{"id":49761,"date":"2023-10-25T14:14:43","date_gmt":"2023-10-25T19:14:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/?p=49761"},"modified":"2023-10-25T14:14:51","modified_gmt":"2023-10-25T19:14:51","slug":"lonn-reisman-to-retire-in-spring-2024","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/lonn-reisman-to-retire-in-spring-2024\/","title":{"rendered":"Lonn Reisman to retire in Spring 2024"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

STEPHENVILLE \u2013 On Tuesday, November 12, 2019, Tarleton State University Vice President for Intercollegiate Athletics Lonn Reisman stood behind a podium on stage at Wisdom Gym.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"LonnR
Lonn Reisman, Tarleton State University Vice President for Intercollegiate Athletics, has announced he will retire in spring of 2024.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

With university administrators, the Texas A&M System Chancellor and Board of Regents, and a full crowd of Texan faithful gathered for arguably the biggest announcement in school history \u2013 Tarleton State was moving to NCAA Division I.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fighting back emotion, the longtime leader of Texan Athletics read a quote from Thomas Edison. \u201cMany of life\u2019s failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lonn Reisman never gave up. He succeeded.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now, after a 36-year career at Tarleton State University and successful reclassifications from NAIA to NCAA Division II and now Division I, Reisman has announced his retirement effective next spring after serving as the longest tenured AD in school history, topping W.J. Wisdom\u2019s 20-year career at the helm.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cTexan Nation, we did it,\u201d said Reisman.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI have been blessed beyond my wildest dreams to have been able to call Tarleton State University home for the last 35 years,\u201d he continued. \u201cI came here in 1988 to coach basketball and raise my family. Along the way, I\u2019ve been accepted into this community, and I can say that I never gave up. Together, we took an NAIA school from Stephenville, Texas to a nationally recognized NCAA Division I university. We did it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tarleton State will complete its four-year reclassification period to NCAA Division I this July.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI am forever grateful for the dedication to our student-athletes, commitment to excellence, and steadfast leadership that Lonn Reisman has given to Tarleton State University,\u201d said Tarleton State President Dr. James Hurley. \u201cOn behalf of the entire university, I congratulate Lonn on his upcoming and well-deserved retirement.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Under Reisman\u2019s direction, Tarleton State has flourished in nearly every sport, driving full speed into NCAA Division I. During the reclassification process, the institution added three athletic programs and garnered tremendous exposure with games played on some of the nation\u2019s biggest stages. During the reclassification period when programs traditionally are slow to find success, Reisman and Texans didn\u2019t miss a beat. The football team recorded winning seasons every year, there were three postseason appearances by the softball and men\u2019s basketball programs, and a regular season title and near WAC Tournament title by the women\u2019s tennis team.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Academically, the Texans recorded the highest NCAA Academic Progress Rate (APR) scores by a reclassifying school since 2011. Under Reisman\u2019s leadership, Tarleton set an elite academic standard in its first year of reclassification with a single-year APR score of 987 which is the highest among any first-year reclassifying school in the history of the NCAA and continued those academic standards each of the last four years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cFive years ago, when we made the decision to embark on the NCAA Division I reclassification journey, Lonn and I made a commitment to see it through together,\u201d said President Hurley. \u201cWe have successfully completed the process, established a culture of athletic excellence, and made significant investments into infrastructure and budgets. I cannot think of a better leader in athletics to have led us through this journey than Lonn Reisman.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Across Reisman\u2019s 30 years as the athletic director, plus his five additional years at Tarleton preceding his AD tutelage, Reisman has seen 41 NCAA playoff appearances, 14 NCAA tournament regional championships, 20 conference tournament championships, 14 regular season conference championships, and 19 division championships. <\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Reisman\u2019s journey at Tarleton State began in 1988 as a basketball coach to a struggling NAIA program.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“When I applied for this job 30 years ago, I’ll never forget it, President (Barry B.) Thompson looked me square in the eye and said, ‘You don’t have the nerve to take this job,'” he recalled.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI looked him square in the eye, pointed back and said, \u2018not only do I have the nerve to take it, but we\u2019re going to win!\u2019 After all this time, all I can say is that I hope I made Dr. Thompson, our fans, and all of Tarleton State University proud.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After finding tremendous success as the basketball coach, Reisman was named the Athletic Director in 1993 and began Tarleton\u2019s first transition to NCAA Division II and the Lone Star Conference.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

