Kathy Beauregard :

 Leader at the NCAA Division 1-A Level

WMU Profile

Kathy Beauregard has become the cornerstone of Western Michigan University (WMU). She became involved in athletics at an early age and was even inducted into the Loy Norrix High School Athletic Hall of Fame for her preparatory accomplishments. After growing up in Kalamazoo, Michigan, and graduating from Hope College in 1979, she began her coaching career in gymnastics at Western Michigan, while earning her master’s in athletic administration. Throughout her nine-year coaching career, she led her team to two championship titles and was named Coach of the Year for the Mid- American Conference (MAC) twice. The experience she gained while coaching her gymnasts provided her with firsthand knowledge of the athletic department, which would prepare her for her future in athletic administration.

She left the coaching ranks in 1988 for a role at the university as an associate athletic director. During this time, she learned the ins and outs of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) compliance rules and she was naturally suited for student-athlete academic support after her coaching experience. After only a few years of administrative experience, she was named senior associate athletic director in 1993. Women have grown in numbers in the ranks of athletic departments, but it has not been an easy path to the top. When women garner these positions in the upper echelon of the athletic department, they are rarely given supervision over the typically male revenue generating sports. However, Beauregard was different. She supervised all of the revenue sports at Western and continued to manage the NCAA compliance process, student-athlete academic support, athletic marketing and communications, and her natural role of looking out for the welfare of the student-athletes. She invested herself in her profession by serving on the MAC Gender Equity Committee and as a chairperson of the MAC Marketing Committee. Beauregard also served on the NCAA National Compliance Coordinator Committee. Her investment paid dividends in 1998 when she was appointed director of athletics for WMU.

WMU President Diether Haenicke expressed his delight in the decision to place Beauregard at the helm of his school’s athletic department. She replaced James Weaver, who had held the position since 1995. “As an athlete and former coach, she is ideally suited to provide the kind of leadership we need for our athletic program. Kathy has a broad range of administrative experience, ranging from NCAA rules compliance to student-athlete academic support. This, combined with her leadership, enthusiasm and loyalty to WMU and the community, make her the ideal choice to take the Broncos to the next level.”¹ She became the first woman to hold the director of athletics position at WMU, and only the third to hold the position in the MAC. More staggering still, she is one of only a few women serving as a director of athletics in the nation.

Beauregard accepted the job with enthusiasm and approached it with vigor and tenacity, stating, “Speaking on behalf of my coaches and our athletic staff, we are determined to give the university and the people of West Michigan programs they can be proud of.”² Truer words could not have been spoken. Beauregard strategically managed all of the university’s intercollegiate sports, brokered profitable relationships with corporate sponsors, and preserved the rapport between the student-athletes and coaches.

The immediate impact of her leadership and support resulted in the men’s teams winning the Reese Cup, the all-sports trophy for the MAC. The university previously finished 10th in the standings, and this was the first Reese Cup in the past 17 years for Western Michigan. Her guidance in her third year led the Western Michigan Broncos to a Western Division football title and MAC Championship game appearance. From 2002 to 2004, Western brought home six conference titles, three for the men and three for the women. Also during that time, the athletic teams of Western Michigan University earned the eighth highest graduation rate in the nation, with 83 percent of its student-athletes graduating with a cumulative 3.0 GPA. Beauregard’s women’s teams won the Jacoby Cup for the 2005–06 athletic seasons, the all-sports trophy for women’s sports in the MAC. Beauregard is proof that women can run athletic departments and deliver results as well as support.

After equipping the student-athletes and coaches on the playing fields, she quickly improved the university’s athletic facilities. Beauregard recognizes the power and the revenue associated with a top-notch football program, and she strives to capitalize on that power to elevate the facilities, the programs, and the performance of all of her institution’s intercollegiate sports. She started from the ground up by replacing the grounds of Waldon Stadium with field turf and then she moved on to larger capital projects. The Bill Brown Football Alumni Center, an $8 million capital project, was completed under her watch, as well as a $21 million capital expansion to the Seelye Athletic Indoor Center. The improvements made to Seelye will directly benefit a number of people by providing the best training grounds for Bronco student-athletes. Her determination and passion to improve the facilities continue at Western Michigan with the Hyames Field Renovation Project and other state-of-the-art facility plans. She has changed the face of the campus and therefore is uplifting the athletic department to a more prominent status. The fans rallied around Beauregard’s Broncos and quickly set single game and season attendance records. Athletic directors are harshly judged on the numbers—attendance, GPAs, graduation rates, revenue, and win-loss records—and Beauregard has responded to these challenges with poise and excellence.

She committed herself to improving not only the athletic environment at Western Michigan, but also the environment of the NCAA and Olympic Sports. From 2001 to 2003 she served as the chairperson of the NCAA Olympic Sports Liaison Committee, which also included a seat on the board of directors for the United States Olympic Committee. Beauregard and the committee set out to protect the integrity of the Olympic Sports at the collegiate level while ensuring the future of the country’s Olympians. Beauregard also served on the NCAA Football Bowl Certification Committee and represented WMU on the NCAA Championships Cabinet. Her commitment to gender equity, diversity, and the inclusion of individuals previously underrepresented in collegiate athletics made her a perfect fit for the NCAA Diversity and Inclusion Committee.

Beauregard has demonstrated the attributes of a leader and a champion throughout her career. She has not only competed in an industry dominated by men, but she excelled to the top. In 1999, less than two years after her director of athletics appointment, Kalamazoo Network bestowed the “Glass Ceiling” award to Beauregard, though she had already crashed through the proverbial ceiling. That same year, Business Direct Weekly named her as one of the 26 most influential women in Western Michigan. Her undergraduate alma mater awarded her with the Hope College Distinguished Alumni Award in 2000. She was recognized by the YWCA with the Woman of Achievement Award and also by the Kalamazoo Chamber of Commerce with the Athena Award in 2002. While Beauregard is well known around the athletic fields of Western Michigan, she is better known around her hometown of Kalamazoo, Michigan.

Her 27-year commitment to the university and the town has created a welcoming home for her and her family. Her husband, Rick, taught in the public school system for 32 years before retiring to start his own home security business. Together, they raised their son, Brad. Kathy has made feverish commitments to community causes as well as her beloved Western. Despite the devotion to her family and the steadfast support of 17 intercollegiate sports, she finds time to volunteer for the American Cancer Society and the American Heart Association. Her active involvement in the Kalamazoo Rotary continues to thread her into the fabric of the community. Kathy Beauregard is living proof that women can do it all.

 

Notes

1. “Beauregard named athletic director,” WMU News, September 24, 1997, http://www.wmich.edu/wmu/news. (accessed May 20, 2008).

2. “Beauregard named athletic director.”

 

The above excerpt was written by Stacy Martin-Tenney.