The WSU president’s office has extended the applicant deadline for the open position as a Faculty Athletics Representative.

The current Faculty Athletics Representative Ken Casavant is retiring this year. He has been at WSU for 50 years and has been the faculty athletics representative for the past 18. Casavant has been the longest serving representative in the Pac-12, and has served under four different WSU Presidents.

“The hardest part of the job was seeing NCAA rules get in the way of student-athlete’s successes and their pursuits,” Casavant said. “It was tough seeing some athletes not succeed.”

Casavant said that despite those lows he did enjoy the job and said that it was a pleasure.

“Dr. Casavant has been such a good representative,” Christine Hoyt, WSU President’s Chief of Staff, said.

Both Hoyt and Casavant are part of the advisory committee that will select the new representative.

“The search is going well, we have a great hand full of people to choose from,” Hoyt said.

The search is being extended to Feb. 21, to give applicants extra time to get their papers in order, Casavant said.

The Faculty Athletics Representative works under the president, and represents WSU in all NCAA matters. The representative is also in charge of making sure WSU maintains its academic integrity with student-athletes, according to the job description on the president’s website.

Casavant said the representative is not part of the athletic department and only represents the president and participates in NCAA legislation.

“My advice to the incoming representative would be to get involved as soon as possible,” he said.

The next representative will be taking office sometime this spring, but the exact date is still to be determined, Hoyt said.