Independent Student Newspaper for the University of Texas at San Antonio

The Paisano

Independent Student Newspaper for the University of Texas at San Antonio

The Paisano

Independent Student Newspaper for the University of Texas at San Antonio

The Paisano

Lynn Hickey to advocate for female athletes as head of national athletics committee

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The National Association of Collegiate Women Athletics Administrators (NACWAA) has chosen UTSA Director of Athletics Lynn Hickey as the organization’s new executive committee member.

Founded in 1979, the NACWAA is a long-standing leadership organization dedicated to empowering, developing and advancing the success of women in collegiate athletics. It currently has over 2,500 members from across the country.

“It’s a real honor,” Hickey said. “Over 800 women attended this year’s convention, which shows how big the organization’s grown. So to be given the responsibility of being a leader for them and helping to guide them, it’s just amazing.”

Her three-year term began on Oct. 13 when the candidates were announced at NACWAA’s National Convention in Louisville, Ky. As president-elect, Hickey will spend her first year serving beneath the current president before advancing and then spending a year in the position herself. She will then spend her third and final year as the past president, working as an adviser to her successor.

Hickey explained that her new responsibilities as the president-elect include various tasks such as helping with fundraising, representing the organization at conventions, managing its current programs and preparing for next year’s national conference.

“They have a strategic plan, and my role as president-elect is very much one of service to the current president,” Hickey said. “I’ll be in a sort of learning mode this year, so right now it’s really about being as helpful as I can.”

Hickey maintained that her new NACWAA responsibilities will not negatively affect her work with the university.

“If anything, my new position can only help what we’re doing here,” Hickey said. “I think that any time you gain a role of national visibility, it will always be beneficial to your own programs. It will definitely be some extra work, but I can handle it.”

Hickey is no stranger to juggling multiple projects. Over the past 15 years she has overseen numerous improvements to UTSA’s athletics department, including the addition of three new sports: women’s golf, women’s soccer and football.

“When I first came in we had a budget of $1.2 million a year for 14 sports, and our coaches were not on 12-month contracts,” Hickey said. “Now we’re at a $25 million budget, have added two women’s sports, are fully staffed and we’ve also added football, which has not only changed our persona and our visibility here in San Antonio but has also given us the opportunity to be aligned with a completely different peer group.”

Out of all of her achievements at UTSA, Hickey is most proud of the addition of the UTSA football program.

“(Football) made the change. It changed how people look at us. It changed our value to them,” said Hickey. “It’s a little unfair because we’re still the same program we were before we added that one team, but everybody looks at us completely different because of it,” she continued.

“I know not everyone’s crazy about it, but for the most part, it’s just been so well-received by our campus and by the community that I know we made the right decision. And it’s one I’m very, very proud of.”

In the future, Hickey hopes to increase her department’s financial resources, revitalize its infrastructure and create more opportunities for women.

“I’m at a point in my career now where I really want to try and give back and help other women to have the chance to be successful in this business,” Hickey said. “When I first started, there weren’t really a lot of female mentors available just because there wasn’t that many women available, period. But now there’s some amazing women in sports today, so helping them continue to flourish and opening up doors for those looking to get started is something that’s very important to me. I’m hoping that, during the rest of my tenure, I can make some major progress toward this.”

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