For Penn State Beaver AD Andy Kirschner, it’s about family – a big one
For the second straight year the PSUAC has partnered with a 400-level sports journalism class at University Park to offer feature stories from around the conference. This is the fifth and final in a series.
By JULIA MORAN
MONACA, Pa. - Throughout his 20 years-and-growing career, Andy Kirschner discovered that the most important thing in athletics is to know the answer to the question, who knows what you need to know? And the most important thing to create is a strong, family-based culture.
Kirschner is Penn State University Beaver’s athletic director, softball coach, and dean of PSUAC AD's.
He wears many hats, and each day is different, but he dedicates himself to growing his Lady Lions softball program and strengthening the athletic department.
For Kirschner, his time at the Beaver campus, just northwest of Pittsburgh, began as a freshman on the basketball team.
Academically, he was inspired by his standout fifth-grade teacher, Joe "Joe Cool" Sulcul, who passed away earlier this year, to become an elementary education teacher.
"That's what I wanted to do,” Kirschner said. “I couldn't imagine doing anything else. I am a people person. I do like to help people so that also played into it as well."
Even though he works with young adults, he loves working with young children and runs youth
sports camps to keep his early elementary dream fresh.
After graduating in 2003, Kirschner returned to Beaver to get his masters in circular instruction and work as the men's basketball coach.
Since then, Kirschner's portfolio has expanded and he now has new priorities for transforming PSU Beaver’s programs. Substantial fundraising has been a slow journey, and he says he has "only hit the tip of the iceberg."
More significant efforts are on the horizon in the spring, like indoor baseball training camps along with pre-existing raffles and boosters and PSU Beaver merch sales.
Kirschner also is working to get new sports teams on campus such as men's volleyball and golf, in addition to revamping facilities such as new dugouts on the baseball field and putting players' names on the gymnasium floors.
In addition to overarching athletic department goals, Kirschner has high expectations for the Lady Lions softball team, which he has started to recruit from all over the country.
As a person who had a fantastic family life growing up, and saw his aunts and uncles almost every weekend, Kirschner is grateful for his childhood and believes family togetherness is critical for the team.
"That's what we're trying to build here,” he said. “We're just trying to take that, what I have been fortunate enough to grow up with, and we may not be blood, but it doesn't matter. It's having the connection."
Though the team has not won a championship since 2012, they always have a full roster, great attitudes, and "kick butt in the classroom." The team collectively had an impressive 3.3 GPA in the last spring semester.
Kirschner has also been named the PSUAC Coach of the Year four times in 2009, 2011, 2012 and 2019.
Kirschner is proud of the memories he has made in his career, from graduations, to PSU Beaver’s victories on the field, to building bonds as coaches, and seeing student-athletes rewarded for their hard work.
He has witnessed the entire journey of student-athletes repeatedly, as the passage of time is reflected in his graying hair.
It's a moving reminder as he receives messages from former athletes, now with their own families, sharing pictures and updates through text messages.
"Just seeing them, that they're thriving, and to think that I was a part of their journey to get where they've been,” Kirschner said, “it's touching a little bit, it really is."
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Julia Moran is a student in the John Curley Center for Sports Journalism at Penn State.