For media inquiries, please contact Jared MacDonald at jared.macdonald@wku.edu.
Todd Stewart's Tenure as WKU Director of Athletics (2012-Present)
- Ranked as the 15th best Athletic Director in the country including the second-best non-Power Five AD by the national media outlet Stadium in June of 2020
- WKU student-athletes currently maintain a 3.26 cumulative GPA and a 90% graduation success rate
- All 14 sport programs have a 3.0+ team GPA
- 56 total conference championships captured by 13 different sport programs
- 22 NCAA Tournament appearances by Volleyball, Men’s and Women’s Basketball, Baseball, Softball and Women's Golf
- 11 FBS bowl appearances with seven wins
- 2020 Volleyball NCAA Sweet 16; 2012, 2015, 2017, 2019, 2021, 2022, 2023 Volleyball NCAA Round of 32
- 2013 and 2024 Men’s Basketball NCAA Tournament, 2018 NIT Final Four, 2021 NIT Elite Eight
- National top 25 final rankings in volleyball (2012, 2015, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023), football (2015, 2016), men’s track (2014)
- Coaches from nine different programs have earned Conference Coach of the Year honors
- 1,227 student-athletes have obtained their degrees
- Over $75 million will have been invested in capital projects by the summer of 2025
Operating with a fast break mentality from the day he was hired, Todd Stewart's tenure as WKU's Director of Athletics has been marked by consistent success for the Hilltoppers on the field of play, in the classroom, and in the community. Stewart, who has made 17 head coaching hires during his tenure, also played an instrumental role in elevating WKU's athletic programs to Conference USA on July 1, 2014 and transitioning all WKU athletic teams to Nike for all apparel on July 1, 2017.
By the summer of 2025, WKU Athletics will have invested over $75 million in capital projects during Stewart’s tenure which has impacted every sport program. Featured additions include the Hilltopper Fieldhouse (which will serve as an indoor training facility for all WKU teams along with the Big Red Marching Band), a new press box, and permanent structures housing the baseball, soccer, softball and men’s and women’s golf programs. A new playing surface was also installed at football prior to the 2024 season.
WKU Athletics has also enhanced the student-athlete experience by significantly investing in the areas of sports medicine, strength and conditioning, nutrition, mental health, academic support and cost of attendance. Additionally, through the Hilltopper Local Exchange, close to 50 local businesses have committed to partnering with WKU student-athletes to help monetize their name, image and likeness opportunities.
Athletes and staff devote over 3,000 hours to community service annually through the Hilltoppers with Heart program, and every WKU sport program has contributed to an across the board run of tremendous success for WKU Athletics over the last 13 years.
WKU Football has participated in 11 bowl games over the last 13 seasons, winning seven after claiming the 2023 Famous Toastery Bowl. Nationwide, only Alabama, Georgia and Wisconsin have more bowl wins since 2014 than WKU. Other bowl wins include the Bahamas Bowl (2014), Miami Beach Bowl (2015), Boca Raton Bowl (2016 and 2021), First Responder Bowl (2019) and New Orleans Bowl (2022). WKU won consecutive bowls over the three-year period of 2014-16 and 2021-23 and was one of only five programs in the nation with back-to-back outright conference championships in 2015 and 2016. The program finished in the nation’s top 25 rankings in both 2015 (24th, Associated Press) and 2016 (23rd, USA Today), and 14 players have been selected in the NFL Draft since 2013. In 2021, quarterback Bailey Zappe set the all-time NCAA single-season records for passing yards (5,967) and touchdowns (62).
Men’s basketball has posted 11 wins over Power 5 programs since 2017 and reached the NCAA Tournament in 2013 and 2024, the NIT Final Four in 2018 and the NIT Elite 8 in 2021.
Volleyball has reached the NCAA Tournament in 11 of the last 13 years, advanced to the Second Round eight times, and reached the Sweet 16 for the only time in program history in 2020. WKU was one of only 12 programs in the nation with top 25 finishes and NCAA Tournament wins in five consecutive seasons between 2019-23, and in 2019 set an all-time program record for single-game attendance when hosting the NCAA Tournament for the first time in program history. The program was a remarkable 142-14 from 2019-23 including an 82-1 record in Conference USA and holds an all-time 162-8 mark in CUSA play.
Women’s basketball set a program record by posting 20+ wins in eight consecutive seasons from 2013-20 and have reached the NCAA Tournament four times and the WNIT four times including an Elite 8 appearance in 2016. Softball has won five conference championships while setting school records for wins (43, 2013) and winning percentage (.745, 38-13, 2022). The program has also earned berths in the NCAA Tournament three times and posted tourney wins over North Carolina and Georgia in 2015.
Baseball reached the NCAA Tournament in 2025 after winning the Conference USA Tournament and finished the season with a 46-14 overall record. The 46 wins, .766 winning percentage and +32 win/loss differential were all the second-best in a season in the program’s 106-year history. The 2025 team also obtained the highest national ranking in program history (17th by Baseball America week of 4/22) and set a program record for most home wins in a season (30-3). The club’s 15 game winning streak from games 7-21 was the second-longest in program history.
