Tyler Unsicker recently finished his third year as the director of athletics for LSUA, as he was hired in September of 2021.
During the first three years of Unsicker’s tenure, he has assembled a team that has taken Generals athletics to unprecedented heights in the areas of academics, competition and fundraising. Guided by the athletic department’s core values, the vision of the department is striving to create an atmosphere where the department positively challenges one another in a way that encourages personal, academic and athletic excellence. Unsicker’s leadership team, coaches, and staff, with the support of the University administration, have made tremendous strides in all facets of operations with the student-athlete experience being at the forefront.
The 2022-2023 year marked the creation of the Student-Athlete Academic Success Center that provides student-athletes with resources to be successful in the classroom as they work towards their degree. The hiring of a newly created position assistant athletic director for academics and student-engagement will lead the academic progress of LSUA student-athletes for the first time in school history. These efforts led to obtaining the highest GPA in school history with a 3.26 GPA for the 2023-2024 school year. LSUA also earned its first Barnes and Noble College Red River Athletic Conference GPA award as the top RRAC program in academic performance for the 2023-24 academic year.
In competition, the Generals have continued to perform at the national level under Unsicker’s leadership, with four teams qualifying for the NAIA Tournament and three teams being crowned RRAC champions in 2023-2024. LSUA teams have won seven RRAC Championships in the past 3 years. The women’s tennis team reached the semifinals of the 2022 NAIA National Championships for the best finish in program history and head tennis coach Ms. Melinda Descant was named the 2023 National Coach of the Year.
The LSUA Department of Athletics has also experienced great results in the area of fundraising. The Generals Athletic Association raised over $300,000 in his first two years on campus. In 2023-2024 the department raised over $350,000 The growth of a robust corporate sponsorship program has been established to help LSUA teams gain additional funds to help with recruiting and operational budgets. Unsicker has worked closely with the Generals Athletic Association to increase scholarship amounts and facility improvements for all seven LSUA programs.
In the area of facilities, the department has made improvements in a number of areas including a new press box, new LED stadium lights and a storage area at baseball, a new locker room at softball and visiting locker rooms in The Fitness Center. In 2023 the LSUA pool was filled in after years of being underused and a 6,000 square foot indoor practice area was created that supports all seven LSUA programs, providing another space to use in the case of inclement weather. In 2024 the LSUA Soccer pitch got a big upgrade with nets behind the goal, built in dugouts and a covered press box.
Unsicker came to LSUA after serving as the associate athletic director for external affairs at Central Washington University (NCAA Div. II) in Ellensburg, Wash. At CWU, Unsicker supervised all marketing, ticketing, licensing, athletic communications operations, and managed the university’s corporate sponsorship program that averaged over $300,000 in donations each year.
Unsicker was the assistant athletic director for external operations and ticket manager at the University of North Alabama (NCAA Div. II) in Florence, Ala., from 2009 to 2015. During his tenure as ticket manager, ticket sales and attendance increased by 20 percent and was ranked in the top 10 in NCAA Division II football attendance for all six years that he was at UNA. As the assistant athletic director for external operations, Unsicker oversaw ticket sales, marketing and facilities and helped the university as they transitioned to NCAA Division I.
Unsicker has been an adjunct professor of sport administration for 15 years, teaching classes at the University of North Alabama and Central Washington University.
He earned his master’s degree in sports administration from the University of Northern Colorado and his bachelor's degree in recreation management from Brigham Young University.
Unsicker and his wife, Lynae, are the parents of five children, Camden, Corbin, Reid, Drew and Maren.
