A month ago, longtime Pima College athletic director Edgar Soto left his job for a position at the school’s Desert Vista Campus.
Five candidates are vying to replace him. Akira Kondo, Todd Holthaus, Jim Monaco, Dave Cosgrove and David Dondeewicz were made available in an open forum Tuesday at the West Campus. There, they gave presentations and answered questions from a few dozen people in attendance.
Here’s a look at what they said:
Akira Kondo
Kondo worked at Pima as a part-time staffer from 2003-05, then returned in 2014 as a full-time athletic trainer.
The Tokyo native worked with other departments, including the International Students Office. He teaches two classes as an adjunct faculty member.
Kondo said he would like financial transparency and budget control, and would offer individual or department meetings for staff members.
Fundraising will also be key: Kondo doesn’t understand why Pima doesn’t have booster or alumni clubs.
“I know we have a lot of coaches who have 10-plus years, if not 20 years of experience,” Kondo said. “And we have a lot of alumni and rich history.”
Kondo would also like to make all head coaches full-time faculty, so as to better distribute administrative responsibilities.
When it comes to facilities, Kondo said he’d like to bring as many operations to Pima’s West Campus as possible. Kondo works with the soccer teams, and has witnessed the team’s commute to Kino North Stadium for practices and games.
“It will be great to bring everything to the West Campus, as long as it’s a safe environment,” Kondo said.
Todd Holthaus
Holthaus, who has served as Pima’s women’s basketball coach since 2007, began his presentation with a short video containing testimonials from former coaches and athletes.
They all talked about what it meant to be an Aztec.
“I’m passionate about what I do and I really believe in what I do,” Holthaus said. “And that’s just a microcosm of my team. I feel like, as athletic director, you’re coach of the coaches.”
Holthaus wants to increase enrollment numbers, and he believes athletics is the catalyst to get it done.
If hired, Holthaus has already requested a big wall calendar to help get organized.
“I want to put the whole year on there for every sport so we can look at Oct. 23 and see where we should be with every sport so we’re not cut off or we’re not late getting contracts in or PO’s in place or things like that,” Holthaus said.
“Those are more of the little things that add up. If we can alleviate a lot of those things, we can save a few bucks.”
Holthaus will continue coaching his team if hired as athletic director. During the season, he said he’d most likely devote his mornings to AD responsibilities and the afternoons to basketball. Holthaus said he’d be able to stay impartial, even though his decisions would involve his own team.
“You just make it the same, treat everybody fairly,” Holthaus said.
Jim Monaco is coaching the Pima football team in its last season this year. He’d like to avoid cutting any more sports if he becomes the school’s athletic director.
Jim Monaco
Monaco, the Aztecs’ football coach, watched this summer as his program was eliminated. This season will be the Aztecs’ last. Perhaps that makes him uniquely qualified as an AD candidate.
“I believe it’s a really trying time,” Monaco said. “I don’t think we can get there unless we’re a cohesive group of coaches.”
And that’s his short-term goal — to unite the coaches. There are still more budget cuts to be made, and Monaco said he’s rather spread it out throughout the department than cut another sport.
“Everybody uses the term ‘it takes a village,’” Monaco said. “Well, if the villagers decide not to stay together, nobody’s there to help those kids and we have to make sure that no other kids are affected by cuts. So, we have to get together and fix this.”
Along with getting creative on the money side, like finding sponsors for food, Monaco would like to see Pima market itself better.
“This place it amazing, and we want to brand it,” Monaco said. “It’s not about wearing Nike — it’s about wearing Pima.”
Like Kondo, Monaco would also like to see all sports compete at the West Campus.
He would also like to see athletics work with the different certification programs available at Pima.
Not everyone will go on to be a doctor, lawyer or teacher, Monaco said, but Pima grads can make a good living as a plumber or welder. Monaco would like to see athletes consider those programs.
“The more we help grow the college, the more we help grow athletics,” he said.
Dave Cosgrove
Cosgrove, a Pima graduate, has been the head men’s soccer coach since 1998. He’s also the founder and coach of Tucson Soccer Academy. Last spring, he was named head coach of FC Tucson.
If hired, Cosgrove said he’d drop his responsibilities outside of the college.
“I’d be downsizing,” he said.
Cosgrove said Pima’s struggles aren’t unlike those of junior colleges all over the state.
But Pima, he said, is different from all the other Arizona colleges.
Cosgrove said he’s also like to start an alumni organization. While it may be a time-consuming effort, Cosgrove would like to start a database of all alumni and eventually reach out with newsletters and emails.
He was very passionate about his support of Kino North Stadium, which he calls the No. 1 junior college facility in the country. Relocating all sports to the West Campus, he said, would be a mistake.
“We were a top-20 program, basically, since 1999,” Cosgrove said. “In 2011 we moved to Kino and we jumped to the top 5.”
David Donderewicz
Donderewicz played soccer at Pima in 2001. He’s is the only candidate who doesn’t currently work in the athletic department. He’s worked as a fiscal advanced analyst in Pima’s financial aid department since 2014.
Donderewicz is grateful to Pima for giving him the opportunity to play soccer while going to school.
“As a student here at Pima College, I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do, or even if I wanted to come to college,” Donderewicz said. “So, one of the things that led me here was the ability to play soccer.”
As athletic director, he said he would build on the current relationships while developing partnerships with local businesses.
He said Pima could rent the school’s athletic facilities to the community as a way to raise money.
“I know we have the request on the web page, but actually bringing people in and renting our facilities as a fundraising aspect,” Donderewicz said.
