Onderko was named the first full-time executive in PAC history on July 1, 2006, and begins his 20th year as the league’s chief administrator in 2025–26. His title changed from executive director to commissioner in 2012. He reports to the PAC Presidents’ Council and oversees all operations of the 13-member (12 full-time and one affiliate member), 24-sport NCAA Division III conference founded in 1955. In March 2025, the PAC announced that Saint Francis University will reclassify from Division I to Division III to become the conference’s 13th full-time member. Thiel is hosting Concordia University Wisconsin at 6 p.m. Friday at Stoeber Field at Alumni Stadium in both team’s season-opening game.
A native of Jamestown, Pa., just a few miles north of campus, Onderko grew up around Thiel. As a child, he played youth football on the field that is now Alumni Stadium and took swim lessons in Thiel’s former swimming pool, located in what is now the Tomcat wrestling practice room. He has remained a familiar presence at Thiel athletics and was on campus when the Tomcats won the PAC men’s volleyball championship—the conference’s first-ever men’s volleyball title.
In January 2024, Onderko began a four-year term on the NCAA Division III Strategic Planning and Finance Committee, which monitors and updates the division’s strategic plan and oversees the administration of the annual operating budget, reporting regularly to the Management Council.
Under Onderko’s leadership, the PAC has hosted two NCAA Division III national championships in recent years—the 2021 men’s golf championship at Oglebay Resort in Wheeling, W.Va., and the 2022 women’s basketball championship at UPMC Cooper Fieldhouse at Duquesne University in Pittsburgh. In partnership with SportsPITTSBURGH, the PAC has been selected to host five additional NCAA championships between 2026 and 2028, beginning with the Division III women’s volleyball championship in fall 2026 at Duquesne’s UPMC Cooper Fieldhouse and returning in March 2027 for the Division III men’s basketball Final Four.
Onderko and his wife, Pam, have three daughters: Erin, Lauren and Alison. He was inducted into the Robert Morris University Sport Management Hall of Fame in 2018.
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