To find someone to lead UTPB’s athletic program, the university decided on one who is no stranger to West Texas or the Lone Star Conference.
Scott Larson, who has previously served as Athletic Director at Lubbock Christian University, was introduced as UTPB’s Vice President for Athletics at an introductory press conference Monday at the D. Kirk Edwards Family Human Performance Center.
Larson is the fourth full-time director of athletics in UTPB’s history.
“I’m excited to be here and ready to work with this great staff and coaches,” Larson said. “Athletics on this campus isn’t really old. It’s relatively new and with the amount of success it has had, it’s truly remarkable.”
Larson brings with him over two decades of NCAA experience.
He recently served as the Athletics Director at Black Hills State University in Spearfish, S.D. for a year.
Prior to that, he was the Athletics Director at Lubbock Christian University from June 2019 to Aug. 2023.
During his tenure at LCU, Larson oversaw an athletic department that achieved three NCAA Division II national championships in women’s basketball and 20 national championship appearances across multiple sports, including cross country and indoor and outdoor track and field. Under his leadership, the baseball, men’s basketball, women’s basketball, men’s golf, and softball teams made a combined 21 South Central Regional appearances since 2015. In 2022-23, LCU reached a program-best 70th place in the Learfield Director’s Cup standings.
He takes over for Scott Farmer who had served in an interim role this summer at UTPB after Todd Dooley resigned back in May.
When asked about the challenges ahead at UTPB, Larson said he prefers the word “opportunity”.
“I think challenge is a negative word,” Larson said. “Opportunity is the right word. Facilities and scholarships, getting our sports full funded in one of the top conferences in the country is important. We want to give our athletes the opportunity to be competitive. Winning is fun. It’s not at all cost but it’ll lead to a good experience for our athletes.”
He talked about the many challenges facing college sports, especially in an age of the NIL and transfer portal.
“As we look forward here in this crazy time of athletics with NIL and everything, I think the priority is that we have to position ourselves for what’s next, whatever that may be,” Larson said. “We’ve seen a lot of changes over the last couple of years with the NIL and transfer portal and of course, we need to take care of ourselves with our facilities. We better get to work on facilities and campus beautification so that we don’t get left behind.”
Facilities have been the biggest challenge facing UTPB athletics over the years.
The football team currently plays off campus in one of two stadiums including Ratliff Stadium and Astound Broadband in Midland.
But it doesn’t just start and end with football.
“It’s all facilities, not just on campus football,” Larson said. “There’s baseball, tennis and softball. All of them need work to be up to Lone Star Conference standards. The Lone Star Conference is arguably the best conference in D-II sports at a lot of different levels. UTPB has proven its success from last year and imagine what could happen with improved facilities. That’s priority number one.”
Larson also talked about where the funding would have to come from.
“I think we’re going to have to look at external sources,” Larson said. “We’re going to have to develop the mission and vision and sell it and tell people that this is where we’re going. Join us.”
UTPB is coming off its best athletic season from last year.
The football team won its first Lone Star Conference title and made the NCAA Division II playoffs debut while the women’s basketball team made it all the way to the Lone Star Conference Tournament Championship back in March and qualified for the NCAA Division II Tournament.
The baseball team also made noise this past spring by advancing to the NCAA Division II Tournament after advancing to the Lone Star Conference title game against Lubbock Christian.
“Wins and losses, they’re important but not as important as impacting the lives of our student athletes,” Larson said. “It’s our job to push them academically and athletically to make them better people and productive members of society.”
UTPB president Sandra Woodley talked about what made Larson the right hire.
“Scott has two decades of athletic experience,” Woodley said. “For the last five years, he’s had the top role in athletics. We know he has a depth of experience and lots of amazing accomplishments over the last couple of years. We’re thrilled at what he’s been able to do. He has the experience of a manager and executive to be able to run an athletic department. We’re happy to bring him on board.”
