WILMINGTON — It’s been a whirlwind for Kevin Villec since his introduction to the St. Elizabeth School community as the athletic director late last summer. He has quickly fit in.
Villec arrived on the Cedar Street campus just a few weeks before the fall sports season began. He hit the ground running, meeting with coaches and going over the hundreds of details that go into running a high school athletic program. On top of that, he assumed the coaching duties for the Vikings’ volleyball team.
“It’s a lot better now,” he said recently at the school. “I can say I have my feet under me.”
And he just celebrated his 25th birthday in early January.
Villec believes he is the youngest athletic director in the state by a few years, but he is confident that he has the tools to help the Vikings’ programs grow and thrive.
Growing up in north Wilmington and attending Immaculate Heart of Mary School, Villec was a sports-loving kid who played year-round. He attended Salesianum School, where he was cut from the freshman baseball team.
“That was a rough start,” he said.
The disappointment, however, didn’t last long. His friends encouraged him to give volleyball a shot, and he played four years for the Sals. He was second-team all-state as a senior in 2019 and graduated as the program’s recordholder in digs, although that mark has since been eclipsed.
At St. Joseph’s University in Philadelphia, Villec had a few different majors before graduating with a degree in history. Coming from a family full of teachers, he gravitated toward that profession. He entered a program called the Alliance for Catholic Education after graduating, which allowed him to get experience in schools while earning a master’s degree.
The alliance had a teaching track and an administrative track. He chose the latter, and it had athletics as an option. He spent two years at Neumann-Goretti High School in Philadelphia as the assistant athletic director, and in the summer of 2024, he was the acting AD. After he applied for the position at St. Elizabeth, things moved quickly.
“I knew what it meant,” he said. “Sometimes, I have to step back and remind myself of what it means to be this young in a position like this. But I also know what I’ve been through the past two years and the work experience that I do have. I knew going into it that it was nothing that I wasn’t capable of doing.”
Pat Devenney, the athletic director at Bonner-Prendergast High School in Drexel Hill, Pa., and Villec’s boss at Neumann-Goretti, thinks so highly of Villec that he wanted Villec also to make the move to Bonner-Prendie. He said St. Elizabeth found itself a talent who is willing to try new things and is not afraid to fail.
“The community should expect professionalism and a hard-working culture,” Devenney said. “I knew Kevin was able to handle everything I threw at him during his time at Neumann-Goretti.”
He balanced that job with his studies for a master’s degree at St. Joe’s. Villec was ready to run his own department, Devenney said.
“He cares about the right things and has always put the students first,” he said, adding that the two speak frequently.
Most of the adjustment since arriving at St. Elizabeth have been in learning the differences between the governing bodies in Pennsylvania and Delaware.
“It helped that I was, especially that second year, in charge of all compliance of all athletics at Neumann-Goretti. It is similar, to an extent, down here, so it was a pretty quick learning curve,” Villec said.
Villec is appreciating the culture at St. Elizabeth. He has found a community that cares deeply about its school and sports programs.
“It’s got a strong heartbeat,” he said. “I think one of the best parts is I have people around me that are going to talk to me straight. They’re not going to beat around the bush. If I’m not meeting a goal, they’re going to let me know. They’re going to help me stay on track.”
He refers to St. Elizabeth as “the land of opportunities.
“Whether it is our sports programs, our arts and theater, our clubs, our academics, any student that steps in here from the first day, they’re going to get a chance to do what they want to do. That’s one of the beauties of a smaller school,” he said.
He wants to help build an institution “that needs to be here.”
He appreciates his experience at Salesianum, mentioning Father Chris Beretta and the other Oblates, along with retired athletic director Mike Hart as great influences.
The day-to-day aspects of the job keep him plenty busy, but Villec describes himself as “very much a big-picture thinker.” He has some things he’s working on to increase the profile of the school’s athletic program.
He has his own office in the school building, which he hopes to transform into an interactive athletic space. He is working to get a team store up and running, solidify the school’s hall of fame, and highlight the athletes who have graduated from the school.
You might think that Villec would want a break from sports when he leaves the campus, but you’d be incorrect. He likes to watch professional and college sports, including every St. Joe’s basketball game.
