decide to leave his desk and retire as athletic director, you can bet that there could be bigger shoes to fill than those left when Peeler passed away.
“There is no one I would rather work for,” said Muller. “And I can’t imagine this place without him.”

Posted by Colonnade Archives on Feb 13 2004. Filed under Sports. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry