Photo by Samantha Davis: Travis Whipple is taking over as Southwest Minnesota State University’s Vice President of Athletics after the resignation of Jen Flowers in the spring. Whipple spent three years as the AD at Fort Lewis College in Colorado before taking the SMSU job.

MARSHALL — The opportunity to return home to Minnesota, let alone become a leader in the athletic conference he once competed in, was one Travis Whipple couldn’t resist pursuing. Coming from Colorado, he began his duties as the new Vice President of Athletics for Southwest Minnesota State University in late August.

“As we just started to do our research and look into Marshall as a community and SMSU, I was really excited about the foundation that was in place, [and] thinking that we could really build on that tradition and take it to a whole new level collaboratively,” Whipple said as to what intrigued him about the position. “This community has always left a real impact on us. I’ve been fortunate to come here [SMSU] as a student athlete over the years and as an administrator, and [I] just really love what this community is about, and how they rally to support athletics.”

Whipple, a native of Woodbury, comes to Marshall after most recently working as the Director of Athletics at Division II Fort Lewis College in Colorado for three years. He has nearly two decades of athletic administration experience, holding stints across the Division I, II and III levels.

Yet, Whipple is making his return back into the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference after playing on the Winona State University’s men’s basketball team, where he also completed a bachelor and master’s degree, from 2005-09.

“It’s a lot of fun for me to come back to a league that I competed in as a student-athlete … I think there’s great people throughout the league, good camaraderie and outstanding leadership,” Whipple said. “It’s a phenomenal conference. I feel like if you can have success in the NSIC, you can compete for national championships.”

Whipple has an abundance of experience with NSIC success, being a two-time national champion with the Warriors in 2006 and 2008, a three-time conference champion in 2006, 2007 and 2008, and with his name still embedded throughout WSU’s record book.

Being a constant key-contributor to the Warriors’ offense, Whipple currently ranks in WSU records 14th all-time in 3-pointers made (167), fourth in 3-point field goal percentage (44%), ninth in assists (335), second in games played (144) and was named to the NSIC All-Tournament team in 2008 as a junior.

“[This job was] an opportunity to come home. [I’m] originally from Minnesota, competed in the NSIC, and [I] had an incredible student-athlete experience that allowed us to win national championships,” Whipple said. “[I] got involved in the community, developed lifelong relationships and graduated with two degrees. That was certainly something that was very intriguing [about the position].”

The coming to SMSU, however, offers a full-circle moment for Whipple, where he ended his standout collegiate basketball career.

“[It’s] big time nostalgia, especially here … I actually played my last college basketball game here [at SMSU],” Whipple said. “[I have] fond memories of this being the last place that I played, and throughout my career. We were a part of going to three national championship games [2006, 2007, 2008], and then we played here in the [2009] NCAA tournament.”

SMSU hosted the 2009 NCAA Tournament, where Whipple and the Warriors defeated Metro State out of Denver, Colo., in the first round, and fell short to Augustana in the regional semifinal, 88-82.

Previously working at Oral Roberts University, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, the University of Arkansas-Little Rock, the University of Illinois-Springfield, Crown College and North Central University, Whipple has upheld several athletic-managing roles.

Whipple first started his career as an Assistant Athletic Director for External Operations at WSU.

“Going through my undergrad, I really thought I was going to be a teacher and a coach, which is awesome. I think that’s such a great, rewarding profession,” Whipple said. “When I graduated, [it was] just right place, right time. I kept showing up, I got hired as an Assistant AD, then worked for my alma mater for about five years. Spent a good chunk of time in Division I, which was great, I think I’m a better administrator because of it. Then, I really just had a calling to want to get back to the Division II level. Then ultimately landed at Fort Lewis and then here.”

Whipple helped lead Fort Lewis’ athletic department through a transformational period the last few years. FLC student-athletes surpassed 4,000 community service hours, maintained an average 3.25 GPA, and he guided the college through a multi-year strategic plan, a $6 million sports performance center, and a $25 million master facilities plan.

“Its always a team effort, first and foremost. I just want to say that it took all of us. Anything we had success on, was a part of a great team,” Whipple said of his time at Fort Lewis. “It was a rebuilding opportunity, which was awesome and a great learning experience. We did a lot on the fundraising side there as well, to help elevate the student-athlete experience.”

When it comes to his goals for SMSU, Whipple noted that the university has a great foundation set in place, and he wants to help elevate the standards and programs even more.

“[We want to] boil down our mission pretty simply as creating champions and Mustangs for life. In the classroom, in the community and in competition,” Whipple said of his approach to SMSU. “That’s what I love about Division II, and our league … You can have that well-rounded, balanced experience. We want student athletes to achieve above a 3.2 GPA. We want to serve thousands of hours of community service, and we want to compete for championships. I feel like we have the infrastructure here where we can do that.”

“[We] really want to collaboratively develop our strategic plan, and really assess our facilities … Those are a few of the things that are really bubbling up to the top, key priorities of where we’d like to be,” Whipple added. “I think in our league, scholarships, program enhancements and fundraising for those are going to continue to be important initiatives to help us remain as competitive as possible.”

Whipple is taking over from Jen Flowers, who accepted a position to return to her alma mater, which coincidentally also is WSU. She makes her return to Warriors’ territory as the new Director of Athletics after serving SMSU for three years, and previously had stints in WSU’s athletic department from 2006-09 and 2012-15, and was a four-year letter winner on the volleyball team during her time as a student.

Through his first few weeks on the job, Whipple said the transition has been going well and he appreciates the athletic administrative team that stepped up in recent months.

“These first few weeks have been listening, learning, diving into those meetings face-to-face with as many of our coaches and staff, our campus community, and trying to also get out and meet with our external partners,” Whipple said. “Right when we accepted the opportunity and started the transition, we developed a questionnaire to send out to all coaches and staff, just learning what are we doing well, what can we improve on, and what are your goals for each of your areas.”

Whipple makes the move to Marshall alongside his wife, Kim, daughter, Mia, and son, Kai. He said he looks forward to embracing the city as it’s been very welcoming, and noted he always has an open-door policy for staff, students and community partners that want to connect with SMSU Athletics.

“I’m incredibly grateful for the opportunity,” Whipple said. “My motivation for this, and my passion, is all about the student-athlete experience. We’re going to put student athletes at the center, and we’re going to find ways to enhance their experience. I think it’s so rewarding. People invested in my career as a student athlete, and gave me such a tremendous experience. We want to offer that to current and future mustangs.”