Rick Willis - Director of Athletics, Lowell J. Walker Endowed Chair

Willis has held the position of director of athletics for four years at Wartburg College. He took the job on an interim basis in January of 2005 and was formally named to the position by President Dr. Jack R. Ohle in December of 2005. During his time at the helm of the athletics' program, Wartburg has continued its run of strong standing on the Learfield Sports' Division III Directors' Cup list, including an Iowa Conference best eighth-place effort of 722 points in 2007-08.

He returned to the sidelines as head coach of the Wartburg football program in the fall of 2008, leading the Knights to their 11th Iowa Conference championship, eighth NCAA Division III playoff berth and run to the national quarterfinals in the playoffs. He has an 89-20 record as head coach of the Knights. During his first stint (1997-2005), the program was ranked as the fifth-best winning percentage in the NCAA. During that span, his teams reeled off four Iowa Conference championships with two of those (1999 and 2003) compiling perfect regular season records. The Knights also appeared in six national playoff games during his first tenure and twice advanced to the second round. Following the unbeaten 1999 campaign, he was honored as the IIAC Coach of the Year and the GTE Regional Coach of the Year by the American Football Coaches Association.

His coaching acumen hasn't been limited to between the goalposts, either. He led the Wartburg softball program into national prominence during the 2003 season in an interim role, guiding the Knights to a 38-10 record, an NCAA regional title, and a tie for fifth at the Division III College World Series. Before coming to Waverly, Willis was the defensive coordinator and head baseball coach at Wittenberg University in Springfield, Ohio, from 1990-96. He graduated from Cornell College in Mount Vernon, Iowa, earning an NCAA postgraduate scholarship in 1988. He received his master's degree in athletic administration at the University of Illinois while serving as a graduate assistant with the Illini football program. Rick, his wife, Kelly, and their three sons, Tyler, Eric, and Ryan, reside in Waverly.

Monica Severson - Associate Director of Athletics, Senior Woman Administrator

A member of the Wartburg College athletic department since the 1988-89 academic year, Severson has a strong background in Wartburg’s athletic history, as she is the winningest women’s basketball coach in school history. In 17 years at the helm of the Knights, her teams produced a combined record of 335-131, ranking her 39th all-time in victories amongst NCAA Division III head coaches prior to the start of the 2006-07 academic year. Her 71.9 winning percentage was tied for No. 29 all-time. Severson led the program to each of its five Iowa Conference championships, all nine of its NCAA Division III national tournament appearances, and NCAA Division III Elite Eight appearances in 1992, 1993, and 2001..

Along with her current role as Wartburg athletics’ SWA and associate director of athletics, she also serves the college as head coach of the women's golf program. Severson's 2007-08 and 2008-09 teams each qualified for the NCAA Division III Championships after winning Iowa Conference titles, and the 2007-08 squad helped serve as host of the 2008 national meet. She is the head of the college’s Student-Athlete Advisory Committee, and was an assistant director of athletics from 1993-1997 before becoming an associate director in the 1997-98 academic year.

Severson has taken her athletic administrating skills into the national arena. She’s held roles as the meet director of the 2005 NCAA Division III outdoor national track and field championships and been a part of national championship committees in women’s golf, softball, and track and field. She was also a member of the 2007-08 NCAA Fellows Leadership Development program. Severson graduated from Dakota State University in 1985 with a Bachelor of Science in Physical Education and in 1987 from South Dakota State University with a Masters of Science in Exercise Science.

Marcus Newsom - Assistant Athletic Director

Newsom, a native of Kansas City, Ks., attended Butler Community College in Eldorado, Kan., where he was a national qualifier in track and field and played on the football team. After three semesters at Butler , Newsom transferred to Bethany College of Lindsborg, Kan. He earned a B.A. in sociology with a minor in criminal law in 1992. While at Bethany, he was a letterwinner in both football and track, earning all-conference honors in both sports. He recently earned his master's degree at the University of Northern Iowa.

Newsom also serves the college as its diversity issues coordinator.

As head coach of the Wartburg track and field program, he's earned the 2009, 2007, 2005, and 2004 United States Track Coaches Association Division III indoor women's Coach of the Year and 2009 USTFCCCA Division III outdoor women's COTY. The Knights have reached some rarified air including 56 indoor and 144 outdoor Division III All-American performances since 1999. Twenty-two individual events have earned national championship honors since Newsom took over the program.

He began his tenure in 1998 after serving as an assistant from 1995 to 1998. He's added six indoor and 10 outdoor Iowa Conference women's, four outdoor and four indoor IIAC men's, and 11 USTFCCCA Division III Central Region women's outdoor and indoor Coach of the Year honors to his resume along with the 2004, 2005 and 2007 national award. Wartburg has won nine straight indoor women's conference championship/conference invitational titles and men's indoor championships in 2001, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2008, and 2009. The women, with the 2009 championship included, have a current string of 10 consecutive outdoor titles. The men have won five league outdoor titles since 2002.

On the national level outdoors, the women, including gaining national championship honors in the spring of 2005 and 2009, have finished in the top 15 at nationals in nine of Newsom's 12 years as head coach. The men produced their best national finish in school history in 2005, ending seventh at the outdoor championships. On the national level indoors, Newsom's teams have finished in the top 20 of six women's team races, which includes a national championship in 2009, and have placed in the top 20 three times in the men's team race with a high water mark of being tied for 12th in 2008. In 2009, his women's teams became only the seventh in NCAA Division III history to sweep indoor and outdoor national titles in the same season and joined the cross country program in earning the United States Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association's prestigious Deb Vercauteren Program of the Year award.

He and his wife, Stephanie, and sons, Mosai, Asa, and Che', reside in Waverly.

Steve Walker - Assistant Athletic Director

A 1991 Wartburg graduate, Steve directs the fundraising efforts for the Knights' Booster Club and assists the college’s 19 sports programs with fund-raising ideas. He is also an assistant to Director of Athletics Rick Willis in several management forums and elsewhere in the department.

Prior to taking over the role in 2005-06, Walker had been Director of the college’s Annual Fund from 2003-05 . Walker started his carrier at Wartburg as an assistant coach to Jim Miller with the wrestling program in 1991 , w here he served for thirteen years. He joined the admissions staff in 1994 , staying in that slot for five years before moving to the Advancement Office.

Steve, his wife, Jennifer, who is the head coach of Wartburg's volleyball program, and sons, Lucas and Jacob, reside in Waverly.