Lesley Irvine began her tenure as Vice President and Director of Athletics at Colorado College on June 1, 2019. In her role Irvine serves on the President’s cabinet and oversees Athletics and Recreation within the Division. Since Irvine’s arrival CC Athletics has experienced unprecedented success and several landmark moments that will be the foundation of the department’s championship culture in the years to come.
During the unprecedented 2020-21 campaign, Irvine guided the department through a global pandemic while continuing to provide opportunities to CC’s student-athletes to practice and compete throughout the entire year. With 16 of the school’s 17 intercollegiate sports taking place in the spring of ‘21, Irvine witnessed outstanding performances each weekend, highlighted by the volleyball team finishing the season ranked No. 1 in the country with a perfect 17-0 record and its third SCAC title in four years.
Meanwhile, the men’s lacrosse team won the SCAC championships and earned a trip to the Division III Elite Eight for the first time in school history before falling to eventual national champion RIT in the quarterfinals, while the men’s cross country and women’s lacrosse teams also captured SCAC team titles last spring.
Josh Fry became just the second male in SCAC history to earn cross country Runner of the Year and track Athlete of the Year honors in the same season. After winning the league’s cross country individual title in February, he captured the 800- and 1,500-meter titles at the SCAC Track Championships en route to qualifying for both events at the NCAA Division III Championships, the first CC athlete to qualify for the national meet in two events.
Five other student-athletes were named the top player in the SCAC in their respective sports, including McKenzee Gertz (women’s basketball), Georgia Mullins (volleyball), Anders Erickson (men’s lacrosse; offensive), Billy Hutchison (men’s lacrosse; co-defensive) and Bella Beattie (women’s lacrosse; offensive).
In January of 2021, Irvine launched the record-breaking Tiger ExCCellence campaign, a championship culture fundraising initiative celebrating the history of Colorado College athletics and charting a course for its ambitious future. During it’s inaugural year, Tiger ExCCellence set a historic high of annual fundraised dollars for the athletic department.
Irvine has provided key leadership in the planning, construction and operation of the brand new Ed Robson Arena, scheduled to open in October of 2021. The state-of-the-art 3,400-plus seat facility will provide the Colorado College hockey team an on-campus home for the first time in program history and also serves as one of the City for Champions projects. In conjunction with the planning for the building Irvine also oversaw the planning, unveiling and implementation of a logo refresh that was unveiled in February 2020.
Irvine is also passionately committed to service and economic development within the city of Colorado Springs. She currently sits on the board for the Colorado Springs Sports Corporation, the Olympic City USA Task Force and the Colorado Springs Sports Authority. Irvine was also elected by her peers to the Women Leaders in College Sports Board of Directors in 2020, serving as the Division III representative and is a founding board member of the WeCoach organization. Through Irvine’s conference work she also serves on the Athletic Director Council for the SCAC and NCHC as well as on the NCHC Student-Athlete Well Being Task Force.
During Irvine’s first fall in Colorado Springs, the Tigers ranked in the top 10 percent nationally in the 2019 Division III Learfield IMG Directors' Cup Standings, Colorado College’s highest ranking ever. The men’s soccer team, which won its first-ever Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference regular-season championship, and volleyball team earned berths in their respective NCAA Championships.
The men’s and women’s cross country teams swept the SCAC championships as a first-time host, and the men’s squad went on to place fifth at the Division III West Region meet.
Under Irvine’s direction, Colorado College transformed both Washburn and Stewart Fields by installing the Greensport Synthetic Turf System. In addition, a lighting system was added to Stewart which allowed both soccer teams to play night games for the first time on CC's historic soccer pitch.
Irvine’s arrival coincided with the department’s most successful academic performance in history, with a record 256 Division III student-athletes earning a spot on the SCAC Honor Roll and the women’s soccer team matching its previous high of 17 players earning a place on the Academic All-Mountain West Team. CC athletes combined for a 3.42 grade-point average during the 2019-20 academic year, the highest in the last decade.
Prior to joining Colorado College, Irvine was Director of Athletics and Recreation and Chair of Physical Education at Pomona and Pitzer Colleges. At Pomona-Pitzer, Irvine managed 21 intercollegiate athletics teams, the Pomona physical education curriculum, faculty/staff fitness and wellness programs, and club, intramural, and recreation programs. She led the department to 15 Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference championships and its first-ever SCIAC Men's All-Sports Trophy in 2018.
Irvine's leadership also pointed to successful fundraising as she helped raise two lead gifts totaling $20 million for a new campus athletics and recreation building at Pomona, and created an athletics annual fund that raised $1.25 million in under 3 years.
Before Pomona-Pitzer, Irvine was the senior associate athletic director and senior woman administrator at Bowling Green State University from 2010-15.
From 2001-2010, she was the field hockey head coach at Stanford University, leading the Cardinal to three consecutive Northern Pacific Conference championships. She is a two-time conference Coach of the Year recipient, and led her team to program highs in national ranking, wins, goals, assists, and points in 2009.
Irvine served as chair of the SCIAC’s Athletic Administrators Committee from 2016 – 2019 and served on three NCAA Championship committees. She was a founding board member of the Alliance of Women Coaches, and regularly serves as a faculty member at events such as the NCAA Women’s Coaches Academy and the Women Leaders in College Sports professional development programs.
As a student athlete in field hockey, Irvine led the University of Iowa to the Big Ten regular season title and an NCAA Final Four appearance in 1999.
An England native, Irvine was a three-time national champion in outdoor field hockey and two-time national champion for indoor field hockey while attending Loughborough University. Irvine also played for the England Under 18 and Under 21 National team.
Irvine earned a Bachelor of Science degree in physical education, sports science, and sport management at Loughborough University in 1998, and a master’s degree in health, leisure, and sports studies with an emphasis in athletic administration from the University of Iowa in 2001.