From news services

North Idaho College selected current assistant wrestling coach Chase Clasen to be the Cardinals’ interim head wrestling coach.

Clasen, who joined NIC in July, will fill the position left vacant by head wrestling coach Michael Sebaaly who will serve as NIC’s interim president through the 2021-22 academic year.

“We are very happy to have Chase take on this expanded leadership role,” NIC Vice President for Student Services Graydon Stanley said. “During his time at NIC, he has developed important relationships with our student-athletes and shown that he is committed to their success on the mat and in the classroom.”

A native of Moses Lake, Wash., Clasen was graduate assistant wrestling coach at NCAA Division II Chadron State College in Nebraska, before coming to NIC. While at Chadron State, Clasen helped recruit and sign multiple state champions and high school All-Americans. As a coach, he helped develop five collegiate All-Americans.

Clasen said he is excited for the opportunity to be the Cardinal wrestlers’ interim head coach.

“NIC has a great wrestling tradition, where many of my friends and former coaches have achieved their wrestling goals,” Clasen said. “This role matches my career goal which is to coach a team to a national title. North Idaho College is in a great position and is on track to accomplish this goal.”

He said that as assistant wrestling coach at NIC, he worked closely with Sebaaly.

“He has taught me so much about recruiting and the small intricacies about being a head coach,” Clasen said.

Following a successful high school wrestling career, Clasen wrestled for Iowa Western Community college where he received an associate degree in social science. He then transferred to Chadron State, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in interdisciplinary studies and competed on their wrestling team.

During his time at Chadron, Clasen was a two-time national qualifier, a two-time conference finalist (one of those times a conference champion), and he was dubbed both an NCAA wrestling All-American and an Academic All-American his senior year. After earning his bachelor’s degree in interdisciplinary studies, Clasen spent a season as the graduate assistant coach at Chadron. He is currently pursuing a master’s degree in organizational leadership.

NIC hires Noel as

new athletic director

North Idaho College recently hired Shawn Noël to serve as NIC’s new Director of Athletics and Recreation.

With more than a decade of experience in collegiate athletics leadership, Noël most recently served as athletic director at Union County College in Cranford, N.J.

“We are excited about Shawn joining us here. He is a skilled and experienced leader with a strong record of success in community college athletics and recreation,” Stanley said. “It was clear that he will be a great fit in our institutional culture and community.”

Search committee members were impressed with Noël’s emphasis on developing a strategic plan for athletics and recreation that is centered on student athlete success in the classroom.

“It is truly an honor to join North Idaho College and serve as Director of Athletics and Recreation. I am extremely grateful to the search committee for this incredible opportunity,” Noël said. “I am ready to hit the ground running, and I’m excited to work with the Athletics and Recreation departments, coaches, and student-athletes. My goal is to have our student-athletes be the shining stars of the campus. I want them to stand out in the classroom, on the field, and in the community.”

Noël served as Director of Athletics and Recreation at Brookdale Community College in New Jersey from 2012 to 2018; as Director of Athletics, Community Aquatic and Recreation Complex and Physical Education at Garrett College in Maryland from 2010 to 2012; and as Assistant Director of Athletics at Herkimer County Community College in New York from 2007 to 2010.

He holds a Master of Business Administration from the State University of New York at Albany and a Bachelor of Science in Marketing from the State University of New York at Oswego.

Noël replaces Bobby Lee, who left NIC in September to take a job as AD at Mt. Spokane High School. Noël is scheduled to be on staff at NIC beginning Dec. 6.