Eastern Washington athletic director Lynn Hickey will retire in April
Lynn Hickey, the Eastern Washington University athletic director, will retire when her contract expires on April 30, the school announced Monday.
“I am incredibly passionate about intercollegiate athletics and will miss the interaction and competition, but it is time for me to prioritize my family,” Hickey said in a news release. “I will forever cherish my Eagle experience due to the wonderful student-athletes, staff, and fans that I have been fortunate to work with and who epitomize our values of grit, grace and gratitude.”
Hickey first came to Eastern Washington as its interim athletic director in 2018 and was named to the position permanently in April of that year. She spent the 18 years before that as the athletic director at the University of Texas, San Antonio.
During her tenure at Eastern, Hickey hired new head coaches for the majority of the department’s 14 programs. That includes David Riley and Joddie Gleason, who coach the men’s and women’s basketball teams, respectively.
It also includes Erin Tucker, who is in his first year coaching the men’s and women’s indoor and outdoor track and field teams; Missy Strasburg, the women’s soccer coach; and Jon Haruguchi, who coaches the volleyball team. Haruguchi replaced Leslie Flores-Cloud, who was first hired by Hickey in 2018.
Hickey also hired Jared Burnham to coach men’s tennis in 2019 and Sam Read to coach cross country in 2018.
EWU will begin its national search for a replacement immediately.
“I want to thank Lynn Hickey for all her years of service not only to college athletics, but specifically for her hard work here at Eastern,” EWU President Shari McMahan said in the release. “Lynn has always supported our student-athletes with positivity and professionalism, and she will leave that great legacy at EWU and in intercollegiate athletics.”
Hickey is originally from Welch, Oklahoma, and graduated from Ouachita Baptist University in Arkansas in 1973. From 1979 to 1984 she was the women’s head basketball coach at Kansas State, and from 1984 to 1994 she coached the women’s team at Texas A&M. Overall, she finished her basketball coaching career with a 279-167 record in 15 seasons.
She remained at Texas A&M as its senior associate athletic director and senior woman administrator until 2000.
After her time at UTSA, in 2018 Hickey replaced Bill Chaves and became Eastern’s 14th athletic director.
“It is time for a new adventure,” Hickey said in the release, “and I look forward to moving closer to family and finding new ways to continue to have an impact and be of service in this business that I love so much.”