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Jerry Hughes

Athletics Director

 

 

 

 

 

Under the leadership of Jerry Hughes, UCM’s athletics program has enjoyed unprecedented success, highlighted by the dual NCAA basketball championships in 1984 by the Mules and Jennies, the 1994 and 2003 NCAA baseball championships, and the 2003 women’s Intercollegiate Bowling Association national title.   In 2005, Hughes was inducted into the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame.

Going into the 2007 fall semester, the Mules and Jennies had won more than 100 Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association championships, five national championships, had 30 other top four NCAA finishes, and made more than 110 NCAA post-season appearances during Hughes’ tenure.  The Central Missouri athletic program also won the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association All-Sports Trophy each year from 1998-99 (the year of the award’s inception) until the award was discontinued in 2002-03.

Hughes was named Central Region Athletics Director of the Year for 2001-2002 as selected by the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics (NACDA).  That honor made him the first repeat winner - at any NCAA level--in the history of the Athletics Director of the Year program after earning the same honor in the program’s inaugural year, 1998-99.

The 58-year-old Hughes has been Central Missouri’s athletics director since Jan. 25, 1983.  Prior to that, Hughes had served as associate athletics director since July of 1981.  In 1991-92, he served as the Mules’ interim head basketball coach and guided the team to a 15-13 record.

Hughes has been a Division II member of the NCAA Executive Committee and chairman of the Division II Championships Committee.  He also served a term as NCAA Vice President for Division II and has been a member of the NCAA Council, making him the only person to twice hold the highest-ranking office available to athletics administrators in NCAA Division II.  Other NCAA committees on which he has served are the Membership Structure Committee, Administrative Committee, and Post-Season Football Subcommittee.  He has chaired the NCAA Division II Management Council and Membership Growth Project Team and been a member of the NCAA Budget and Finance Committee and NCAA Administrative Review Panel, as well as the NACDA Sears Directors Cup Committee.

He has spearheaded fund-raising efforts for major renovations of the Central Missouri  football and baseball stadiums, as well as the development of UCM’s South Recreation Complex, and is the founder of the Las Vegas High Desert Classic, a highly regarded NCAA Division II basketball tournament held each December for the past 14 years in Las Vegas, Nev.

In addition to his service at Central Missouri, Hughes has served as Regional Director of the Show Me State Games, and on the Governor’s Council on Physical Fitness and Health.

Hughes has been at Central Missouri since October 1979, when he took a position as business placement director.  The following year he became director of student recruitment.  In 1981, Hughes was chosen for the new position of associate athletics director.

A native of Versailles, Mo., Hughes received his bachelor’s degree in physical education in 1971 from Central Missouri, with a minor in safety education.  He was a three-year letterman on the Mules’ golf team, receiving All-MIAA honors in 1971.  He also obtained a master’s degree in secondary school administration, which he received in 1979 from Central Missouri.  Following his graduation in 1971, Hughes spent a year of active duty in the Army National Guard.

In 1972, he returned to his hometown and took a position as physical education instructor, head golf coach and assistant basketball coach at Morgan County R-2 High School.  From 1977-79, he served as the school’s athletics director and assistant principal.

He and his wife, Vici, have four children – Greg, Chad, Parker, and Ashley.  They have four grandchildren –  Tanner and Rylie from Greg and his wife Catrina - also Fallon and Kaiser from Chad and Jennifer. Vici  works for UCM as Director of Presidential and University Events.