June 9, 2008

Warren "Moose" Koegel, Coastal Carolina University, Southeast Region Warren "Moose" Koegel is in his eighth year as the director of athletics at Coastal Carolina University. In Koegel's years at the helm, Coastal Carolina sports have had teams or individuals advance to NCAA Championships 42 times. Coastal Carolina also has won the prestigious George F. "Buddy" Sasser Cup five times, awarded annually to the top athletics department in the Big South Conference. In addition, during the 2006-07 year, Coastal's almost 400 student-athletes combined for just over a 3.0 grade point average. Currently a member of the NCAA Division I Football Championship Selection Committee, Koegel also played a crucial role in the addition of football to the Coastal Carolina athletics department, a program that captured the 2004 Big South title, in just its second year of competition. The Chanticleers have also seen numerous athletics facility upgrades under Koegel, including a 6,408-seat state-of-the-art stadium in 2003. In 2006, the stadium expanded by almost 1,000 seats. The program will undergo additional improvements in the near future with a new fieldhouse with football offices, locker room and meeting rooms, along with a weight room for all student- athletes and 2,100-seat expansion in Brooks Stadium. The football program has also produced more than a dozen All-Americans and two players currently on National Football League rosters, with a third projected in the middle rounds of the 2008 NFL Draft. Koegel came to Coastal Carolina from the University of Tennessee Chattanoga, where he had served as an associate athletics director and also served on the steering committee for the NCAA I-AA National Championship Football Game. Prior to that, Koegel had been an assistant football coach at the University of Wyoming, Rutgers University and the University of Connecticut.

Gene Taylor, North Dakota State University, Central Region Gene Taylor came to North Dakota State University (NDSU) in 2001 and made an immediate impact, announcing that the Bison athletics department would compete at the NCAA Division I level beginning in 2004-05. Entering the final year of reclassification, all 16 of NDSU's athletics teams have Division I conference affiliations. After transitioning NDSU to Division I, Taylor played an instrumental role in forming the Great West Football Conference in 2004. The Bison also joined the United Soccer Conference and became a charter member of the Western Wrestling Conference before the 2006-07 season. The Bison recently accepted an invitation to join what is now The Summit League and the Gateway Football Conference, where NDSU will begin play in 2008. Taylor also spearheaded an increase in the Bison athletics budget, which has nearly doubled from $5 million in his first year to almost $10.9 million heading into the 2007-08 season. Taylor came to North Dakota State after a 15-year stint at Navy (1986-2001) as an administrative assistant, assistant ticket manager, ticket manager, assistant athletics director for tickets and operations and associate athletics director.

Gary Walters, Princeton University, Northeast Region Gary Walters, who in a five-decade career as a student-athlete, coach, administrator and NCAA leader has established his voice as one of the most respected in college athletics, is in his 14th year as director of athletics at Princeton University. Walters oversees an athletics department that has won 152 Ivy League championships during his tenure and he has led a complete overhaul in athletics facilities at the school. Under Walters' leadership, Princeton athletics seeks to provide the highest-quality experience for student-athletes while enhancing the overall educational mission of the University. To this end, Walters has been committed to any number of programs that have direct benefit to the student-athletes, including in areas of fund raising, mentoring, student life, external relations and competition. In addition to Princeton's success during his tenure, Walters recently completed a five-year run on the NCAA Division I men's basketball committee and spent the 2006-07 academic year as chair of the committee. Walters is a 1967 Princeton graduate who played on the Tigers' 1965 Final Four basketball team, making him one of just two men who have played in the Final Four and gone on to be chair of the Division I committee. Walters, who played high school basketball at Reading (Pa.) High under longtime Princeton coach Pete Carril, helped the Tigers to two Ivy titles as a player.

Bobby Williams, Sam Houston State University, West Region Bobby Williams became Sam Houston State University's director of athletics in 1998. He has served as an athletics administrator and coach at the University since 1982. During his 10 years as AD, the Bearkats have captured three Southland Conference Commissioner's Cups, two men's All-Sports championships, 12 league titles and three postseason tournament titles. Sam Houston athletes have produced the highest grade point average in the department. At the same time, the Kats have won its three SLC All-Sports titles, they also have produced the most Academic SLC Honor Roll honorees in the league. Williams has overseen more than nine million dollars of facility improvements including new strength and fitness building, baseball/softball complex, golf practice facility, scoreboards, football stadium video board and football press box expansion. New marketing strategies have increased both campus and community attendance at all Bearkat intercollegiate athletics events, and increased revenue generated from outside university sources from $600,000 to $2.4 million. Under Williams' direction, the Bearkat Learning Enhancement Center opened in the fall of 1997. The facility allows student-athletes access both to computers and assistance from academic tutors. Sam Houston State student-athletes have produced GPAs of better than 2.50 for 24 consecutive semesters, with a high of 2.90 in 2007. In 2005, Williams received the General Robert R. Neyland Outstanding Athletics Director Award by the All-American Football Foundation.