Concordia Names D’Arcy Ryan Director of Recreation and Athletics

University Keeps It In-House After Lengthy Search

Concordia dropped D’Arcy Ryan’s interim tag and hired him as their permanent director of recreation and athletics. Photo Tristan D’Amours

After serving as interim director of recreation and athletics since January 2017, the Department of Recreation and Athletics promoted D’Arcy Ryan as the permanent director.

“In short order, [Ryan] was able to strengthen relationships with existing university departments and collaborate effectively with coaching and recreation staff,” said Concordia deputy provost Lisa Ostiguy in a press release. “This, combined with his strong connection to students, makes him a natural fit for the position.”

Concordia University’s Twitter account tweeted out a link to the statement, Wednesday evening, but no mention of a press conference has been made as of press time.

Ryan began serving as the interim director shortly after Patrick Boivin left the job to become the President and CEO of the Montreal Alouettes. In addition to the new position, Ryan continued his work as Concordia’s director of residence life.

In a recent interview with The Link, Ryan indicated that the university asked him to fill in because, as director of residence life, he reported directly to Ostiguy. He is also very familiar with Concordia’s athletics department, making his learning curve much less steep. It was an ideal situation for someone who they thought would only be occupying the position temporarily. Ryan was a member of the Stingers’ rugby team in the 90s.

As of press time, Ryan is still listed as the director of residence life, but whether or not he remains in that position moving forward is unclear.

Neither the university nor the athletics department publicly announced the appointment of the interim at the time.

With files from Vince Morello.