Anchor Up
Competitive Greatness The Grand Valley Way
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About the Author:
A promoter of a well-rounded athletics department, Tim Selgo has been a key figure in Grand Valley State’s rise to the top of Division II athletics the past twenty years. GVSU had never won a national championship prior to Selgo’s arrival, but since, they have won nineteen NCAA Division II titles and 173 Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference crowns. The Lakers have finished among the top two in the Learfield Sports/NACDA Directors’ Cup standings for fifteen consecutive years, including eight straight titles (2003-04 to 2010-11) and winning eleven of the last thirteen. GVSU has also won eighteen straight GLIAC Presidents’ Cup titles as the top athletics program in the conference.
Selgo graduated from Toledo in 1980 with a bachelor’s degree in physical education and a minor in mathematics. Following graduation, Selgo remained at Toledo as a graduate assistant for the Toledo men’s basketball program and earned his master’s degree in education administration in 1982. Before coming to Grand Valley, he taught and coached at the high school level, coached women’s basketball at Toledo, and served as Toledo’s associate athletics director for eight years.
Currently, after retiring from GVSU in July of 2016, Selgo is an adjunct professor at Davenport University and a consultant with Athletics Staffing & Consultants. Selgo and his wife Terry recently celebrated their thirty-seventh wedding anniversary. They have three children, Jennifer, Rachel, and Daniel, and five grandsons, Tray, R.J., Tucker, Hank, and Burke
For more information on Tim Selgo and his work, you can visit Athletics Staffing & Consulting at www.ascwinners.com/asc
You can also find him on Social Media:
About the Book:
Anchor Up: Competitive Greatness the Grand Valley Way chronicles Tim Selgo’s thirty-plus years in college athletics, twenty as the athletics director at Grand Valley State University. Selgo, who spurred Grand Valley’s rise to prominence in NCAA Division II athletics, provides an informative and entertaining how-to guide all athletics administrators—from the aspiring novice to the experienced veteran—can use to help their student-athletes and their athletics departments achieve competitive greatness.
Selgo defines “competitive greatness” as the great John Wooden did: coming through with your best performance when it is most needed. That doesn’t mean winning every championship and being an All-American every year, but it does mean committing to excellence and aligning an athletics vision within the university mission to achieve goals.
From his days as a coach’s son and his eventual success as a basketball player in high school and at the University of Toledo, to his experiences as a head coach, associate athletics director at Toledo, and AD at GVSU, Selgo relays what it takes to lead and nurture groups of young men and women to success both in athletics competition and life after college. Selgo’s three fundamentals for success—creating the best learning environment possible, challenging teams to competitive greatness, and committing the energy necessary for success—will prove instructive for people who seek leadership positions in college athletics and refreshing for those who have already spent years in the enterprise.
In short, Selgo’s message will resonate with everyone, even those outside of athletics. Anchor Up is about leadership as much as it reflects Selgo’s often poignant and sometimes humorous journey to the top.
"This is probably the main strength of Anchor Up; the book really serves as a how-to guide for excellent personnel management."
-Foreward Clarion Reviews
For the full review, click here.
Praise for Anchor Up
"Tim Selgo was one of the nation’s most successful college athletic directors. Anchor Up covers the personal, professional, and institutional aspects of his great run at Grand Valley State University. Anyone early in their career as an athletic administrator will benefit from reflecting on the stories he shares. In them, Tim lays out the foundations of leadership for a successful athletic program. Those same foundations of leadership apply in business, education, and any endeavor in which one has the opportunity and responsibility to lead a group to accomplish great things."
~Mark Murray, GVSU President 2001-2006
"Under Tim Selgo's direction, Grand Valley State's athletics program not only won championships but also provided an optimum educational environment for dozens of coaches and administrators to discover their own leadership potential and realize their career dreams. As the CEO of an association that develops and nurtures leadership potential in women who aspire to achieve competitive greatness in athletics administration, I will certainly use Anchor Up as a case study for them to emulate."
~Patti Phillips, CEO of Women Leaders in College Sports
"Tim Selgo is a consummate professional that I have had the honor to work with and interact with for three decades and he led Grand Valley State University to unprecedented greatness in all phases of their program. His significant experience, perspective, student-centered focus and honorable commitment to excellence provides meaningful insight and guidance to individuals in our profession and beyond. This book will be a difference maker and is a valuable tool; Anchor Up is well done!"
~Shelley Appelbaum, Executive Associate Athletic Director, Michigan State University
"During two decades at the helm, Tim built Grand Valley into a powerhouse by creating an environment for student-athlete success academically and athletically. While constructing the foundation locally, the honor of being president of the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics exemplifies the respect and trust he earned from peers nationwide. He represents what is wonderful about college athletics in so many ways, I am humbled to call him a friend and colleague."
~Jim Phillips, Northwestern Athletics Director, Past President of NACDA
