PoA057 | Amy Edmonds, U. Wisconsin Whitewater

University of Wisconsin-Whitewater Chancellor Richard Telfer announced the appointment of Amy Edmonds as director of intercollegiate athletics in July 2014. She enters her 12th year on working on campus in 2015-16.

In 2014-15, Warhawk teams and student-athletes experienced numerous successes, and several new initiatives took place under Edmonds’ leadership. Sixteen of UW-Whitewater’s 20 varsity teams reached their respective national championships, and seven finished among the country’s top 10. The institution finished sixth in the National Association of College Directors of Athletics Learfield Sports Directors’ Cup Division III standings, a measure of overall success in athletics at each institution.

The football team won its sixth national championship in eight seasons and, in October, was featured on ESPN’s College GameDay one week after head coach Lance Leipold became the fastest to reach 100 career wins, doing so in just 106 games.

Edmonds, in partnership with director of student-athlete engagement Kristina Navarro, initiated the start of the Warhawk Leadership Academy, a comprehensive student-athlete development program, which will formally launch in the fall of 2015. The program, which seeks to “develop, challenge and support student-athletes in their continual quest to become world class leaders in athletics, academics and life”, is believed to be one of the first of its kind at the Division III level.

In addition, Edmonds has overseen the construction and development of a press box at the van Steenderen Softball Complex, and has initiated plans for several other facility improvements expected to take place over the next five years.

Edmonds served as interim director of athletics during the 2013-14 academic year, one of the most successful in memory at UW-Whitewater.

During that season, four teams won NCAA Division III championships and 17 of the Warhawks’ 20 teams reached NCAA or national postseason play. UW-Whitewater’s football, men’s basketball and baseball teams all won national titles, marking the first time in the history of college athletics that the same institution won national championships in those three sports. The New York Times estimated the odds of winning “The Trifecta” at 38 million-to-1. The gymnastics team also posted its third consecutive National Collegiate Gymnastics Association national championship.

UW-Whitewater registered a second-place finish, its highest in school history, in the NACDA Learfield Sports Directors’ Cup Division III standings.

[from UWW website]

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