Soccer earned conference championships in 2013 and 2020, and men’s outdoor track and field set a program record with seven first-team All-Americans while finishing tied for 18th in the nation in 2014. Sofia Blanco (108 combined singles and doubles wins from 2022-25), Rachel Hermanova (62 singles wins from 2022-25), Samantha Martinez (56 doubles wins from 2021-24) and Hermanova (19 singles wins in 2022) set women’s tennis’ respective all-time records, while head coach Greg Davis led the 2022 team to 18 victories and the 2023 and 2025 teams to 15 victories, the second and T-third-most single-season wins in program history. Blanco’s 56 career singles wins and 52 career doubles wins each rank second in program history.
Adam Gary’s 15 tournament titles as head coach and Mary Joiner’s (2017-21) six individual titles are both the most in women’s golf program history, and the 2025 team became the first in program history to win a conference championship and earn a berth in the NCAA Tournament. Women’s golf also finished 2nd in both the 2021 and 2023 Conference USA Tournament, the best team performances in program history at that time. Sydney Hackett (2025) and Catie Craig (2023) won Conference USA individual championships, the only players in program history with an individual conference title. Craig was the first player in program history with NCAA Regional appearances (2023 and 2024), while Craig and teammate Sarah Arnold became the first players in program history to qualify for the US Amateur (2023). Craig reached match play and advanced to the Round of 16 in 2023 and qualified again for the US Amateur in 2024. Men’s golfer Billy Tom Sargent finished tied for 11th in the nation at the 2019 NCAA Golf Championships, the best individual finish in program history, and his five individual titles tie for the most. Luke Fuller won the 2024 CUSA individual championship, the program's first individual conference champion since 2006.
Swimmer Claire Donahue became the first WKU student-athlete ever to win an Olympic Gold Medal as a member of the United States 4x100 medley relay team at the London Olympics in 2012, while Larissa Franklin earned a bronze medal as the center field on Canada’s softball team at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
A member of WKU's senior athletic staff since 2008 and 37-year veteran of collegiate and professional sports, Stewart was named WKU's Director of Athletics on May 9, 2012, after serving in the role on an interim basis since March 22.
Stewart has a wide range of experience on many different levels, including nearly two years as WKU's Senior Associate Athletic Director, over two years as WKU's Associate Athletic Director for Communications and Media Relations, more than three years as Associate Commissioner for Communications at the Sun Belt Conference and 15 years of communications and media relations experience with two different franchises in the National Football League.
Stewart joined WKU in June of 2008 after a 40-month stint as Associate Commissioner for Communications for the Sun Belt Conference, where he and his staff were responsible for internal and external communications for all Sun Belt Conference publicity. Stewart created and helped institute media relations standards for every league school and also served on the BCS Media Relations Committee for college football's 2008 National Championship Game.
Prior to joining the SBC, Stewart worked in the National Football League for 15 years. He was hired by the Cleveland Browns as Executive Director of Communications and Media Relations in 1999, helping to create the franchise's communications/media relations department as it reentered the league as an expansion team. Stewart developed the Browns' strategy for releasing organizational messages via press conferences, press releases, interviews, the team's official web site and publications. The club's website, ClevelandBrowns.com, earned the number-two ranking out of 131 professional team web sites in 2004 in an annual survey conducted by Street and Smith's Sports Business Journal. Stewart assisted the NFL's public relations staff at Super Bowl XXXVI in New Orleans and was the AFC public relations representative at the 2000 Pro Bowl in Hawaii while with the Browns. He also served on the NFL's Media Policies Committee.
Prior to joining the Browns, Stewart was the Assistant Director of Public Relations for the Indianapolis Colts from 1991-99, where he helped direct activities between the organization, community and media with major responsibilities focused on writing press releases and producing team publications as well as arranging and coordinating interviews and press conferences. While with Indianapolis, he worked on the NFL's public relations staff at Super Bowl XXVII in Los Angeles and at three consecutive AFC Championship Games (1997-99). The Colts' public relations staff was presented the 1996 Pete Rozelle Award, an annual honor bestowed to the NFL's top PR staff as voted by the Pro Football Writers of America.
Stewart received his bachelor's degree in communications from Miami (Ohio) in 1988, where he twice received the Miami University Parents' Council Student Achievement Award for outstanding service to the university. He worked as a graduate assistant in the sports information department at the University of Tennessee from 1988-90 while also pursuing a master's degree in communications. Stewart currently serves on the Board of Directors for the United Way of Southern Kentucky and is also a member of the Bowling Green Rotary. He has also served two stints as the chair of Conference USA’s Athletic Directors.
A native of Cincinnati, Ohio, Stewart and his wife, Rebecca, have one son, Blake (25).
