When Lynn Tubman was named the director of athletics at Chestnut Hill College in July 2009, it signaled not only good news for her and for Chestnut Hill, but it also gave more credence to a developmental program Division II adopted several years ago to get more women and minorities into athletics leadership positions.

Tubman, a star basketball player at DeSales in the 1980s (she remains the school’s all-time leading scorer), is one of about four dozen female athletics directors in Division II – compared to about only 30 a decade ago.

But Tubman might not be among the group at all were it not for a position she obtained earlier though a matching-grant program that targets people like her for leadership roles.

Division II’s Strategic Alliance Matching Grant was created in 2002 to provide funding for institutions and conference offices to enhance existing or establish new full-time administrative positions. Grant recipients (almost 60 since the program’s inception) receive funding for three years – the NCAA funds 75 percent of the position during the first year, 50 percent the second and 25 percent the third.    

Recipients are required to maintain the position for at least two years after that, preferably incorporating the position into their ongoing operations, which almost all previous recipients have done.

Philadelphia University AD Tom Shirley coordinated his school’s successful grant application in 2004. He was seeking an administrative position that could alleviate a mounting workload in compliance and other areas that also could take on the designation of senior woman administrator. He had just the person in mind in Tubman, who had played for Shirley when he coached at DeSales and had worked in athletics at a few institutions before taking some time off to raise a family.

But as is the case at many schools, Shirley lacked the funding to make it happen.

“We as ADs are constantly trying to sell positions to our presidents,” he said. “On those rare occasions when you can say up front that we can be at least partially funded over three years, you certainly have a couple of bullets in the gun. In our case, there was a void on our campus to fill as well as a financial opportunity provided by the NCAA.”

It fit well for both the school and the employee. For Tubman, it was a chance to get re-acclimated after five years away from the business.

“It gave me a chance just to get back into it and, with the SWA designation, be involved in all aspects of operating a DII program, from hiring to budgets to compliance,” she said. “If it weren’t for the grant, Philadelphia wouldn’t have been in the position to seek this job being filled in the first place.”

And for the school, Shirley said Tubman was able to take on tasks that over-burdened staff otherwise would have had to manage. “She was able to devote full attention to compliance, and community service and engagement were emerging as Division II priorities at that time as well, so she picked those up, too,” he said.

Shirley said Tubman also served as a valuable role model to incoming female student-athletes as well as those who had been on campus for several years. “She was a shoulder for all those first-timers, and to the other end of the spectrum where upperclassmen were thinking about getting into athletics administration because they watched what Lynn did and saw her as a role model,” he said. “She filled a void in that those kids now had a door to knock on.”

Five years later, Tubman had gained enough experience to move to her new role at Chestnut Hill.

“It provided me as a woman an opportunity to be hired in a leadership position as opposed to an entry-level job,” she said. “That opportunity at Philadelphia certainly led to where I am now.”

Tubman was actually one of two grant recipients in 2004 to land AD jobs. Dianthia Ford-Kee, formerly the associate athletics director at Shaw – the position that was funded by the grant – is now the athletics director at Lincoln University (Pennsylvania).

That’s just how the grant was intended to work, said Kurt Portmann, who serves on the committee charged with distributing the awards every year. Portmann, the executive associate athletics director at Midwestern State, said his group receives about three dozen applications annually, far more than the budget of about $700,000 can accommodate.

Midwestern State has been on both ends of the decision, having been an alternate with an application for two years before being awarded a grant in 2009.

Portmann encouraged applicants to meet the criteria as comprehensively as they can since committee members end up having to rank applications to make tough decisions. “We have to try to get as far as we can down that list with the money that is available,” he said.

Overall, though, Portmann said it’s well worth trying to get on that list in the first place.

“It’s a great opportunity for schools to add new position, easing the blow of taking on a full salary right away,” Portmann said. “Any of the schools that have received the funding would tell you that.”

Division II Vice President Mike Racy said the division is proud to commit significant resources each year on diversity initiatives such as the grant program. 

“Success stories like Dianthia’s and Lynn’s appointments to AD positions is important as we continue to evaluate the progress our institutions and conferences are making in this area,” he said.