Lindsey Wilson College athletics has reached a new peak in terms of nationwide status. The program won its first ever Learfield Directors’ Cup in June for athletic achievement in the 2015-16 seasons.

The Learfield Directors’ Cup is awarded to the top collegiate program for success in men’s and women’s sports for the calendar year. Schools from NCAA division I, II, and III are eligible, along with NAIA programs. The Cup originated in 1993, and was later expanded in 1996 to include non-division I schools. It is awarded by the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics (NACDA) and USA Today.

For NAIA specific schools, 10 events are counted for points towards the Cup, five each from men’s and women’s sports, respectively.

Lindsey Wilson athletics director, Willis Pooler, has overseen the athletics program grow tremendously since his early days as a soccer coach for the Blue Raiders and since taking over as athletics director in 2003. For Pooler, only the second ever full-time athletics director in school history, an immediate goal was for the school to expand from being known as just a “soccer” school.

“The main thing that we’ve really moved to, is we have a comprehensive [athletics] program now, we have success across the board,” said Pooler. Being at the helm of only the sixth NAIA school to ever win the Director’s Cup carries a sense of pride, for reasons not only tied to the school, but for personal as well. Lindsey Wilson College is now associated in the same athletic light as that of Stanford (the division I Directors’ Cup winners for 2015) and other major programs.

A student-athlete has to perform both in the classroom and on the athletics stage, something that is important for LWC to have sustained success. “Traditionally in our conference, we [LWC] produce about the greatest number of all-academic teams,” said Pooler. Winning in the classroom and on the field has allowed LWC student-athletes to experience the success that made winning the Directors’ Cup possible.

LWC has seen not only its enrollment increase, but the number of sports being offered increase as well, a key aspect in the school transitioning to a national contender across the board. “We [LWC] had a huge growth period, where we added some programs, we added football, wrestling, men’s and women’s swimming, and some JV programs,” said Pooler. LWC has seen its student-athlete enrollment nearly doubled since Pooler’s first year as athletic director.

LWC becomes a nationally known athletic program for their success in winning the Directors’ Cup, and becomes the first school in Kentucky to win at any level.

“It [winning the Cup] just means excellence… I think it speaks to the college in wanting to succeed in many things, not just sports,” said Pooler. Being recognized at such a high level brings a new challenge to LWC, however.

“Obviously, we want to sustain what we are doing, there are some new programs that we have ideas about… we didn’t just lay back, we’ve made big moves that have been important for our college and our athletic department,” said Pooler. Ambition is the key to sustaining excellence for LWC and Pooler, and winning the Learfield Director’s Cup cements LWC as a nationally known power.

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