Citing “irreconcilable differences” with the administration, Steve Ward will resign at the end of the semester after 14 years as DVC’s athletic director.

“I’m not resigning from it willingly,” Ward said. “[The administration] just made it impossible to continue.”

He cited as reasons for his departure “irreconcilable differences” on the infrastructure of athletics at DVC, its funding and how it is administrated here.

Whereas most other schools have at least one full-time trainer (if not two), two full-time secretaries and two academic athletic counselors, Ward said DVC employs only one 60-percent trainer, a secretary for the entire athletic division and just recently an academic athletic counselor.

Despite changes in presidents, from Phyllis Peterson and Mark Edelstein to Diane Scott-Summers and now Judy Walters, nothing has changed in how athletics are handled, Ward said.

“Our coaches fundraise between $100,000 and $140,000 a year, just to get by,” Ward said. “It’s outrageous what our student athletes have to do.”

He said DVC’s funding of athletics is “distinctly below all of the schools in the Big 8, which is the premier conference in Northern California.”

In an e-mail message to all employees Oct. 4, President Walters said the college would immediately seek to fill a newly created dean/athletic director position, with the intent of having the new hire on board by Jan.1, 2009.

“We want to thank Steve for his many years of services as the AD at DVC and for his passionate commitment to our student athletes,” Walters wrote.

Prior to Ward’s resignation, Walters said the college had planned to have the Rachel Westlake, dean of math and planned to have Rachel Westlake, dean of math and computer science, assume an interim responsibility for the division of dance, athletics and physical education through June, 2009.

This organizational structure included Ward, keeping his responsibilities for the current year, with a person in the new dean position assuming responsibilities in July, 2009.

Ward said he was initially interested in applying for the position, despite DVC’s lack of staff infrastructure.

But, he said, he ran up against another barrier: A 40- year old district rule bars deans from being the immediate supervisor of a spouse.

Ward’s wife has taught aquatics part-time at DVC for the last seven years and is the only female instructor on the pool deck.

For Ward to take the dean position, his wife would have to be fired.

“I told the person months ago that that was non negotiable, and they’ve continued to stand firm with that,” Ward said. “So I said, ‘Find someone else.'”

Ward will continue to run the sports Hall of Fame he started three years ago in 2006, but move full time into the physical education department as an instructor after this semester. He said he is also looking at becoming a pitching coach at his old school, Alhambra High.