Edward Pastilong, who served as West Virginia University's athletic director for more than 20 years, is now working with West Liberty University to raise money for the school's capital campaign.
Pastilong will serve as a special consultant for the school. According to a news release from the university, he will work with Angela Zambito-Hill, the campaign coordinator and WLU Development Director, as well as Jason Koegler, WLU's vice president of institutional advancement, on the university's largest fundraising campaign ever.
The campaign was announced last month during West Liberty's homecoming events. A quiet fundraising effort has been ongoing at the Northern Panhandle school for several years.
"As a visionary and successful athletic director, we could find no one better than Ed Pastilong. Our students will benefit from his involvement, and I thank him for his willingness to share his talents with us," Zambito-Hill said, adding that Pastilong will focus most of his efforts on athletic fundraising.
Pastilong is a native of Moundsville who served as the AD at WVU from 1989 to 2010. Many credit Pastilong with spearheading WVU's growth into one of the nation's finest intercollegiate athletic programs in the nation during his tenure with the Mountaineers. At the time of his departure, Pastilong had one of the longest-serving tenures of any athletic director at a BCS-level school.
The news release from WLU said Pastilong directed more than $65 million in facility renovations during his time with WVU, witnessed the athletic department's budget increase from $20 million to more than $50 million, steered WVU into the Big East football conference in 1991 and full-fledged member status in the league in 1995, the school's first-ever association in a major athletic conference. He also initiated the Athletic Director's Academic Honor Roll, where nearly 4,000 student-athletes have been recognized for outstanding work in the classroom. Pastilong solicited financial support to start the Athletic Scholarship Endowment Fund, providing a perpetual source of financial support for athletic scholarships that has now grown to nearly $30 million dollars.
While at WVU, Pastilong oversaw numerous improvements and projects involving athletic facilities, including adding suites and the Touchdown Terrace at the Milan Puskar Stadium, as well as the Caperton Indoor Practice Facility and new locker rooms. He also helped to oversee renovations to the WVU Coliseum and Hawley Field, as well as the construction of the Dick Diesk Soccer Stadium, Cary Gym, a wrestling facility and basketball practice facility.
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