During their reign in Division II, Tarleton was ranked in the national top 25 polls and qualified for the NCAA national playoffs in every sport along the way, including Final Four finishes in men\u2019s basketball and women\u2019s golf. He also elevated one of the most elite fundraising units in all of Division II \u2013 the Texan Club. The Texan Club has previously been recognized as a successful organization in the National Association of College Directors of Athletics publication for its fundraising efforts and success. The Texan Club had just eight corporate sponsorships when Reisman was named the Athletic Director and it now has over 200 corporate and over 300 individual members.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In his three decades at the helm, Reisman has also been involved in facility improvements while heading the Tarleton Athletics programs. Memorial Stadium underwent upgrades in 2004 when turf and visitor concessions were added, then it underwent a $26 million renovation in 2017 to upgrade the turf and build a state-of-the-art press box and home-side seating on the west side of the stadium. As part of the 2017 renovation, a $2.4 million donation by Hall of Famer Mike A. Myers was made to name the new facility the Lonn Reisman Athletic Center<\/em> in honor of Reisman\u2019s hard work and dedication to Tarleton Athletics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Reisman retired from the sidelines after 30 years of excellence in coaching. Reisman has 691 career wins \u2014 654 of them at Tarleton \u2014 which is the most wins by anyone in Tarleton history and the most wins of any active head coach in the state of Texas at any NCAA level. He\u2019s one of 14 coaches at the Division I and II levels combined with more than 650 career wins and ranks within the top 15 in the country in winning percentage by a Division II head coach. His other 37 wins came in three seasons as the head coach of Connors Junior College and Trumann High School (Arkansas).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2018, Reisman received one of the highest honors a coach can receive from the NABC. He was named the recipient of the Guardians of the Game Award for Leadership and was recognized at the 2018 NCAA Division I Final Four in San Antonio. He is a 13-time Coach of the Year recipient too. He won back-to-back TIAA District 8 Coach of the Year awards in his first two years at Tarleton. Reisman has won five LSC Coach of the Year honors, including three awards in 2004 with the TABC Small College Coach of the Year and NABC Regional Coach of the Year to go with the LSC award. In 2014, Reisman received the NCAA Regional Coach of the Year award and was a finalist for the Clarence \u201cBig House\u201d Gaines National Coach of the Year. He\u2019s a three-time National Coach of the Week winner.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A national search for Reisman\u2019s successor has begun under the leadership and partnership of Parker Executive Search. Inquiries about the Vice President of Intercollegiate Athletics position can be sent to Daniel Parker at danielparker@parkersearch.com.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cTarleton State University is thriving in every possible way,\u201d said President Hurley. \u201cThis is an elite destination for students and student-athletes from all over the country. We are excited to see who will come in and build off Lonn\u2019s incredible legacy and continue the commitment to success and excellence that is here at Tarleton State.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

STEPHENVILLE \u2013 On Tuesday, November 12, 2019, Tarleton State University Vice President for Intercollegiate Athletics Lonn Reisman stood behind a podium on stage at Wisdom Gym. With university administrators, the …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":54,"featured_media":49762,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"advgb_blocks_editor_width":"","advgb_blocks_columns_visual_guide":"","wds_primary_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[382],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-49761","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-homepage"],"acf":{"image":null},"author_meta":{"display_name":"priddle","author_link":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/author\/priddle-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2\/"},"featured_img":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/65\/2023\/10\/LonnR_Feature-Image_300x200px-300x200.png","coauthors":[],"tax_additional":{"categories":{"linked":["_Homepage<\/a>"],"unlinked":["_Homepage<\/span>"]}},"comment_count":0,"relative_dates":{"created":"Posted 2 years ago","modified":"Updated 2 years ago"},"absolute_dates":{"created":"Posted on October 25, 2023","modified":"Updated on October 25, 2023"},"absolute_dates_time":{"created":"Posted on October 25, 2023 2:14 pm","modified":"Updated on October 25, 2023 2:14 pm"},"featured_img_caption":"Man in a suit with a Tarleton State University basketball banner behind him.","series_order":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49761","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/54"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=49761"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49761\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/49762"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=49761"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=49761"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=49761"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}