Cullowhee, N.C. – Christian Armstrong, a former football student-athlete at Florida State and an experienced athletics administrator, has joined Western Carolina Athletics as the Director of Student-Athlete Development, Director of Athletics Gary.
Through his position and working with WCU's Student-Athlete Academic Support Services, Armstrong will be responsible for enhancing all aspects of student-athlete development both in the classroom and in the community through WCU's Whee CLIMB program.
An acronym for Creating Leaders in the Mountains and Beyond, the Whee CLIMB program is a multi-tiered initiative designed for the year-by-year growth of Catamount student-athletes. The project is designed for and committed to the total development of WCU's student-athletes in helping prepare them with skills that are useful throughout the college experience and after graduation.
To make a philanthropic gift in support of Western Carolina's Whee CLIMB program and support the professional growth opportunities the initiative provides to Catamounts student-athletes, please visit
give.wcu.edu/CLIMB or call the Director of the Catamount Club Kim Cherry-Beck at (828) 227-3047.
Armstrong comes to Cullowhee from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill where he spent the previous year as an assistant academic counselor for the Tar Heels. Before the move to North Carolina, he was the Director of Student-Athlete Development and Success at Rutgers University in Piscataway, N.J. Through his position, he developed and maintained relationships with community partners and the Scarlet Knights' student-athletes. He also assisted with all events through the Scarlet Knights For Life Program, experiences he brings to WCU's Whee CLIMB program.
Armstrong earned his start in collegiate athletics as the assistant student-athlete enhancement coordinator at the University of Florida in Gainesville. He co-facilitated the First Year Gator program targeted toward freshman student-athletes and also was an advisor for the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC).
Armstrong participated in the NCAA Emerging Leaders Seminar in 2022 and the ACC Professional Development Academy in 2020. A member of the National Association of Academic and Student-Athlete Development Professionals – or N4A – he has also served as a member of both the N4A Emerging Professional Committee and the N4A Ethnic Concerns Committee.
Originally from Warner Robins, Ga., Armstrong played football for two seasons at Florida State, earning the Academic Excellence Award in 2019. He graduated from FSU with a Bachelor of Science in sport management in December 2020.
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