Jan. 5, 2006
Normal, Ill. -
Tracie Brown has become the new director of events and game operations for Illinois State Athletics and Keith Smith has been promoted to director of operations for Redbird facilities.
Brown, a native of Monroe Center, Ill., earned a bachelor's degree in education from Illinois State in 2005. As a student, she spent three years assisting previous events director Brendan Fouracre, who left for a position at Louisiana State University in the fall. She is familiar with all aspects of Redbird events and believes people make those events special.
"I really appreciate the great people who work to support our events and our athletics programs," said Brown. "The people at Illinois State work hard as a team. That's why I am proud to be able to continue to work at my alma mater and for Redbird Athletics. "
Robb Vessely, Illinois State's assistant athletics director for facilities, has been impressed with Brown's people skills.
"Tracie's experience with the program is valuable, but the thing I am most impressed with is her ability to work with people in many different situations," said Vessely. "People enjoy working with her as well."
Smith, a 15-year veteran of the Redbird facilities staff, takes over for recently-retired Tom Young as the leader of an experienced facilities and technical support crew serving all 19 Illinois State athletics programs. Smith appreciates what he learned from Young.
"Tom was a terrific mentor," said Smith. "He deserves a lot of credit for where I am today. The facilities crew is what makes the difference. There is a tremendous amount of ownership and pride on the crew. They want to make sure that everything goes off without a hitch and, most importantly, they want student-athletes, coaches, fans and media to have a good experience at Illinois State."
Vessely is glad to have Smith accepting the leadership role.
"It's hard to replace the 30 years of experience we had with Tom Young, but, fortunately for us, we have Keith to step in," said Vessely. "His experience and knowledge put him in a good position to do that.
Smith and his wife, Julie, are the parents of a 10-month-old son, Elijah.
