{"id":3482,"date":"2021-11-05T14:49:33","date_gmt":"2021-11-05T14:49:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.wilmu.edu\/news\/?p=3482"},"modified":"2025-02-13T13:04:42","modified_gmt":"2025-02-13T18:04:42","slug":"3482","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.wilmu.edu\/news\/2021\/11\/05\/3482\/","title":{"rendered":"Godfrey\u2019s Trailblazing Role"},"content":{"rendered":"<style>.kadence-column3482_d44fee-b1 > .kt-inside-inner-col{padding-right:var(--global-kb-spacing-lg, 3rem);padding-bottom:var(--global-kb-spacing-lg, 3rem);padding-left:var(--global-kb-spacing-lg, 3rem);}.kadence-column3482_d44fee-b1 > .kt-inside-inner-col,.kadence-column3482_d44fee-b1 > .kt-inside-inner-col:before{border-top-left-radius:0px;border-top-right-radius:0px;border-bottom-right-radius:0px;border-bottom-left-radius:0px;}.kadence-column3482_d44fee-b1 > .kt-inside-inner-col{column-gap:var(--global-kb-gap-sm, 1rem);}.kadence-column3482_d44fee-b1 > .kt-inside-inner-col{flex-direction:column;}.kadence-column3482_d44fee-b1 > .kt-inside-inner-col > .aligncenter{width:100%;}.kadence-column3482_d44fee-b1 > .kt-inside-inner-col:before{opacity:0.3;}.kadence-column3482_d44fee-b1{position:relative;}@media all and (max-width: 1024px){.kadence-column3482_d44fee-b1 > .kt-inside-inner-col{flex-direction:column;justify-content:center;}}@media all and (max-width: 991px){.kadence-column3482_d44fee-b1 > .kt-inside-inner-col{flex-direction:column;justify-content:center;}}<\/style>\n<div class=\"wp-block-kadence-column kadence-column3482_d44fee-b1 dynamic-main-col\"><div class=\"kt-inside-inner-col\">\n<p>In March, when Wilmington University alumna Katherine Godfrey was named the athletic director at Salesianum, Wilmington\u2019s all-boys school, she almost immediately decided to reconnect with WilmU Director of Athletics Dr. Stefanie Whitby.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As Salesianum\u2019s first female AD, Godfrey knew she could gain valuable insight from Dr. Whitby, who had been an assistant coach for her high school track team. \u201cI absolutely plan to sit down with Dr. Stef and pick her brain,\u201d Godfrey says. \u201cI\u2019m sure I can gain a lot of knowledge from her.\u201d<br>\u201cKatie is an excellent choice for this position at Salesianum,\u201d says Dr. Whitby, adding that she\u2019s humbled by Godfrey\u2019s sentiments. \u201cShe was an outstanding athlete herself, and that robust background will serve her well in this leadership role. Katie is tremendously hard-working, caring and compassionate, and she will be able to make tough but fair decisions.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>(Godfrey) is the first woman given this opportunity at our school, and that\u2019s a source of pride for us. But make no mistake, it\u2019s also true that Katie is absolutely the right person for this job.&nbsp;&nbsp;<em>\u2014Father J. Christian Beretta&nbsp;<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n<style>.kb-image3482_dc016c-bf .kb-image-has-overlay:after{opacity:0.3;}<\/style>\n<div class=\"wp-block-kadence-image kb-image3482_dc016c-bf\"><figure class=\"alignleft size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"415\" src=\"https:\/\/blog.test.wilmu.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/Kathreine-Godfrey.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"kb-img wp-image-16420\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blog.wilmu.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/Kathreine-Godfrey.jpg 300w, https:\/\/blog.wilmu.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/Kathreine-Godfrey-181x250.jpg 181w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>The announcement of Godfrey\u2019s new job did not come as a complete surprise to the Salesianum community. After all, she had already scored another first in 2008 when she became the junior varsity basketball coach. Prior to that, no woman had ever coached a sport at Sallies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A member of the Mathematics Department for 16 years, Godfrey\u2019s ties to Salesianum go back to its very beginning. A couple of great-great uncles were members of the first graduating class in 1907 (thus becoming \u201cSalesianum Gentlemen.\u201d) Her maternal grandfather, William Boeck, was a 1934 grad, and became a member of the school\u2019s first Hall of Fame class. Thirty years later, her father, Anthony Orga, got his Salesianum sheepskin. Godfrey\u2019s three brothers and a few uncles and cousins also are alumni.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Young Katie even aspired to becoming the first female to attend the school. And she planned to play basketball there. After all, she grew up trading baskets and elbows with her brothers during family driveway games. Says the 5-foot-4-inch Godfrey: \u201cI didn\u2019t win, but I kept battling.\u201d<br>She officially assumed her new office on July 1. According to the school\u2019s research, she became the only woman currently serving as AD at an all-boys school in the United States. She joins seven other female athletic directors in Delaware high schools.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Godfrey, who received her master\u2019s in School Leadership from Wilmington University in 2009, brings plenty of athletic bona fides to her new job. She and her brothers and two sisters grew up playing all manner of games, and at Wilmington\u2019s all-girls Ursuline Academy she played volleyball, excelled as a guard in basketball, and was a sprinter and hurdler on the track team. Following high school, she scored a partial academic scholarship to Washington College in Chestertown, Maryland, where she was recruited for the basketball team and was a walk-on in volleyball.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>After graduating from Washington College in 2004, Godfrey joined the Sals faculty and, for the next five years, also began accumulating coaching experience outside the school. During the fall, she was on the volleyball staff at Padua Academy \u2014 another Wilmington all-girls school \u2014 from 2004\u201306. In \u201907, she moved over to Wilmington\u2019s Tower Hill School, where she was at first assistant varsity coach for girls volleyball, then head coach in 2008 and \u201909.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In the winter, she served as assistant jayvee coach and assistant varsity coach for basketball at her alma mater, Ursuline, from 2004\u201308.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The transition to coaching boys at Sallies proved surprisingly easy. \u201cThe guys were great,\u201d she says of her jayvee basketball squad. \u201cThere was a handful of them that I actually taught, and they all knew who I was, so I wasn\u2019t someone new to them. And we just jumped right in; we just started playing basketball. It didn\u2019t matter what gender I was, we needed to get better, and that was our agenda.