Athletic Director Kathy Beauregard Ending A 42-Year Run At WMU

Western Michigan University Athletic Director Kathy Beauregard announced Monday she will be retiring at the end of the year.

Beauregard is capping a 42 year career at the school. WMU says it is launching a nation-wide search immediately to find her successor.

Given the volatility of the position, and how it's in a male dominated area, maybe two of Beauregard's most impressive accomplishments are that she is the longest -serving athletic director at the same school and she is one of just nine female athletic directors among 130 Football Bowl Subdivision schools across the nation.

"During Beauregard's tenure, Western has won 58 MAC championships, the MAC Institutional Academic Achievement Award for men eight times— including the last four consecutively—a Central Collegiate Hockey Association championship, the transition to the National Collegiate Hockey Conference, the NCAA Sportsmanship Award in 2017; and 36 teams have made NCAA Tournament appearances. The WMU football team has been invited to eight postseason bowl games, including WMU's appearance in the 2017 Goodyear Cotton Bowl Classic. Furthermore, she served on the NCAA Olympic Sports Liaison Committee, the NCAA Championships Cabinet, NCAA Football Bowl Certification Committee and the NCAA Diversity and Inclusion Committee." - WMU Athletic Department.

After graduating from Hope College, Kalamazoo-native Beauregard became WMU's gymnastics coach in 1980. She stayed in the position through most of the 1980's before moving into administration in 1989 as associate athletic director. She became athletic director in 1997, replacing Jim Weaver. Among her best hires was P.J. Fleck, who led the Bronco football team to the Cotton Bowl in 2017.

Just this past June, Beauregard was one of the point people as WMU announced it had received a record $550 Million gift (the largest ever to an institution), with a significant portion earmarked for the athletic department.