Name: Steve Wilson
Position/Institution: Kansas Wesleyan University 
Number of years in your position: 2 years
Alma Mater(s): Kansas State University, Park University
Hometown: Salina, KS
Personal Twitter Handle: @SWilson_AD
Institution Athletics Twitter Handle: @kwucoyotes
 
What is your favorite part about being a member of the NAIA-ADA and how has it influenced your career?
My favorite part about being a member of the NAIA-ADA is that the membership celebrates successes and sets egos aside for individuals to help one another. It has influenced my career by serving as a place where I can bounce ideas off others, receive professional guidance, and most important to me, create friendships that will last a lifetime. 
 
What is the biggest challenge to working in a university environment?
The biggest challenge to working in a university environment is balance. In our roles, we must come to the table advocating for the wholeness and success of the university while at the same time ensuring that we are appropriately caring for the student-athlete experience. When you find an institution that provides a high level of synergy in those areas, you need to stay there! I'm proud of the way we do that at Kansas Wesleyan, and I think it's something you see more in our association because of the size of the schools and the role athletics play at our institutions. I have the honor of serving on KWU's President's Council with people I care deeply about and who care deeply about me. We reached that place because we all care deeply about Kansas Wesleyan. We're certainly not perfect, and we don't always agree on every detail, but our approach is that we get to work together, not that we have to work together. That dynamic makes it fun to come here every day striving to provide a student experience that will continue to shape lives years after leaving KWU.
 
What do you consider to be your greatest professional accomplishment to date?
It's tough to answer what I consider to be my greatest professional accomplishment. I've been nationally recognized with the Ike Pearson Award as a communications professional. I've also had the opportunity to start an entire campus from scratch, including an athletic department. Beyond that, I've had the opportunity to lead a wildly successful athletics season during a pandemic, and I think that's what I'm most proud of. We won back-to-back KCAC Commissioner's Cups, including one where we had to fight and claw to get our games in. We played 93% of our scheduled contests and did a lot of winning in the toughest year (2020-21 academic year) anyone will remember.
 
What is the most important skill you have developed in your career?
The most important skill I have developed in my career is humility. I make mistakes, and I try to give as much grace as I'd like to receive. It's easy to think that we're all robots and won't make mistakes, but the reality is that we're human. The most important thing I can bring to each day is a realization that no one wants to, or tries to, do a bad job. Everyone wants the best for the institution and student-athletes. 
 
Who has been the most influential person in your career?
This is another tough one to answer, but I'd have to say the most influential person in my career has been Claude English, now retired AD from Park University. I saw "Coach" counsel so many students and employees through tough times. He is the reason I've come out stronger from some low points in life, personally and professionally. No one can replicate his approach because he was just real. He was himself every day, and he cared deeply. 
 
If you could plan a vacation to anywhere in the world, where would you go?
If I could plan a vacation to anywhere in the world, I would go somewhere with a golf course, water, and a boat.
 
What is your favorite sporting event you have ever attended?
The 2014 AL Wild Card Game, where Kansas City walked off on Oakland, is my favorite sporting event I have ever attended. To be clear, I'm a St. Louis Cardinals fan (also a Royals fan, but everyone knows who's first). Being in KC and seeing the way the entire city came together in 2014 and 2015 was so fun to be part of. I really enjoy seeing how sport can unify a group of people, whether it's at a school, in a small town, or in a large city.
 
Why/when did you decide to pursue a career in collegiate athletics?
Initially, I decided to pursue a career in college athletics because I had the desire to work at a large institution, in a large department. But eventually, that changed. I'm drawn to higher education and to making a difference for the whole institution. I have a unique opportunity to do that in a big way at Kansas Wesleyan.
 
In your mind, who in this industry can serve as a good role model?
Good role models in this industry are all around us. I look at so many friends, who have so many different approaches, and love to pick their brains. I also have role models on my own staff. I see how our coaches care about our students, and if I can do some of that within my own staff, it's going to enhance my leadership ability.
 
What educational or business experiences best prepared you for a career as an athletics director?
I learned a lot in radio advertising sales right out of college that prepared me for a career as an athletics director. Mostly, I learned how to take defeat because I took a lot of it. There weren't many wins in that first job, and I had to learn how to keep going to work and deal with adversity. I also learned a lot about balancing a calendar when I worked at the NAIA National Office. If you think we get a lot of emails and messages on our own campuses, spend a day with an NAIA.org email address. It'll give you a new appreciation for what some of the folks at the national headquarters do day to day.
 
What is the best piece of advice you have ever received? What advice would you give to someone looking to become an NAIA athletics director?
The best piece of advice I have ever received comes from the last two sentences of Kevin DeShazo's book Keep Chopping Wood: "Wherever you are on your path, remember where you are going and remember why you started. And keep chopping wood." I'd tell someone looking to become an AD to remember their "why." If your "why" isn't servant leadership, you're going into it for the wrong reason in this association. Our jobs are to serve our student-athletes in a way that fosters an experience that serves them for a lifetime. Cut the wood in July so it's there in December. Create the experience now that will help the student land that first job, but prepare them for 10, 15, and 20 years down the road as well.
 
What was your biggest professional blunder and how did you learn from it?
While writing a player-of-the-week story as an SID at the NAIA National Office, I meant to say that a player made 10-of-11 "shots" from outside the 3-point arc. "Shots" didn't quite make it into the story, but a word pretty close did. That story went out nationally. I learned to put my eyes on things one more time before pressing a public button on any kind of writing! 
 
What is the best binge-worthy podcast or TV show you are currently taking in?
I'm not very interesting when it comes to binge-worthy TV shows. Give me The Office or King of Queens and I'm good. I do listen to a lot of podcasts, including The Dana & Parks Show from KMBZ radio in Kanas City; sermons from Red Rocks Church in Denver, CO and The Grove in Chandler, AZ; Kevin DeShazo's podcasts; and many more. I'm a big fan of talk radio, and although I do love good sports-talk radio, I try to branch out if I can. 
 
What are you most looking forward to at the next NAIA or NACDA Convention?
I am most looking forward to being back with people at the next Convention. BOSCA, over the summer, was so good because we got to come back together and learn from each other. I didn't realize how much I missed sitting down to coffee, lunch, or dinner with a peer at another institution. I had missed face time with so many folks, and it was hard to pack it all into those couple of days. I'm looking forward to more of that.
 
Beyond your school, what sports teams do you consider yourself a fan of?
This time of the year, Sundays are for the Kansas City Chiefs. I'm also a St. Louis Cardinals fan, but I really follow four baseball teams (St. Louis, Kansas City, Baltimore, and Arizona) all for different reasons. I also pay close attention to my alma maters – Kansas State University and Park University – but we're usually playing at the same time, or close to the same time, so it's usually more of a casual score check-in.
 
What do you think is the biggest challenge in college athletics right now?
The biggest challenge at our level of college athletics is providing an experience while trying to balance revenue and expenditures. We don't have an open checkbook at our institutions, but the NAIA's mission is critical for providing experiences that serve for a lifetime. The fun part of the job is really figuring out how to get creative, work hard, and do the things that are important to providing an experience that these student-athletes will remember fondly for a lifetime.