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>She says Mike Gallagher, who was the head basketball coach at the time, \u201cwas a fantastic mentor. Working with him was a dream. I really enjoyed coaching the boys.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>She stepped back from coaching the next year to have her first child and to complete her studies at WilmU. She and her husband, Rick (a Sallies grad, of course, where he was a member of the baseball team), have three girls and a boy, ranging in age from 4 to 11. The kids play virtually every sport known to man, and their parents coach them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Godfrey says she chose WilmU for her graduate degree because it was affordable and convenient, with classes at the Wilson Graduate Center on Reads Way. She says the instructors were very supportive. \u201cThey made it clear that you could reach out to them at any time, and I found their stories about being in the field very helpful.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Rick Godfrey enrolled at WilmU a few years later, and received his master\u2019s in Business Administration with a Finance concentration in 2013. He works for Barclays.&nbsp; While Godfrey may be unique in Sallies history, she was \u201can easy choice\u201d for AD, according to the school\u2019s principal, Father J. Christian Beretta.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cKatie was raised in a family with deep roots at Salesianum, and has been an outstanding teacher here for years, known for both her high expectations and student-centered approach,\u201d Beretta says. \u201cShe brings not only a passion for athletics and competitive spirit, but also a tireless commitment to our school community and its mission. It\u2019s true that she is the first woman given this opportunity at our school, and that\u2019s a source of pride for us. But make no mistake, it\u2019s also true that Katie is absolutely the right person for this job.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Godfrey will step back from classroom duties to devote herself full-time to athletics. \u201cI\u2019m sad to stop teaching,\u201d she says. \u201cOther than being a mom, I consider that my most important role in life.\u201d<br>She says the reaction to her appointment has been almost entirely positive. \u201cProbably the best part about it is how excited my current and former students have been. Their support has been amazing.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>She says she is \u201cvery excited\u201d about heading up perhaps Delaware\u2019s most successful athletic program. Salesianum teams have won championships in every Delaware Interscholastic Athletic Association sport in which they participate, and alumni have played in the NFL, the NBA, and Major League Baseball. But when Godfrey speaks about her philosophy as AD, she doesn\u2019t mention winning or championships.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s about the boys,\u201d she says. \u201cEveryone is uniquely talented in different ways, so it\u2019s about providing a program for them to grow, and giving them a positive experience and allowing them to figure out how they are uniquely instrumental in the growth of Salesianum athletics overall.\u201d<br>Adds Father Beretta: \u201cOur rich athletic tradition will be in capable hands.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>-Bob Yearick<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In March, when Wilmington University alumna Katherine Godfrey was named the athletic director at Salesianum, Wilmington\u2019s all-boys school, she almost immediately decided to reconnect with&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":3484,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_kad_blocks_custom_css":"","_kad_blocks_head_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_body_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_footer_custom_js":"","_kad_post_transparent":"","_kad_post_title":"","_kad_post_layout":"","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false,"_kad_post_classname":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[145,135],"tags":[626],"class_list":["post-3482","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-alumni-news","category-magazine","tag-magazine-fall-2021"],"acf":[],"taxonomy_info":{"category":[{"value":145,"label":"ALUMNI NEWS"},{"value":135,"label":"MAGAZINE"}],"post_tag":[{"value":626,"label":"Magazine Fall 2021"}]},"featured_image_src_large":["https:\/\/blog.wilmu.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/Katie-Orga-Godfrey-6779-480x480.jpg",480,480,true],"author_info":{"display_name":"Natalie Ridgeway","author_link":"https:\/\/blog.wilmu.edu\/news\/author\/natalie\/"},"comment_info":0,"category_info":[{"term_id":145,"name":"ALUMNI NEWS","slug":"alumni-news","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":702,"taxonomy":"category","description":"","parent":0,"count":113,"filter":"raw","cat_ID":145,"category_count":113,"category_description":"","cat_name":"ALUMNI NEWS","category_nicename":"alumni-news","category_parent":0},{"term_id":135,"name":"MAGAZINE","slug":"magazine","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":692,"taxonomy":"category","description":"","parent":0,"count":431,"filter":"raw","cat_ID":135,"category_count":431,"category_description":"","cat_name":"MAGAZINE","category_nicename":"magazine","category_parent":0}],"tag_info":[{"term_id":626,"name":"Magazine Fall 2021","slug":"magazine-fall-2021","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":1183,"taxonomy":"post_tag","description":"","parent":0,"count":23,"filter":"raw"}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.wilmu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3482","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.wilmu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.wilmu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.wilmu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.wilmu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3482"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/blog.wilmu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3482\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16422,"href":"https:\/\/blog.wilmu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3482\/revisions\/16422"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.wilmu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3484"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.wilmu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3482"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.wilmu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3482"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.wilmu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3482"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}