(Tucson, AZ). The Pima Community College Athletics department has a new leader.
Jim Monaco, the Pima football coach, was introduced as the Interim Athletic Director on Monday. He replaced Edgar Soto, who had been the department’s Athletic Director since 2009. He accepted the position as Acting Vice President of the Desert Vista Campus and Director of Student Affairs. He started on Sept. 17.
“I want to thank the Chancellor (Lee Lambert), President Morgan Phillips, The Man upstairs, my family…I’m truly blessed to have this opportunity,” Monaco said. “I’m a very lucky man right now. I just want to let you know that I will work very hard at this job. I am honored to have it.
“I’ve had some really good Athletic Directors in my past. JoAnn Rust and Edgar Soto put down incredible foundations and have done some amazing work and there’s no sense to try to vary too much from what they’ve done, just continue to build on. We need to make sure everything works together so that Pima College can be the diamond that it actually is and that everyone knows about that.”
Monaco has two Master’s degrees in Special Education and Administration. He has a Bachelor’s degree in Counseling. He was brought on to be an assistant football coach under Jeff Scurran in 2001 and again under Pat Nugent in 2011. He has been Pima’s head football coach since 2014.
“I feel like I’ve gotten the program to a certain level but because of his (Monaco’s) skills and the things he’s capable of, he’s going to take the Athletics program to another premier level,” Soto said.
The permanent Athletic Director’s position will be re-evaluated in June
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