Bio

Ashley Antonishen was named the first Athletic Director in North Central Michigan College history in March of 2020. A 2003 Petoskey High School graduate, Antonishen returned to North Central to build the newly formed athletic department and begin offering varsity athletics as part of the North Central student experience. In October of 2021, North Central was accepted into the National Junior College Athletic Association to begin offering varsity athletics for Fall of 2022. Two months later, the Michigan Community College Athletic Association accepted NCMC's application to join the conference as the 22nd member.

Prior to her roles at North Central, Antonishen worked at Central Michigan University where she served as the Admissions Athletics liasion, assisting coaches and student-athletes in the recruiting process. Antonishen has bountiful head collegiate coaching experience, has been named the UMAC Coach of the Year and led hundrends of student-athletes to successful endeavors on the field and in the classroom.

Before her position at CMU, Antonishen served as head women's soccer coach at Alma College where she coached three players to All-Region awards, had seven players named All-MIAA and had the top scoring offense in the league in 2015 with 2.22 goals per game. In 2016 her Scots set a school record of 8 overtime games and upset the top-seeded team in the conference tournament in a shoot-out, advancing to the finals. In her three seasons at Alma College her team earned the NSCAA Team Academic award each year and one player was named to the NSCAA NCAA Division III Women's Scholar All-North/Central Region second team after being the first player in school history to score 10 goals and 10 assists in a single season. 

Antonishen also coached at Elmira College (Elmira, NY) for five years and served as the Compliance Officer and NCAA Division III Women's Ice Hockey Championship site administrator. While at Elmira she took the program from a .265 winning percentage to over .500 and qualified the team for the ECAC tournament for the first time in a decade. Her Soaring Eagles defeated three nationally ranked opponents, were honored with the NSCAA Team Academic Award every season and won the NSCAA Team Ethics Silver award twice. She had twelve players named to the All-Empire 8 team and five Player of the Week awardees. Beyond her coaching duties Antonishen served as home contest administrator, was the ski club advisor and created a professional development program, Graduate Assistant Mentor Education (GAME). 

Northland College (Ashland, WI), is where Antonishen got her collegiate athletics start both as a student-athlete and then as a head coach. Antonishen was a four year member of the Lumberjill's soccer team being named to the All-UMAC team twice, a three year captain and four year starter. After graduation she served as the assistant men's & women's soccer coach under Scott Mayforth and the following year took over the women's program. In her two seasons as head coach she had her player earn the UMAC Player of the Year award twice, was named UMAC Coach of the Year and took the team to the conference finals for the first time in school history. The 15-4-1 record still stands in the record books as the best single season record in Northland history. While leading the Lumberjill's soccer program, Antonishen also served as assistant women's basketball coach to a very successful squad who won the regular season conference championship and the following year made the school's first NCAA tournament appearance. 

Since returning to her hometown, Ashley has volunteered and worked with the Petoskey Youth Soccer Association (PYSA) and the Petoskey Northmen ski team, two programs she was a member of during her youth. She established the North Central club ski team and currently serves as co-advisor to the Student Senate. Ashley resides in Petoskey with her husband, daughter and two dogs.