NORFOLK, Neb. – Northeast Community College has named a new director of athletics. Jerrett Mills, who has served as associate athletic director at Northeast since 2018, has been named to the position.
Mills is “very excited and cannot wait to get started” in his new role.
“I am extremely honored and humbled to be the next athletic director at Northeast,” Mills said. “I want to thank Amanda Nipp, President (Leah) Barrett, the coaches and search committee for their support in me to guide the athletic department in this new role. I look forward to enhancing the student-athlete experience and promoting Northeast Athletics on campus, in the community and region that we serve.”
Mills, who has been serving as interim athletic director since March, has been heavily involved in the administration of Northeast athletics for the past three years. He assists in all aspects of day-to-day operations of the athletic department, including the sports information responsibilities and game management duties, serving as the primary administrator of the Northeast social media accounts and the webmaster for the athletic website. In addition, he is responsible for creating game-day programs, promotional items, fundraising and the ongoing technological evolution of media relations of the department.
During the 2019-20 academic year, Mills led the publicity efforts of the Northeast volleyball team’s return trip to the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) Division II National Tournament in Charleston, W.Va. He also assisted in the revamped effort of the Hawks Boosters campaign.
In his first year at Northeast, Mill was involved in the launch off the new athletic department website, northeasthawks.com while enhancing the marketing efforts for the department. Under Mills’ guidance, the department was awarded its first College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) publications award, finishing in the top-10 in the fall/winter/spring posters category. In the past year, he has raised the social media presence by more than 50%, while covering the Northeast volleyball national tournament trip and the historic run of the Northeast baseball team to the NJCAA DII Baseball National Tournament in Enid, Okla.
Mills has athletic experience beyond his time at Northeast. While working as a graduate assistant of sports information, at Dakota Wesleyan University, he was named the interim director of sports information. He then went on to take over the director of sports information position, where he managed and marketed 16 varsity sports and assisted the athletic director with fundraising operations.
In January of 2018, Mills left the sports information director role at Dakota Wesleyan to take a position closer to home. He served as an admissions representative at Wayne State College before taking on the role of associate athletic director at Northeast in Aug. 2018.
In addition, Mills has also been involved in various community programs in Norfolk. He assists with the Norfolk Steel baseball program, the Norfolk American Legion baseball program and the Teammates Mentoring program.
Mills is a native of Norfolk, and graduate of Norfolk Catholic High School. He earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Journalism and Communications from Dakota Wesleyan University, as well as his Master of Arts degree in Educational Policy and Administration.
“Jerrett has a passion for athletics and for Northeast,” said Amanda Nipp, vice president of student services, “which makes him the ideal person to lead our athletic department. Jerrett is committed to ensuring the student-athlete experience at Northeast is top notch, and I have no doubt that he will ensure our student-athletes have an exceptional experience playing for Northeast.”
Mills succeeds Kurt Kohler, who is now executive director of the Minnesota Athletic Conference. Mills begins his new duties on Mon., May 17.
