After 18 years of leading Roadrunner athletics, UTSA Athletic Director Lynn Hickey announced on Thursday that she is resigning from her position for personal reasons, effective immediately.
The announcement sent shock waves across San Antonio and the college sports world, as it seemed to come out of nowhere. UTSA had just extended the contract of football Head Coach Frank Wilson, and there was no signal of a possible change.
As Hickey steps down from her position, it’s incredible to look back at all that she has done. Hickey was the only female Division I athletic director in Texas to look over men’s and women’s sports. During her career, UTSA added women’s golf, women’s soccer, and in perhaps her biggest accomplishment, brought Division I football to San Antonio. The university spent most of her tenure in the Southland Conference, but then moved to the Western Athletic Conference and now the Roadrunners compete in Conference USA, which is a part of the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS). In 2007, Hickey became just the second woman on the NCAA Division I men’s basketball committee. She played a crucial role in bringing the men’s basketball Final Four to San Antonio in 2004, 2008 and 2018.
The addition of football put UTSA on the national map, pitting the university against marquee college programs such as Texas A&M, Arizona State and Baylor. In 2016, the Roadrunners qualified for the Gildan New Mexico Bowl, their first ever bowl game in just its sixth year. Since the start of the football program, home games in the Alamodome have drawn thousands of fans every year, including a record 56,743 for their inaugural game in 2011.
UTSA will of course miss Hickey because of all that she’s done, but on a personal level, I am deeply saddened to see her go. In my two years as a Kid Reporter for Sports Illustrated Kids, Hickey was without a doubt one of my favorite interviews. My interview lasted more than an hour and a half, and my conversation with a brilliant sports mind could’ve gone on for much longer. I learned so much from Hickey and became so inspired by all that she’s experienced and accomplished in sports.
I am so fortunate to have had the chance to meet and talk to Hickey. She will be dearly missed by all of San Antonio.