Feb. 4, 2010

Cindy Sterrett did not grow up around sports. Instead, she grew up with an opera singer for a mother and did not take much of a liking to sports until meeting her husband, Joe, now the athletic director at Lehigh. She knew the situation would be drastically different for her children.

“With Joe’s position, we are all around sports every day,” Sterrett said. “Even I have a pretty good knowledge of sports. With our children, they have been around sports for their entire lives, so sports are an even bigger part of their lives. I knew from an early stage that sports would be a
significant part of our lives.”

One Sterrett child in particular was an obvious choice to follow in the family’s athletic footsteps. The third child of Joe and Cindy, Julie Sterrett soaked up all of the athletic experiences centered around her father’s job.

“She was around the field or the arena all of the time,” Cindy Sterrett said. “It wasn’t long before she wanted to sign up for every sport available.”

After participating in various sports in childhood and high school, Julie Sterrett had plenty of options for collegiate athletics. She eventually came to choose a sport, and a program, that she had great familiarity with. In 2003, she committed to join the Lehigh softball team. Fran Troyan’s team has won a League-best 10 Patriot League Championships, and Sterrett had watched the Mountain Hawks’ success with great interest.

“My dad had made it clear to me from the moment I got into sports that Lehigh did not need to be my college choice,” Julie Sterrett said. “He even pushed me toward other schools that he thought might be a good fit. But I knew what a great academic institution Lehigh is, and I had a chance to see the competitiveness of the softball program.”
Julie Sterrett became the third of four Sterrett children to attend Lehigh, and she did nothing to tarnish the family legacy. Sterrett earned First-Team All-Patriot League honors in each of her final two seasons in the brown and white. She also received NFCA All-Region accolades in 2006 after leading the Patriot League in hits, batting average, triples and runs batted in. Upon completion of her playing career, Sterrett began the post-college job hunt. Though her life had revolved around athletics, she returned to her mother, the non-sports fan of their home, for guidance.

“I told her, ‘This is what you know,’” Cindy Sterrett said of sports. “’Can you see yourself doing anything else?’”

“She is very intelligent and is capable of doing many things, but sports have been a big part of her life, not because of what her father does, but because she truly enjoys them. Working in athletics comes naturally to her.”

Equipped with her mother’s advice, Sterrett, who was unable to shake the spirit of her alma mater, began working as a graduate assistant for the Lehigh softball program while earning her Master’s degree.

While helping her former coach, the Mountain Hawks won two Patriot League Championships. In the process, the
energy she formerly exerted on the field needed a place to be exerted.

“There is a limit to the number of coaches who can be in the dugout during tournament games, and as the least senior member of the coaching staff, I had to sit outside of the fence,” Sterrett said. “That was fine with me because I
always had a lot of nervous energy during the games, and when you’re not playing, it’s tough to work through that nervous energy.”

So instead of internalizing her angst, Sterrett did what she knows best. She worked it off.

“I just ran,” Sterrett said of her routine during Patriot League Tournament games. “I needed my daily workout, and this gave me plenty of time to do it.”

The same energy that accompanied her as a player and as a coach led her to her current post. Upon receiving her
Master’s degree, Sterrett again followed her mother’s advice and remained near student-athletes. Sterrett now serves in the Lehigh University administration as the Director of Leadership Administration.

She is also active in connecting Lehigh student-athletes and coaches with the Lehigh and Bethlehem communities. She helps organize Lehigh’s C.O.A.C.H. program, which allows Lehigh student-athletes to mentor young students in the area.

“The position gives me an opportunity to educate studens, including those in athletics, on how to make their communities better, whether it be here on campus, or wherever they make their home,” Sterrett said.