CORVALLIS, Ore. – Multnomah University’s Lois Vos was unanimously named the Cascade Collegiate Conference Athletic Director of the Year, announced Thursday. The award is the CCC’s top administrative honor selected by the conference’s athletic directors.
"Congratulations to Lois on this very special honor from her colleagues," stated CCC Commissioner Rob Cashell. "Her tireless work at Multnomah University growing programs, supporting the campus mission and providing wonderful opportunities for her staff and student-athletes to flourish is remarkable, not to mention her humility and sense of humor she exudes daily."
Vos has been a member of the Lions’ family for over 30 years, including Director of Intercollegiate Athletics since 2003, and helped MU finish its fifth year as an NAIA and CCC member this past year.
Since the Lions joined the NAIA and CCC, Vos has worked hard to add 10 sports, along with developing a budget to hire coaches and develop funds for each sport. The Lions’ women’s basketball team has made the postseason twice and MU had its first-ever podium appearance at last year’s CCC Track and Field Championship. She has also gotten institutional financial backing for adding athletic scholarships and fought for full-time salaries and benefits for her head coaches.
As MU added the 10 sports, Vos went from managing four people to nearly 25 people almost overnight and jumped from 25 student-athletes to close to 140. This created a need for handbooks and protocols so Vos created a coach’s handbook and a student-athlete handbook. She also holds regular coaches’ meetings and requires coaches to have office hours, which has created a dramatically better culture on campus between athletes and coaches
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Vos oversaw the redesign of the MU Athletics office, adding new paint and carpet, as well as sport decals and banners. Under Vos, the Lions have one of the biggest athletic training areas in the conference, with a weight room that has cardio and free weight areas. Vos is also working with an architect to design a turf area with lights and a field event area for MU Athletics.
One of Vos’ biggest passions is seeing student-athletes succeed, especially in the classroom. She puts a high value on academics and takes satisfaction seeing a number of athletes earn academic awards and walk during graduation.
Character is also at the core of who the Lions are as a staff and Vos is passionate her team models that for the student-athletes. Twice a year the athletic department participates in a community outreach program. The Lion student-athletes go into the community and mow lawns, paint, rip out brush, etc. The athletic department is also committed to mission trips, with teams going to places like Japan, Taiwan and the Philippines.
Vos, who serves on two committees for the CCC, will go on to represent the CCC as the league nominee for the NAIA AD of the Year Award.