Samantha Hegmann-Wary remembers her time as a NCAA Division I athlete at Monmouth University, where she competed in throwing events with the track and field team. She feels that gives her a connection with the athletes she oversees at the University of Maine.

“Being a student athlete is completely different than being a regular student. Your time demands are different. Your time commitments, where you need to be. Academically, making sure you maintain eligibility through NCAA rules and regulations,” Hegmann-Wary said. “Since I’ve been in their shoes, I know what it’s like and I know the challenges that a student athlete faces, that really helps me with our current student athletes here. I do have a pretty great relationship (with student athletes). I know a lot of them by first name and vice versa.”

Hegmann-Wary, UMaine’s associate athletic director for compliance and senior women’s administrator, will serve as the school’s interim athletic director, university president Joan Ferrini-Mundy announced Wednesday morning.

Hegmann-Wary will lead the athletic department as the university searches for the successor to Ken Ralph, who announced last week he is leaving UMaine to become athletic director at Southwestern University in Georgetown, Texas.

Hegmann-Wary begins the new job on Sept. 1. On Wednesday afternoon, she said she’s unsure if she’d like to be a candidate for the job and have the interim label removed.

“I think right now it’s a little too early to tell. I’ve only been interim for three or four hours right now. Really, my plan is to take it day by day and work with our great staff and go from there,” Hegmann-Wary said.

The search committee for Ralph’s replacement is being assembled by Ferrini-Mundy and is not yet complete, Hegmann-Wary said.

Among the projects Hegmann-Wary will tackle as interim athletic director is the continued fundraising for athletic facilities construction and improvement, spearheaded by a $90 million gift from the Harold Alfond Foundation. As of last spring, an additional $3 million has been raised for the project.

“I really just want to keep it moving until we hire a new leader, and really enjoy our student athletes and their games,” Hegmann-Wary said.

Hegmann-Wary has worked in Maine’s athletic department since 2019. As associate athletic director for compliance, she oversees the implementation and enforcement of NCAA rules within the department. Prior to coming to UMaine, Hegmann-Wary worked in athletic administrations at Hofstra and Monmouth universities.

“I look forward to working with Samantha in the months ahead,” Ferrini-Mundy said in a statement released by the school. “I have appreciated the leadership and vision she has provided as senior woman administrator in UMaine Athletics and in our compliance office, and will rely on her experience, knowledge and perspective as we continue to advance the state’s only Division I program during this exciting, transformative era made possible by the Harold Alfond Foundation’s challenge grant.”

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