Southwestern University Athletic Director Dr. Glada Munt Retires After 45-Year Hall of Fame Career

Southwestern University Athletic Director Dr. Glada Munt Retires After 45-Year Hall of Fame Career

(Story taken from the Southwestern University website)

GEORGETOWN, Texas — 
After 45 years of service at Southwestern University, including 25 as Director of Athletics, Associate Vice President for Intercollegiate Athletics Dr. Glada Munt has announced her retirement, ending her Hall of Fame career. 

Dr. Munt will step away from her Athletic Director responsibilities effective Dec. 31 but remain in her capacity as Associate Vice President for Intercollegiate Athletics until the end of the academic year. Associate Athletic Director Glenn Schwab will take over as Athletic Director effective January 1, 2020.

“Dr. Glada Munt has held leadership roles at Southwestern University for exactly 25 percent of our institution’s entire history,” Southwestern University President Dr. Edward Burger said. “The impact of her work and remarkable tenure is truly unprecedented. I am so grateful for her long and storied career at Southwestern and, personally, thankful to have had her as a valued colleague and thought-partner on the complex issues surrounding our most successful athletics program.”

After earning a B.S. from Trinity University and M.S. from Baylor University, Dr. Munt was hired in the fall of 1975 to coach the women’s volleyball and tennis teams while also serving as an assistant professor in kinesiology.

Volleyball soon became her focus. In her 20-year career as the Southwestern volleyball coach, Dr. Munt compiled a 554-301 record competing in the NAIA and NCAA Division III, transforming the Pirates into a national power. During her tenure, the Pirates made the NAIA National Championship Tournament nine times with top finishes of second, third and fourth in the nation.

When Dr. Munt took over the reins of the athletic program, Southwestern University was in the process of transitioning its intercollegiate athletics membership from NAIA to NCAA Division III.  Under her guidance a new era of growth and excellence emerged for the Pirate athletic programs.

When Dr. Munt was hired in 1975, the University only sponsored six sports --- four for men and two for women.  Since that time period, Dr. Munt was instrumental in not only adding 14 sports but upgrades to every athletic facility on campus.  One of her greatest challenges and successes was to reinstate football to Southwestern in 2013 after a 62 year hiatus.

As an athletic administrator Dr. Munt was active on the national level serving on multiple NCAA national committees including the NCAA National Volleyball Committee, the Honda Awards Committee, and the NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship Committee.  Always an advocate for women in sport and athletic administration, Munt was invited by the NCAA to serve in various mentoring roles for aspiring female athletic administrators.

"When the history of the SCAC is written, few people will have had a bigger influence on shaping what the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference has become than Dr. Glada Munt," said SCAC Commissioner Dwayne Hanberry.

"Organizationally, she was an invaluable resource as the league found its footing throughout the 1990s and 2000s and again in recent years when the SCAC went through a significant membership restructuring. But beyond that, and more importantly, Dr. Munt has helped shape the culture of the SCAC. All the things that we as a conference pride ourselves in being and in doing – from the collegiality exhibited among the membership to the expectation of operating in a respectful and honorable manner - those things don't happen if we don't have leaders like Dr. Munt who embody those beliefs each and every day of the year."

"It's been my great pleasure to work alongside Dr. Munt these last 25 years. There is no doubt the SCAC is a better league because of her influence, and whatever success I have had in this position, her unwavering support has certainly contributed to it. I cannot overstate how much she will be missed."

Among her national accolades as an athletic administrator, Dr. Munt was named the NACDA Under Armour Athletic Director of the Year Division III West Region in 2009 and the NACWAA Administrator of the Year Division III in 2006.  She was selected by the Institute for International Sports as a 2005 Sports Ethics Fellow.  For her extensive influence on Southwestern University, Dr. Munt received the Joe S. Mundy Award for Exemplary Service in 2004 and the Pearl A. Neas Award for outstanding service to Southwestern in 1991.

Dr. Munt, reflecting on her career, said, “It has been my honor to serve our University for my entire professional career which I recognize is very unique in today’s world.  I was fortunate to be able to grow professionally at the same time that our University and our Athletic Department were also experiencing significant growth.

I truly value all of my colleagues that I have had the privilege to work with over these years.  I will still be on the sidelines, cheering on the Pirates, but it will be as a fan rather than as the Athletic Director!”

Dr. Munt received her Ph.D. from the University of North Texas in 1992.