AUC Athletics Bids Farewell to Athletic Director Robert Reasso After Two Years of Unparalleled Achievements

AUC's Office of Athletics is sad to bid farewell to Bob Reasso as he resigned to go back to the United States after changing the face of athletics in a short period of time. Reasso started his journey with AUC in Fall 2018 where he immediately started transforming the Office of Athletics into an American style office by creating a brand logo highlighting the Eagle as AUC's mascot.

With over 30 years of experience in university athletics, Reasso trained the existing Office of Athletics team and new hires on how to run an American style office dividing tasks and optimizing their skills. During his first months, he created the Student-Athletes Advisory Committee (SAAC) which has become a significant channel of communication between students and the office.

"SAAC is the perfect platform where athletes can include their voices in matters concerning student-athletes lives and experiences. By the inclusion of representatives of all 21 teams, it gave us the chance to communicate more effectively with all the athletes regarding their needs and concerns," says Ahmed Wael, SAAC president and AUC men's swimming captain.

Reasso created a substantial online presence for the office with a brand new athletics website and social media pages using the new mascot logo. Not only does this online network share announcements about events, facilities and games, but more importantly, it shows the achievements of AUC athletes in and off-campus. One of the examples is the "Athlete of the Week" an honor given to athletes who portray exceptional sportsmanship every week.

During his time at AUC, Reasso coached both men and women’s football teams. He developed AUC’s concussion protocol to protect our student-athletes and established an American style academy program to increase our coach’s revenue potential, ensuring the recruitment of the finest coaching staff in University athletics in Egypt. Reasso worked on generating a strategic plan for the Office of Athletics analyzing the strengths and weaknesses of the department, to help reach the vision for the Office of Athletics within the University’s plan to globalize.

“Reasso taught us how to run a real American-style office and set a solid vision for us to follow. We feel confident in our ways now and we owe it all to him. A man with a vision.” says Mohamed Arafa, assistant director for facilities, operation and special events.

Another remarkable accomplishment is the Eagle Awards Banquet that was initiated by Reasso in spring 2019. This is an event done in all American universities at the end of each academic year to celebrate the success of the athletes. At the AUC Eagles Awards Banquet, student-athletes were awarded sportsmanship awards, scholar-athlete awards, most valuable player awards, team of the year award and athlete of the year award.

Reasso changed the air around the Office of Athletics, leaving a profound mark on the athletic experience at AUC as well as his staff and student-athletes in a brief but successful period. When asked about his time at AUC, he said "I had a wonderful time in Egypt. I had a great staff of hard-working professionals. I will miss the University and my staff and the student-athletes the most.”