LeTourneau University

  News Release

LeTourneau University, P.O. Box 7001, Longview, TX 75607

Fax:  (903) 233-3495

Contact:  Shane Meling (903)233-3378                           

ShaneMeling@letu.edu

May 6, 2004

LETOURNEAU UNIVERSITY NAMES NEW ATHLETIC DIRECTOR

LONGVIEW, TEXAS —Huntingdon College (Montgomery, AL) athletic director, head golf and football coach Dr. Duane Trogdon has been named the new director of athletics at LeTourneau University, effective immediately.

Dr. Alvin O. Austin, President of LeTourneau University, says that "this is an extremely important appointment at the university.  At a time in our history where our enrollment is at record levels and the quality of our faculty and programs never stronger, we believe that our athletic programs ought to reflect that same level of excellence.  Within the context of our mission as a Christian university, our commitment to academic quality, and our involvement in one of the strongest NCAA Division III conferences in the nation, the American Southwest Conference, we believe Duane Trogdon is the person to lead us to that next level of excellence."

Trogdon has 30 years of experience in collegiate athletics coaching baseball, basketball, football and golf.  In his five years at Huntingdon College in Alabama, he has directed and supervised 11 collegiate sports programs while leading the men’s golf team to five straight national championship tournaments.  He also designed, created and implemented an NCAA Division III model football program for Huntingdon beginning in 2002. 

“We are very happy to welcome Duane to LeTourneau and we think that he has the experience and qualities necessary to move the athletic program forward,” said Vice President of Student Affairs Doug Wilcoxson.  Mr. Wilcoxson was recently assigned to oversee the area of intercollegiate athletics.  According to President Austin, "Wilcoxson brings great administrative skills, a passion for athletics as a former coach and player, to the role of working with Duane Trogdon to build the university's athletic programs."

One of the many qualities that Trogdon possesses is his knowledge about NCAA Division III athletics.  He took over the transition at Huntingdon College from NAIA to NCAA Division III over the past four years and has been very successful in that endeavor.

“It was evident to me that the quality of the university is reflected in the quality of the people I've met.  I'm extremely excited to become a part of the LeTourneau family and look forward to the challenges ahead,” said Trogdon.

Trogdon earned his bachelor of arts degree in physical education in 1973 from Southwest Baptist University in Bolivar, Mo and his master’s degree in physical education from Pittsburg State University in Pittsburg, Kan. In 1985, he completed his doctorate in education at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville, Ark., with an emphasis in exercise physiology. 

Trogdon began his coaching career at his alma mater, Southwest Baptist University, as the head women’s basketball coach and assistant men’s baseball coach while serving as the dean of men through 1979.  He was promoted to head baseball coach in 1979 and served in that capacity for 10 years.  He became an assistant football coach in 1983 and continued in that position through the 1992 season.  In 1988, he redeveloped a golf program after a decade without a team.  He directed the program from 1988-90 and from 1995-99.  He served as the academic coordinator from 1986-91 and associate professor in the Health, Physical Education and Recreation Department from 1976-92.  He was promoted to full professor in 1992 and finally chair of the Health, Physical Education; Sport Management and Recreation programs in 1995.  He served in that capacity through 1999.

Trogdon’s experience as a professor will serve him well at LeTourneau.  He gives a boost to the Kinesiology department with his expertise in exercise science, research and statistics, human wellness programs, measurement and evaluation protocols and psychology of coaching/athletics.  He will teach between three and six credit hours each semester.

In his student days as a baseball player at Southwest Baptist, Trogdon was named the NAIA all-district catcher in 1973 and the Missouri Sportswriters and Sportscasters College Catcher of the Year.

He has earned a number of distinctions in his career.  He has earned Outstanding Young Men of America honors in 1977, 1980, 1981 and 1982.  He was named to Who’s Who in Society for 1988, earned the Southwest Baptist University Purple Pride Award in 1989 and was named a National Outstanding Entrepreneur in 1993 for successfully establishing a commercial wellness center.

Trogdon is affiliated with the American Football Coaches Association, Golf Coaches Association of America, American Alliance for Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance and National Strength and Conditioning Association.

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