ASHFORD ATHLETICS DIRECTOR ACTIVE ON NATIONAL LEVEL

As the Athletics Director at Ashford University, Meg Schebler stays busy monitoring thirteen varsity sports and a staff of fourteen coaches, assistant coaches, and an athletic trainer. However, her involvement goes beyond that at Ashford, as she is active at the national level as well. In the past seven years as an athletics administrator, Schebler has served on numerous committees and councils with the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), and the Women’s Basketball Coaches’ Association (WBCA). Schebler’s involvement began in her first year at the former Mount St. Clare College, as she was appointed to the Council of Affiliated Conferences and Independents (CACI) within the NAIA. That involvement has especially developed over the past three years.

Her most recent position has her active in the NAIA Athletic Director’s Association. She was selected in April 2004 to serve as the association’s Secretary and has since taken on the Vice Presidency. “I am honored to be chosen to this position and look forward to continuing to serve the NAIA in this capacity. Last year I selected and helped organize the speakers and roundtable discussions at the NACDA (National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics) Convention this summer and at the NAIA National Convention last spring. This year my role is more defined in committee work.”

Schebler is also beginning her second term as a member of the NAIA Council of Athletic Administrators (CAA), which is basically the governing board of the NAIA. “We, as a group, help formulate policies and procedures regarding athletics in the NAIA. It can be intricate work, but it is very rewarding because we believe we do what is best for all 300 institutions. We meet for long hours throughout the year, but it is a great experience getting to know so many outstanding administrators throughout the country.”

Ask Schebler which committee has been the most fun and she’ll answer the NAIA Women’s Basketball Tournament Committee. As the Women’s Basketball Coach at Ashford until her resignation this spring, Schebler was selected to serve on this committee and completed her fifth year this past spring, serving as the chairperson. “I had a lot of fun serving on this committee, as we ultimately watched 31 basketball games over a 5 day period, and at the end we got to see a National Champion get crowned. The work is exciting, ranging from rating officials every game, to setting up practice times for the winning teams. I’ve gotten to know some great people through this experience as well, whether it be the coaches, the players, the administrators, the parents, or the people of Sioux City who have done a fantastic job as the host of the tournament the past five years. Our administrator from the NAIA, Lori Thomas, has become a great friend of mine through this opportunity, as well as the other committee members. I am definitely going to miss working with this group and I’m sure you’ll find me in Sioux City sometime during the tournament.”

Through the experience in Women’s Basketball, Schebler also served on the NAIA All-American Selection Committee and the NAIA Academic All-American Selection Committee. The past two years, she chaired the latter, receiving over 200 applications to peruse. “That is a daunting task, but you get to see how many talented, academically successful women’s basketball players are out there.” Other involvement that incorporated her role as a basketball coach included serving as the NAIA-WBCA First Vice-President, after being the Secretary. “This will definitely be a role I will miss since leaving the coaching world this spring,” Schebler said.

Other committees Schebler currently serves on include the NAIA Honors and Awards Committee, which selects the Hall-of-Fame members, and the NAIA Gender Equity Committee that aims to see that female representation is available at all levels in the NAIA, both at the institutions and at the national level. “As a female administrator in the world of athletics, I am still very much in the minority. This committee is looking to find a way to get more females involved in coaching, as administrators, and as members of these national committees. When I went to my first CACI meeting, I remember looking around the room and counting one female and that was me! I still do that at some of those national meetings, and at our conference AD meetings, too. It’s an honor to see myself as one of the few female athletic directors in the NAIA, but I hope to be joined by more in the near future.”

Although Schebler is involved on these national committees, her first priorities are the student-athletes and coaches at Ashford. “I am extremely lucky to work with outstanding coaches and staff. We are a pretty autonomous department, and I trust all the coaches implicitly in their positions. I feel like our staff works well with one another, as well as within the institution. We have to be on the same page with the faculty, admissions, financial aid, and all of the departments on campus in order to be successful in recruiting and retaining top scholar-athletes.”