By After five years of service, Long Beach State Athletics Director Andy Fee will be leaving The Beach on Aug. 26 for the University of Washington.
The departure was announced Aug. 8 in letters written by both Fee himself, as well as Long Beach State President Jane Conoley on the Long Beach State Athletics page.
“The past five plus years have been very special, and I want to share my gratitude to each of you for investing and believing in our student-athletes and coaches,” Fee wrote in his letter.
From @LBSUAthletics – Andy Fee announces his departure from Long Beach State. #GoBeach pic.twitter.com/fI9DzvzEi8
— LBSU Athletics (@LBSUAthletics) August 9, 2022
While it is unknown who specifically will be taking over Fee’s position, President Conoley wrote that transition plans and interim leadership would be announced before the Aug. 26 departure.
“Andy’s tenure here has seen multiple national championships as well as a Big West Commissioner’s Cup. These successes came as he helped advance the Beach tradition of cultivating our student-athletes’ growth, competitive and academic success, and maturity,” Conoley wrote in her letter.
Championship titles were not the only events that Fee looked over; he led the athletics department throughout the lockdown and revival of sports during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Long Beach State baseball coach Eric Valenzuela told the Daily Forty-Niner he spoke with Fee the night before the announcement and was grateful for the opportunity to work for Fee and The Beach.
“I’ll always have that bond with him,” Valenzuela said.
Valenzuela said that Fee is a caring director, always building relationships with his coaching staff, something that isn’t seen often in athletic directors. Even throughout the most difficult times like the pandemic, Fee would try to make sure student-athletes and coaching staff had all they needed during the difficult situation.
“He was gonna help you until the end,” Valenzuela said.
While Valenzuela wishes Fee all the best at Washington, he says that this will be an opportunity for Long Beach athletics to grow and move forward, hoping that the new director will have the ability to get Long Beach to a more national level as a power five athletic program.
