After 2 Years, O’Connor Quits as Athletic Director at Pierce

Bob O’Connor, Pierce College athletic director for the past two years, resigned Friday, three days after the school announced it was dropping its football and basketball programs.

O’Connor, 54, has been an instructor at Pierce for 20 years. He will remain on staff as a health teacher and golf coach.

O’Connor said his resignation had nothing to do with the school dropping two major sports programs. He said he wrote the letter of resignation last October, but didn’t turn it in to David Wolf, the college president, until Friday.

“The only reason I stayed another year is I knew there would be trouble,� O’Connor said referring to district-wide budget cuts that drastically affected sports programs. “I didn’t want to leave in the middle of a fight.

“I feel like now is the time to step down. I think we’re in as good of shape as we can be in at Pierce going into next year. I like to teach and I like to coach and I didn’t have time to do either one and be athletic director.�

O’Connor said he will take over a golf program that was almost eliminated before last season. The team was sponsored in 1986 by the American Golf Institute, which paid the salary of its coach, Lee Vandevort, and all the rest of the team’s expenses.