Rusty Kennedy arrived at Midway University as the Athletic Director in January 2016. Kennedy has been responsible for overseeing the dramatic changes that have taken place within the athletic department. Within the span of a mere three months the university went from single gender to co-educational as well as adding six new sports, four of those the first male sports in school history, while growing the number of athletes from 92 in the Spring of 2016 and 260 to the Fall of 2016 to 340 in the Fall of 2017. For his efforts his peers voted him 2016-2017 River States Conference Athletic Director of the Year. The Fall of 2017 has also seen the addition of three more sports which has brought the total number to 17. Rusty came to Midway with 18 years of experience as a Coach, Instructor and Athletic Administer at the NAIA, NCAA, and NJCAA levels. Most recently he was the Head Women’s Basketball Coach at NCAA Division II member Western New Mexico University in Silver City, NM. Kennedy has also held various positions at Oklahoma Wesleyan University, Central Baptist College, Bacone College, Clarendon College, North Arkansas College and Our Lady of the Lake University.
In today’s episode, we discuss:
- His buying a house on a credit card
- Transitioning Midway University to a Coed athletic department
- Earning the 2017 River States Conference Athletic Director of the Year Award
- When he did his best coaching job despite having one of his worst win-loss seasons of his career