Staff Directory
- Title:
- Emeritus Director of Athletics
- Email:
- Phone:
- 330-672-8406
It would be difficult to look at the success and tradition of Kent State Intercollegiate Athletics without taking a closer look at its longtime Director of Athletics Laing Kennedy.
After 16 seasons, Kennedy retired in May of 2010, but remains one of Kent State's most loyal supporters. During that time, Kent State saw 251 individual MAC titles, 85 team championships and 83 All-America honors.
“One of the real joys of my job is following our student-athletes,” Kennedy said. “I like to show the athletic director is supportive of what they are trying to do. It’s easy to be a great athletic director when you win, but they appreciate it even more when you’re behind them if they lose.”
In the past three years alone, Kent State won or shared 23 MAC championships (regular season & tournament). In 2008-09 the Golden Flashes captured their fourth MAC men's (Reese) all-sports trophy. On the women's side KSU finished second the Jacoby all-sports trophy standings - their 12th consecutive top three finish.
In 2006, Kennedy was honored as the Northeast Region Division I-A Athletic Director of the Year by the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics (NACDA). It was the second time Kennedy has won the award, also receiving the honor in 2002.
Since the day he was hired, Kennedy has worked to improve all facets of Kent State Athletics with the welfare of the student-athlete in mind.
Some of the highlights of Kennedy’s first 15 years at Kent State have been the addition of two new sports (women’s soccer and women’s golf); the installation of lights, a new scoreboard and seating at Dix Stadium and new for the 2005 season a state-of-the-art FieldTurf playing surface; new locker rooms in the M.A.C. Center for the volleyball, men’s and women’s basketball, wrestling and gymnastics teams; the construction of Murphy-Mellis Field (field hockey); Olga Mural Field at Schoonover Stadium (baseball); the Ferrara & Page Golf Training Center facility; and the renovation of the entire Dix Stadium Complex including the Kent State softball stadium. One of the biggest accomplishments has been the full certification status announced by the NCAA in 1997 and again in 2004.
Other improvements include the completion of a comprehensive gender equity study, the formation of the National Athletic Development Council, the implementation of a systematic evaluation of sports programs and the formation of a Student-Athlete Advisory Committee that provides input to the department’s planning process and the construction of a state-of-the-art Athletic Academic Resource Center.
His contributions extend beyond the KSU campus and into the Kent community, serving as the chairman of the Board of Trustees of the United Way of Portage County.
Kennedy also is in his fifth year as a member of the prestigious NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Committee, beginning his five-year term Sept. 1, 2005. He is just the second representative from the MAC on the committee.
“Laing understood our values and focus on the student-athlete when he was selected and has lived those values every day,” said President Emeritus Carol A. Cartwright. “The results are clear. We have great student-athletes and a long list of MAC championships and NCAA success stories.”
Kennedy came to Kent State in 1994 following 11 years in a similar position at Cornell University in Ithaca, N.Y. During his tenure, Cornell had nine national championship teams, 36 Ivy League championship teams and 102 All-Americans.
A native of Woodstock, Ontario, Canada, Kennedy earned a bachelor’s degree in animal science from Cornell in 1963. Kennedy was an All-America goalkeeper and team captain for Cornell’s ice hockey team. He earned All-Ivy League honors for three consecutive years and was named the University’s Outstanding Athlete in 1963.
He and his wife, Saundra, reside in Kent and have two daughters, Karyn and Kelly. Karyn and her husband, Sean, have two sons, Andrew and Campbell, and a daughter, Caroline.
