University of Delaware Interim Athletic Director Jordan Skolnick is one of two athletic directors in the United States leading an athletic department from the regional Football Championship Series (FCS) level to the more prestigious Football Bowl Series (FBS) level.

Delaware, along with Missouri State University, has made the leap this season. Both schools are joining Conference USA, which has universities that span from Florida to New Mexico. “Joining FBS allows us the opportunity to have our athletics aligned with our academics,” Skolnick said. “We’re one of the best public academic universities in the country. The moment was right as we’ve seen things play out in college athletics.”

Skolnick, 40, is leading the Blue Hens out of the proverbial small pond – where they’ve won six national championships (Division II & FCS combined) – into the largest one in the U.S. (FBS). He is one of the youngest athletic directors in the country and is believed to be one of just two Jewish A.D.s among the 136 FBS schools, along with Auburn University’s John Cohen.

Skolnick’s story started in Storrs, Connecticut where he was the son of educators and a star soccer player at E.O. Smith High School, on the campus of the University of Connecticut. “My Judaism is really about family and community,” he said. “When I grew up in Storrs, there wasn’t a big Jewish population. Going to synagogue was part of my upbringing. I’ve always seen it as part of my identity from a cultural standpoint.”

Skolnick received NCAA Division I scholarship offers from the University of Massachusetts, University of Rhode Island and Michigan State University. At the last minute, he instead chose Brandeis University, which competes at the NCAA Division III level.

“I had an epiphany that I wasn’t going to be a professional soccer player, and I wanted to get the best education possible and go to a school that aligned with my values,” Skolnick said. “So I went on a recruiting trip to Brandeis. I had an amazing time. This was a better decision for me for the rest of my life. I wasn’t thinking about playing Division III until they started recruiting me.”

Skolnick met his wife at Brandeis, where she played for the women’s soccer team. They’ve been married for close to 10 years.

He earned a bachelor’s degree in American studies in 2007 and thoroughly enjoyed the classes taught by the late Jacob “Jerry” Cohen. “I met a lot of great friends at Brandeis,” Skolnick said. “Some of them had much more religious backgrounds than I did. That community of people certainly strengthened my understanding and my relationships with Jewish culture.”

From Brandeis, Skolnick went to work for athletic departments at NCAA Division I schools such as Yale University, University of North Carolina and University of Michigan. It was in Ann Arbor, Michigan where he was colleagues with now University of Washington’s Jedd Fisch, the only Jewish head football coach in FBS.

Throughout his career, fundraising has been Skolnick’s forte. He continues that works today in leading Delaware’s athletic department. He started there in 2016 as senior associate athletic director for development and held that position until he was promoted to interim A.D. six months ago.

“Fundraising never stops,” Skolnick said. “It’s really important for us to have people care about this place and to make sure we have the resources to be successful. It energizes me to talk to people about what we’re doing. It’s important that we know who we are and what makes Delaware special.”

The potential long-term rewards outweigh the increased travel costs. In football alone, Delaware’s mileage to road games has increased more than seven-fold from last season – from 789 to 5,790. They’ve traded trips from nearby Philadelphia and the Jersey Shore to Boulder, Colorado and Miami.

Skolnick is encouraged by the fact that he’s received strong support from Super Bowl-winning quarterback Joe Flacco and former All-Pro quarterback Rich Gannon – both Delaware graduates. Former President Joe Biden, who played freshman football at Delaware and graduated from the university in 1965, and former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, a 1984 alum, are also avid supporters of the Blue Hens.

When he was a teenager in Storrs, Skolnick had an up-close view of UConn’s transition from the Atlantic 10 Conference to becoming an FBS independent. The Huskies have had their ups – winning the Big East Conference and qualifying for the Fiesta Bowl – and downs: going 17-58 between 2014-2021. The Blue Hens will face the Huskies for the first time in 27 years when the teams clash on Sept. 13 in Newark, Delaware.

Delaware visited the University of Colorado of the Big 12 Conference on Sept. 6 and will visit Wake Forest University of the Atlantic Coast Conference on Nov. 22.

Delaware created a buzz this offseason by offering free tickets and swag to video gamers who led the Blue Hens to a national championship on the NCAA Football 26 video game.

“We’re lucky to have a lot of creative people on our staff who come up with ideas like that,” Skolnick said. “They find new ways to engage folks, especially younger audiences. It’s been a fun thing to promote, and it caught a lot of steam out there. It’s a great example of more people getting to see Delaware than ever before.”

Skolnick hopes to become Delaware’s permanent athletic director, but his focus now is on ensuring a smooth transition to FBS. “I’m grateful that I get to be here and do this in the moment,” he said. “If it works out that I get to do this job long-term, that would be terrific. I’m just worried about day to day and making sure our student-athletes and coaches have what they need to be successful.” Θ