by Matt Lounsberry

Cornerstone University’s athletic program has earned more prestige as Athletic Director Dave Grube was named the Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Conference Athletic Director of the Year this year.

SITTING PROUD: CU athletic director Dave Grube poses in the Mol Arena at Cornerstone. He gives full credit for his award to the outstanding staff and student athletes that he works with. Photo by Stasha Geise.

Grube says his award is a result of a great staff and outstanding student athletes. “It’s nothing I’ve done,” Grube said. “The staff and students are doing a great job on and off the field and the conference is recognizing the good work.” As athletic director, Grube oversees all the sports programs and is in charge of staff, budget and everything that happens in each program. This is his eighth year at CU.

“The most challenging thing is having to wear so many hats,” Grube said, “In smaller institutions there are fewer people to get things done.” Grube was surprised when he was notified by the conference that he would receive the award. “I didn’t think or expect my colleagues to recognize me this way,” Grube said, “There are a lot of good ADs in the conference.” Through this award, Grube feels like he has a platform to honor God. He is giving the honor to God and representing CU in a Godly fashion. “God has blessed me with the people that I am surrounded by and with abilities that I can use at Cornerstone,” Grube said, “It’s about being excellent for God because we serve an excellent God.”

Grube continues to recognize the work done by the athletic staff despite being awarded a personal award. “Nobody recognizes an athletic director without a great staff,” Grube said. “The way the student athletes present themselves in games shows how we coach our athletes. Any recognition I get is because of a great job by our coaches and good responses by our athletes.”

Grube looks to continue to strive for excellence in a way that honors God. To accomplish this he continues to communicate and support his staff, listen to needs, and set goals and accomplish them so that the coaches may excel in their jobs as well. “We need to look at what we can do. Not dwell on what we can’t do,” Grube said. “We need to keep this momentum moving us forward.”

Grube has applied a slogan to all the work he does and all that is done by the coaches and student athletes at CU. “Excellence is not an option, it’s an expectation.” He expects everyone in the athletic department to apply this to anything and everything they do.

“If we apply that it is an expectation, then we will excel in everything we do,” Grube said. A lot has changed since Grube was hired as athletic director of CU in 2001. A major change that has been made is the change in the culture of athletics at CU. Grube and the entire athletic department wants student athletes to give back to the community, interact with the campus community, and be a part of campus life.

In other words, be givers rather than takers. “We emphasize our student athletes should be champions of character,” Grube said. “It’s intentional that our teams understand what is expected of them as representations of Cornerstone University.”