St. Joseph’s AD Jill Bodensteiner is leaving to become the commissioner of the Horizon League
Bodensteiner has served as the school’s athletic director since 2018. Her last day on campus will be April 15.
Jill Bodensteiner is stepping down from her post as St. Joseph’s athletic director, according to an announcement from the university on Thursday.
Bodensteiner is set to become the next commissioner of the Horizon League. Her last day at St. Joe’s will be April 15.
Eric Laudano, St. Joe’s executive senior associate athletics director, will serve as interim athletic director while a search is conducted, the school said in a release.
An Indiana native, Bodensteiner will take over a league headquartered in Indianapolis. She has been the AD on Hawk Hill since June 2018.
“Jill is a national leader in intercollegiate athletics,” St. Joe’s president Cheryl A. McConnell said in a statement. “We are profoundly grateful for her vision, dedication and service to the Hawks. She leaves our athletics program strong and well-positioned for continued success. We wish her the best on her return home to Indiana and her role with the Horizon League.”
Bodensteiner’s tenure at St. Joe’s started with a bang. She fired longtime men’s basketball coach Phil Martelli less than a year after taking over as athletic director. She replaced Martelli with Billy Lange, whose six-year run ended in the fall when he abruptly left the program for an assistant’s role with the New York Knicks. Lange posted an 81-104 record with the Hawks.
Though the men’s program has failed to get back to prominence in the new era of college basketball, St. Joe’s has had successful runs in non-revenue sports like field hockey, which played in the national championship game in 2024; men’s and women’s lacrosse, which made inaugural NCAA Tournament appearances; and baseball, which won the Atlantic 10 regular-season title in 2023.