Chet Dalgewicz, the Rider University associate director of athletics since 1991, has announced he is retiring, effective June 30.

Dalgewicz was named Rider’s first full-time NCAA Compliance Officer in 1991 and has directed the athletics department’s Academic Support program. He has also been the Rider golf coach for 12 seasons, and this year Dalgewicz was named the 2006 Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Golf Coach of the Year.

“It has been a real pleasure working with so many outstanding student-athletes, coaches, faculty and staff,” Dalgewicz said. “I thank Rider University for that privilege.”

In the early 1990s approximately 20 Rider student-athletes achieved a 3.00 or better term grade point average. Now, over 150 Rider student-athletes achieve a 3.00 or better.

“I would like to congratulate Chet on his retirement and sincerely thank him for his 15 years of service to Rider University and the Athletics Department,” said Rider Director of Athletics Don Harnum. “Chet has done an outstanding job in developing the department’s compliance program and academic support services program from the infancy stage into the quality programs they are today. He has also done a terrific job in turning the golf program into a perennial winner and source of pride."

Dalgewicz helped develop Rider’s STEP, Student Transitional Education Program, which provides individual and group tutoring, as well as study tables. He coordinated progress reports and monitored the student-athletes’ academic progress, provided workshops, and hired Rider’s first full-time Academic Support Coordinator.

Under Dalgewicz the Rider golf program made steady progress each year. In the fall of 2004 the Broncs won both the Cornell and St. Bonaventure tournaments, and received a ranking of 10th in the Mid Atlantic Region. In 2005 the team placed third at the MAAC Championships, held at Disney's Lake Buena Vista Golf Course in Orlando.

Rider qualified as a team for the Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) Championships in the fall of 2000, and over the years has qualified five other individuals. In the 2001 ECAC Championships the Broncs placed second of 26 teams.

Dalgewicz led the Broncs to a fourth place finish in the 2006, 2000 and the 1998 MAAC Championships, and his 1998 squad became Rider’s first in the modern era to qualify for the Metropolitan Golf Association Championships.

The Yardley, PA, native was an outstanding collegiate wrestler at East Stroudsburg, where he received his undergraduate and graduate degrees in health and physical education. A two-time Pennsylvania State College champion, Dalgewicz earned All-America honors in 1966.

A former wrestling coach at Princeton University, he is past secretary to the National Wrestling Coaches Association and serves as the wrestling chair of the Colonial Athletic Association.

A search for a full time associate director of athletics for compliance and academic support and a part-time golf coach will begin immediately.