Kevin Jenkins of Lyon College has been named the American Midwest Conference (AMC) Athletics Director of the Year.
The Athletics Director of the Year recognizes an outstanding athletics administrator based on accomplishments during the previous year in the areas of athletics administration and service to the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), according to a release from Scott Barker, the sports information director for the AMC.
“It has been a pleasure working alongside Kevin ‘Coach’ Jenkins in my first year at Lyon,” said Matt Jagodzinski, Lyon College’s sports information director. “Coach Jenkins is always lending a helping hand to the staff and the student-athletes at Lyon as he always has an open door for people to come into his office and discuss ideas, problems or just catching up on life.”
Under Jenkins’ leadership, 87 student-athletes were named Academic All-Conference, 12 were selected as NAIA Daktronics Scholar-Athletes, while three named to the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) Academic All-District Team. Each semester, Lyon announces student-athletes who achieve a 3.0 grade point average or better to the Athletic Director’s Honor Roll. In total, 138 student-athletes earned the recognition following the Fall 2017 semester, while 140 student-athletes were named to the list in the spring. A total of 41 student-athletes achieved a 4.0 GPA within the two semesters under Jenkins’ leadership.
This past fall, Jenkins worked with Dr. W. Joseph King, president of Lyon College and Matt Crisman, the new vice president of enrollment, to collaborate on a new model called the “Infinity Bond” as a way to increase enrollment at Lyon. Within the new Infinity Bond, Lyon added four new club programs and three new varsity sports that will begin in Fall 2018.
Jenkins currently holds the secretary position for the AMC and is the former President of the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC)-NAIA Basketball Coaches Association.
“Since my arrival on campus on July 1, 2017, Mr. Jenkins has impressed me with his ability to represent and support both the coaching staff and the student-athletes,” said Dr. King. “As both a former coach and student-athlete on this campus, he understands the challenges they face. Student-athletes must give 100-percent to both academics and their sport to succeed at Lyon and our coaches must recruit student-athletes who can succeed both academically and on the playing field.”
“He greets everyone with a “hello” that comes into the athletic administration building,” said Jagodzinski. “Should a student-athlete or coach come to him with a problem, he will do whatever he can find a solution. If a solution is not directly through him, he will assist with reaching out to others until the situation is handled.”
Jenkins is now eligible for the NAIA Athletics Director of the Year award, which will be announced publicly during the NAIA National Awards Day in September. The winner will be presented with a certificate and recognized at an annual function in conjunction with the NAIA National Convention.
