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Wednesday, July 9, 2025

Director of athletics creates new role to build "synergy"

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Head coach Kathy Riley gave the softball team some words of encouragement before their weekend tournament at University of North Carolina-Wilmington from Feb. 23-25.

Longwood Director of Athletics Troy Austin officially named Kathy Riley as the special adviser to director of athletics on Wednesday, Feb. 7. Riley was appointed to the position in December 2017, but was not publicly recognized until earlier this month.

Austin praised Riley for her success in her ongoing 21-year career as the Longwood softball head coach, saying she was undoubtedly the right candidate for the position.

“(Kathy) is unquestionably the most respected coach, she’s one of the senior coaches, and she’s earned it,” Austin said. “She’s earned the responsibility given her success, and not just her success, but the way she’s gone about building a culture for softball.”

Austin noted the special adviser role is an advisory role with no timetable, and is not a full-time position.

As the special adviser to the director of athletics, Riley will aid Austin as well as the athletics administration, in hopes of advancing the student-athlete experience, fundraising and establishing synergy between the athletics administration and coaches, according to Austin.

However, he emphasized Riley’s primary focus is guiding her softball program this spring.

In choosing someone to take on this role, Austin wanted to utilize his assets in the department to their fullest potential. Riley’s abilities made her the perfect candidate, according to the 10-year athletics director.

“For as long as I’m in this position, I’m going to work to be resourceful and maximize all the talents we have in our department,” said Austin. “Wherever I see somebody with an ability beyond their main job description, I’ll lean on them to bring something else to the department.”

When formulating the new position last fall, Austin said some coaches thought it was a great idea, while administrators collectively didn’t exactly know where he was coming from with the role. However, following a recent meeting Riley attended, administrators thought the position offered positive insight after discussions.

Austin divided the athletics department into three groups: the administration, the coaches and the student-athletes. By filling Riley into a position to help advise himself, as well as the administration, he believes there will be a better information flow between the three groups.

“Coaches view the world pretty specifically through their lens, and through the student-athlete’s lens,” Austin said. “There’s a natural separation because the administration is not heavily involved with what’s happening between those two main factions. Now having this coach who has some administrative responsibilities, I believe it will fill in an information gap.”

Austin said Riley’s experience in working with student-athletes at Longwood will not only benefit himself, but will benefit the people who work with fundraising and academic success.

Within her role, Riley will fulfill the goal of stronger communication and transparency within the department. Austin believes this role will help in obtaining the department’s future aspirations.

“The desired outcome is enhancing the probability of achieving our strategic plan,” he said. “(Riley) gives me insights of hitting the measures within fundraising, hitting the measures within retention in graduation and within national marketing.”

The athletics strategic plan, implemented in 2015, states their guidelines and priorities for the athletic department through the 2019-20 season. According to the plan, priorities include a winning culture, alumni involvement and seeing student-athletes graduate with awards.

Their mission statement reads, “The mission of the Longwood University Athletics Department is to build school pride and amplify the great story of Longwood University. We are committed to empowering people to reach their potential and intellectual pursuits, in athletic competition and in community outreach to serve as citizen-leaders.”

Austin ultimately hopes to verge upon on the goals of the strategic plan's mission statement and make better decisions as a department by implementing Riley into her new role.

Head coach Kathy Riley gave the softball team some words of encouragement before their weekend tournament at University of North Carolina-Wilmington from Feb. 23-25.


Coach Kathy Riley talked to her three-time Big South championship team before practice.


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