By Dale Long
JAN. 30, 2024 | Georgia Gwinnett College has announced the appointment of Dr. Darin S. Wilson as vice president for campus and external engagement after spending 13 years establishing and guiding the college’s successful athletics program as associate vice president of athletics.
The college also named Georgia Gwinnett College athletics Administrator Dr. Ian Potter as the executive athletics director, succeeding Wilson.
Wilson
In this new GGC role, Wilson will have responsibility for optimizing campus physical resources. This will include administering space allocation and management of the new Convocation Center along with the campus’ fleet management, event management and schedule systems management, and other special campuswide projects. Wilson will also help increase the GGC’s community awareness and partnerships in Lawrenceville and surrounding Gwinnett County.
He will continue to have administrative oversight of GGC Athletics, but daily operations will be administered by Dr. Ian Potter in the new role of executive athletics director, beginning February 1.
Currently serving as the deputy athletics director, Potter has played a key role in GGC athletics since its founding in 2012. He was one of the department’s original staff members, overseeing compliance and academics, and recently has collaborated on budget and financial matters. Potter also has supervised several sports within GGC Athletics. Potter has been the inaugural president for the NAIA’s newly formed Athletics Compliance Administrators Association and chairs the Continental Athletic Conference’s Compliance and Eligibility Committee.
Potter
Before coming to GGC, Potter was assistant athletic director for Compliance and Academics with Augusta (Georgia) University. He was a member of several regional and national committees, including being the Southeast representative for the National Compliance Administrators Association.
Under Wilson’s Athletic Director leadership, GGC’s six intercollegiate programs have had unprecedented national and conference successes. Teams have captured 18 NAIA national championships and 28 conference championships, and collectively won more than 1,600 games and achieved a 77% winning percentage. Each team has achieved top-10 national rankings. The quality of GGC’s athletic facilities have helped its programs host NAIA Opening Round competitions and bring visitors to Lawrenceville and Gwinnett County.
Wilson is a two-time NAIA National Athletics Director of the Year recipient and has been recognized three times as an Under Armour Athletics Director of the Year by the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics. He has won multiple Continental Athletic Conference’s Athletics Director of the Year awards. Wilson has served on several NAIA national committees, including the National Administrative Council and Athletics Directors Association’s executive committee. He currently is a member of the NAIA’s Membership and Hall of Fame committees. Wilson has been an influential leader of the CAC and former Association of Independent Institutions.
Wilson has an undergraduate and master’s from Union College (Kentucky) and a Ph.D. in higher education leadership from Capella University in Minneapolis, Minn.
Potter holds a bachelor’s in communication studies and master’s in counselor education from Clemson University. He earned his education specialist degree in educational leadership and attained a Doctorate of Education in higher education administration from Georgia Southern University.
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