Photo courtesy of Mount Holyoke Athletics
BY KATE VAVRA ’26
SPORTS EDITOR
Andrea Ricketts-Preston, previously the senior associate director of athletics at Goucher College in Maryland, has just started her new position as director of athletics and chair of physical education at Mount Holyoke College.
In an interview with Mount Holyoke News, Ricketts-Preston discussed her upbringing and how it influenced her career path. She grew up on a farm in northwest Illinois and, as a child, played basketball, softball and volleyball.
Ricketts-Preston attended Luther College in Decorah, Iowa, where she played varsity basketball. After coaching collegiate basketball for 21 years, Ricketts-Preston decided to enter athletics administration. For the past two years, she has worked at Goucher College as the senior associate director of athletics, where she served as the athletics diversity and inclusion designee.
There is “a lot of positive momentum with women and participation,” Ricketts-Preston said, while speaking about how mentorship and accessibility are essential to athletics, especially for young women. “A lot of young girls are stopping participation as soon as they reach adolescence, between 12 and 14 years old. And so I think it's really important for young adult women and professional athletes to be really positive role models and for media portrayal to be positive for female athletes.”
Ricketts-Preston shared her admiration for Dixie Jeffers, who coached women’s basketball at Capital University from 1986 until her retirement in 2021. Ricketts-Preston worked alongside Jeffers, famous for her two national championships and record-breaking wins at Capital, for three years while Ricketts-Preston served as her assistant coach. Ricketts-Preston describes those three years as “the most fulfilling experience that I had in my professional career because it really set me up and prepared me for where I am right now.”
When asked about her goals for Mount Holyoke athletics, Ricketts-Preston said, “I always like to leave places better than I found them. So I'm making sure that I'm making decisions that are in the best interest of our student-athletes and serving our student-athletes.” Ricketts-Preston also explained her goals for making athletics programs a positive and “life-changing” experience for student-athletes. “I feel like there's so much potential here in terms of just the growth potential within athletics. We have a really talented, hardworking staff, and I think that there's an appetite on campus to grow our competitive level within this building and within the NEWMAC.”
Ricketts-Preston expressed her excitement about interacting with the student body and meeting everyone. On Saturday, March 2, she attended all of the athletic events on campus, including the equestrian show, lacrosse game against Eastern Connecticut State University and tennis match against Bates College.
Ricketts-Preston’s one piece of advice to Mount Holyoke student-athletes is, “All of the incredibly challenging moments that I faced never ended up being as bad as I felt they were at the time. And if you keep going and find your people in your support network, you won't be disappointed in the results.”