CEDARVILLE, Ohio — After conducting a nationwide search for Cedarville University’s next athletic director, Dr. Thomas White, president, today announced the hiring of Christopher Cross at office.
Cross has been a member of Cedarville’s athletic department since 2005. He served as assistant athletic director beginning in 2014, and as of July 2021, he serves as interim athletic director.
“I am grateful to Dr. White for this opportunity,” Cross said. “We have a great team of coaches and student-athletes whom I look forward to helping achieve personal and athletic success as we together accomplish our mission of empowering student-athletes to have an impact on the world for Christ.”
As athletic director, Cross will oversee the NCAA’s 16 Division II intercollegiate teams and athletic coaching at the university, and he will serve on the president’s cabinet.
“We have a great team of coaches and student-athletes whom I look forward to helping achieve personal and athletic success as we together accomplish our mission of empowering student-athletes to have an impact on the world for Christ.” -Chris Cross
“The Athletic Director’s role at Cedarville is about more than just athletic competition, it’s about investing spiritually and professionally in the lives of our coaches and student-athletes,” White said. “I think Chris will lead us well in these areas as he has demonstrated throughout his career, including this year as interim manager, that he is a person of character and visionary leadership.”
Cross was Cedarville’s first full-time assistant athletic director for compliance, a position he accepted in 2014. Prior to that role, he served 10 years as an assistant athletic training professor, and in 2005 he assumed the role of head athletic trainer and liaison between the university’s NCAA II athletics department and all academic health-related professions.
“Cedarville has been my home for almost 18 years,” Cross added. “It is my desire to lead our sports program as a ‘servant of Christ and steward of the mysteries of God’ so that all who watch our coaches and athletes will see that we are truly committed to the Word of God and the Testimony of Jesus Christ.”
Before coming to Cedarville, he was director of athletic training at Salem International University. In this capacity, Cross was responsible for overseeing the education and service of the athletic training program.
Cross has provided many services to college and athletic organizations during his career. From 2018 to 2021, he was chairman of the compliance committee of the Great Midwest Athletic Conference and president-elect of the NAIA Athletic Trainers Association in 2008. Cross chaired Cedarville’s personnel committee to the president in 2016 and was appointed to the university’s strategic planning committee in 2015.
He graduated in 1996 from Alderson-Broaddus College in West Virginia with a degree in sports medicine. The Clarksburg, West Virginia native then worked for three years at Athens Physical Therapy before earning his master’s degree in athletic training from the University of West Virginia in 2001.
Cross is active in the local community serving on the local school board in Cedar Cliff and is a member of Heritage Fellowship Church in Springfield. He and his wife, Barbara, reside in Cedarville and have three sons: Mason, Colby and Tyler.
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