Athletic Director At Grand Valley State and Kent State
In 1972, Don Canham recommended Dufek for the position of athletic director at Grand Valley State University. Dufek served as Grand Valley State's second athletic director from 1972-1976. Dufek helped turn Grand Valley into a sports power. Grand Valley coach Jim Scott noted: "Don helped to start some of the football stadium project here and was the one who hired Jim Harkema as our head football coach, which was a pick that really got Laker football off and running."
Dufek recalled that Grand Valley had gone 0-13 in 1971 and 1972. "When I got there, they had never won a football game, which is hard to believe given the great success of football up there now. ... I hired Jim (Harkema) away from Triton College outside Chicago, and the program started to head in the right direction."
In June 1976, Dufek was named athletic director at Kent State University. Dufek held the A.D. position at Kent State until he resigned in April 1980.
Read more about this topic: Don Dufek, Sr.
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