Sources: Long Beach State athletic director Vic Cegles leaving for UCo

After nearly a decade of relative stability, the Long Beach State athletic department is headed for some major changes this summer, as multiple sources have confirmed to the Press-Telegram that athletic director Vic Cegles will be leaving the school.

Cegles is headed to UCo, where he’s accepting a position working for his protégé, Dave Benedict, who was a senior athletic department member at Long Beach State under Cegles, sources said. Benedict was hired as athletic director at UCo in February.

Cegles couldn’t immediately be reached, and the athletic department’s media department could not comment. CSULB President Jane Close Conoley could not be reached because she’s attending graduation ceremonies.

Cegles is the school’s 12th director of athletics and was named Under Armour Athletics Director of the Year following the 2014-15 school year. Since his hire in April of 2006, Cegles has overseen an era of wild success for the 49ers, as they’ve won five consecutive Commissioner’s Cups coming into this season (the Commissioner’s Cup is the Big West Conference’s award for the top overall athletic program each year).

Cegles’ coaching hires have largely been big hits, most notably bringing in the school’s all-time wiingest men’s basketball coach in Dan Monson. Cegles’ big emphasis has been on facility development and he’s overseen upgrades to nearly all of the 49ers’ facilities, as well as the acquisition of Blair Field with a lease from the city of Long Beach.