by Christian Stryker
Sports Information Director
Coker College
HARTSVILLE, S.C. — Judy Southard, the senior associate athletics director at LSU is the recipient of Coker College’s Alumni Distinguished Achievement Award for 2009. Southard graduated from Coker College in 1970 with a degree in physical education. She is also the senior woman administrator for LSU Athletics.
At LSU, Southard oversees the highly successful Tiger Olympic Sports program including 17 NCAA Division I men’s and women’s sports. She has direct supervision of volleyball, women’s basketball, softball, men’s and women’s swimming and diving, and men’s and women’s golf as well as responsibilities in monitoring the athletic department’s gender equity and diversity plan.
Southard recently completed a productive tenure as a member of the NCAA Division I Women’s Basketball Committee, serving as committee chair from 2006 to 2008. She also served as a member of the SEC Executive Committee from 2004 to 2007.
Before joining the LSU Athletics, Southard was the Director of Athletics at Texas Woman’s University. Prior to that, she was the head coach at the University of Tennessee- Martin.
Earlier in her career, Southard was the head women’s basketball coach at Marshall University, leading the Lady Herd to five Southern Conference titles. Southard also served as the Assistant Director of Athletics, Senior Woman Administrator, and the Interim Director of Athletics at Marshall.
Among her many career accolades, Southard was named Southern Conference Coach of the Year three times, the American Women’s Sport Foundation-Northeast Regional Coach of the Year, and the South Carolina Athletic Coaches Association Coach of the Year. Southard is also an inductee to the Marshall University and Coker College Athletics Hall of Fame.
Southard started her athletics career coaching the women’s West Florence (S.C.) High School basketball team following her graduation from Coker College. She earned a master’s degree in physical education from the University of Tennessee in 1978.
Southard is a native of Columbia, S.C.