Novi Hires New Athletic Director

The has found a new full-time athletic director: Christian Wilson, who starts Friday.

Wilson will take over for Curt Ellis, who for a position in Saline. Former Novi volleyball coach since then.

Wilson comes from the Gaylord Community School District where he had served as both the athletic director and assistant principal. He has more than 10 years of experience as an athletic director in two school districts and was a basketball coach at Western Michigan University, Michigan Technology University and Northern Michigan University.

He said he is excited to start in Novi and get to work.

"I know that there are not a lot of things that are broken or need to be fixed, but I'm definitely ready to look at things, make adjustments, see what's going on here and very excited about leading the Novi Athletic Department and being part of the Novi community and school," Wilson said at the Novi Board of Education meeting Thursday.

Wilson has his bachelor's in physical education with a minor in health education from Northern Michigan University and his master's in athletic administration from Western Michigan University.

He has been married to his wife, Beth, for 15 years. She is a nurse practitioner. They have two sons, one in fifth grade and one in sixth grade.

"When we looked at the big picture, as difficult as it is to leave a town and community that we love, the things that Novi has to offer is something that we couldn't pass up," Wilson said.

The district received more than 200 applications for the position, and 22 were interviewed. That field was narrowed down to four before Wilson was chosen.

Superintendent Dr. Steve Matthews had looked into other options for filling the AD position that could save resources or money, but in the end it was decided that Novi required another full-time AD to handle the athletic programs.

Novi has approximatley 1,500 student athletes in more than 60 programs.