Bio

The Hillsdale College athletic department is proud to present Jeff Lantis as its first Director of External Relations. Lantis began his new position, which focuses on fundraising for the department, on August 1, 2014.

Lantis is a very familiar face to those associated with Charger athletics. He has served the college as its Director of Admissions since 1989, and prior to that, was an All-American wide receiver for the football program. He was a senior on the 1985 Charger team that won the NAIA national championship.

In his role as Director of Admissions, Lantis has met tens of thousands of Hillsdale College students, and has a keen understanding of the college’s mission as well as the makeup of its students. Those kind of people skills are perfectly honed for his new role in helping to establish an independent athletic department endowment.

Lantis’s appointment comes at a time when the department has built some momentum with regards to facilities and renovations. The Margot V. Biermann Athletic Center held its grand opening on March 2, 2013, and was the first new building on campus designed primarily for athletics, since ground was broken on the George Roche Sports Complex in 1986.

Since the Biermann Center opened, it has become a hub of activity for not only the Charger men’s and women’s track and women’s tennis team, but for the campus as a whole. It has housed each of the last two Commencement ceremonies, in addition to the college’s Gala in October 2013.

In late spring 2013, renovation began on Jesse Philips Arena, which is now known as the Dawn Tibbetts Potter Arena. Work is continuing on the arena throughout this summer, with freshly built locker rooms, offices and a dance studio on the agenda. The renovation work in the arena is expected to be completed in time for fall varsity sports competition in September 2014.

When Lantis took over as Director of Admissions, incoming freshmen to the college had an average ACT score of 21 and an average high school grade point average of 3.1. Those numbers rose dramatically throughout his tenure, to become 29 (ACT) and 3.81 (high school GPA).

Lantis played for the Charger football team from 1982-1985 and was an All-American wide receiver on the 1985 team that won the NAIA national championship. He and his wife Kelly have four children.