Miles College Director of Athletics Fred Watson continues the drive towards his mission of creating and sustaining an athletic department that will compete – athletically and academically – at the highest levels. He recently secured a $100,000 donation to the athletic department, which will go directly towards positively impacting Miles College and its student-athletes.
Watson, who is in his second year as the school’s Director of Athletics, has been able to raise the dollars for athletics while also serving as the Golden Bears’ head men’s basketball coach. While balancing both jobs is not easy, he understands that he has to emphasize his work outside of the gym to accomplish his goals for athletics.
“When trying to grow the department and athletic offerings, I understood that I would have to increase my fundraising efforts,” Watson said. “So I set out to meet people who would help us work towards our goal of expanding the offerings and support for our student-athletes with the desire to give them a first-class experience while promoting the first-class product that we have at Miles.”
This year, Miles offered men’s track and field as a varsity sport and is growing three junior varsity programs to allow more student-athletes to compete at the Division II level.
“There was a challenge from our leadership team here at Miles to grow our athletic participation, which is why we added the additional programs. But I did not want to rely solely on institutional monies, so this gift will go a long way in accomplishing that goal,” Watson said.
Watson has been able to secure several hundred thousand dollars during his time at Miles. But he is not going to rest on that accomplishment. He is already on the hunt for more donations as the Golden Bears continue to work towards building an expansive and inclusive athletic department.
“Our College leadership has been very supportive of Athletics. Now, I want to make sure that Athletics is doing our part to support the College’s mission,” Watson said.
For more information on how you can donate to the athletic department at Miles, contact Fred Watson at fwatson@miles.edu.