TIM LEONARD, DI RECTOR O F ATH LE TI CS Tim Leonard is in his ninth year as Towson University’s Director of Athletics. Leonard is a member of the NCAA Division I Men’s Lacrosse Committee as the Southeast Region representative and served as its chair for the 2019-20 and 2020-21 seasons. Leonard was an important and successful leader for Towson in the 2020-21 campaign during the COVID-19 pandemic. On the court, Towson earned a pair of CAA titles, repeating in volleyball and having its first-ever CAA title in men’s swimming & diving. In addition, the gymnastics team earned its first NCAA regional berth in 21 years, women’s lacrosse returned to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2018 and Hayley Horvath represented Towson in the 2021 NCAA Outdoor Track Championship in the pole vault. As a department, Towson hosted the 2021 NCAA Women’s Lacrosse Championship Weekend, working with the NCAA to hold an important and successful postseason event during the pandemic. In the classroom, 322 student-athletes earned a spot on the CAA Commissioner’s Honor Roll for having over a 3.0 grade point average. In 2019-20, the COVID-19 pandemic affected all NCAA sports, yet Towson still saw strong success as a department. The volleyball team saw one of its best seasons in program history, winning an NCAA Tournament victory over Patriot League champion American after a perfect 16-0 CAA regular season and CAA Tournament championship, going 29-3 and never getting swept. Marrisa Wonders earned CAA Player of the Year and All-America honors from VolleyMag. In addition, the indoor track team won its first-ever ECAC Tournament, defeating 40 other teams up and down the East Coast with 63 points. Lauren Coleman earned All-America honors in the shot put, the first All-American under coach Mike Jackson. Yeedee Thaenrat of the football team was a recipient of the John Randolph Inspiration Award after coming from war-torn Liberia when he was five years old, the second year in a row a Towson student-athlete has received the CAA’s Randolph Award. Men’s basketball, women’s basketball and football all finished in the top-four of the CAA, including football being nationally ranked all season and winning its first-ever regular season matchup between two top-10 teams with a 45-23 victory at No. 5 Maine. The 2018-19 athletic year saw Towson finish first among the Greater Baltimore schools in the DI Learfield IMG College Director Cup Standings, including second among CAA schools, spearheaded by conference titles in women’s basketball and men’s lacrosse plus the first NCAA FCS
Playoff berth for football since 2013. The men’s lacrosse team was ranked #1 in the nation after a victory over then-#1 Loyola, also defeating Johns Hopkins and earning its fourth CAA tournament title in five years, earning the 6-seed in the NCAA Tournament. Women’s basketball earned its first league title in the Division I era, and subsequent NCAA Tournament berth, in just its second season under head coach Diane Richardson and led by Kionna Jeter, the John Randolph Inspiration Award winner in the CAA. Jack Saunderson earned All-America honors in the butterfly and earned an invite to the 2019 World University Games in Italy as one of the top collegiate swimmers in the NCAA. On the football end, Towson earned a top-10 ranking, led by CAA Offensive Player of the Year Tom Flacco and CAA Special Teams Player of the Year Shane Simpson, earning victories over then top-15 teams Elon, Stony Brook and Villanova. Leonard was instrumental in the opening of SECU Arena in November, 2013. The state-of-the-art arena seats 5,200 fans and features an LED ad ribbon board, a center-hung display and scoreboard, club seats, private suites and over 100 courtside seats. Prior to Towson, Leonard served as senior associate athletic director at SMU. He was also the Mustangs’ interim director of athletics from May to August, 2012. Leonard joined the staff at SMU after serving in a series of increasingly responsible positions at the University of Central Florida (UCF). He began as an assistant AD for development before moving up to assistant AD for external operations. Leonard’s final promotion at UCF saw him become the assistant vice president for athletics development and associate athletics director. Leonard’s athletics administration career also includes stops as Boise State’s assistant director of the Bronco Athletic Association and the director of annual giving at Illinois State. He is a member of the National Association of Athletic Development Directors (NAADD) and was the 2012 recipient of the NAADD Athletic Fundraiser of the Year award. In addition to his affiliation with NAADD, he is also a member of the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics (NACDA), the Council for the Advancement and Support of Education (CASE) and the Association of Fundraising Professionals (AFP). Leonard earned his bachelor’s degree in communications from Boise State. The Twin Falls, Idaho native and his wife, Monica, have two children, Hayley and Nathan.
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