Michael Koehler, the Deputy Director of Athletics, has served Rockhurst Athletics for the past 12 years. In his role, he oversees the compliance program for the department, working with multiple constituents across campus to ensure student-athlete eligibility and providing required documents as dictated by the NCAA and Great Lakes Valley Conference. Annually, he compiles data for and completes the Department of Education’s Equity in Athletics Disclosure Act report, the NCAA’s annual Financial Disclosure Report and the Ethnicity and Sports Sponsorship report. He also provides support for the Academic Success Rate report.
In addition to coordination of all compliance matters, Koehler is instrumental in oversight of athletics financial aid and enrollment data surrounding the student-athletes. Michael directs the game-day operations for all home events on campus and provides oversight of most athletics facilities. He also provides support in the areas of sports information, budgeting, strategic planning, and personnel decisions.
Through the past 12 years, Michael has served as a key administrative resource for the coaches and staff when the Director of Athletics was unavailable due to coaching or other duties.
Koehler was named as the full-time Assistant Director of Athletics in September of 2012. For the previous three years, he served as a graduate assistant in the Athletics department, assisting with overall administration and game day operations, while earning his MBA from Rockhurst University in May 2012. Koehler is a Rockhurst High School alumnus and graduated from the University of Kansas with a Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering and was selected the Outstanding Senior in Civil Engineering. He went on to also earn a Master of Civil Engineering degree.
Before coming to Rockhurst, Koehler spent 11 years as a structural engineer with two firms in Kansas City working on many projects and mostly specializing in sports facility design. Some of the projects he was fortunate to work on include the stadium and suite expansion at Michigan Stadium at the University of Michigan; Infocision Stadium at the University of Akron; Dick’s Sporting Goods Park, home of the Colorado Rapids; the Desert Diamond Arena, originally known as Glendale Arena and former home to the Phoenix Coyotes; and the north end zone expansion at Memorial Stadium and addition of the Tom and Nancy Osborne Athletic Complex at the University of Nebraska.
While not following the most direct route into athletics administration, Koehler has always been around athletics, and he has a drive to help others. His passion to assist young men and women as they work toward their futures comes from his parents, who were teachers. Besides being witness to educators, he grew up on the football fields and basketball gyms of the Interscholastic League in Kansas City, Missouri and the Eastern Kansas League in Johnson County, Kansas. He was attending games almost before he could walk, going with his dad who was Athletics Director at Southwest High School before transitioning to teach in the Blue Valley School District and serving as clock operator and scorekeeper for another 35 years. While at Rockhurst High School, Koehler was a team manager and athletic trainer for the basketball team. During his time at KU, he continued to serve behind the scenes as team manager in the men’s basketball program and served as head manager during his senior year.
Beyond his service to Rockhurst student-athletes, Koehler has served at the national level as well. He was a member of the Division II Men’s Soccer Committee from 2018-2023 and was the chair of the committee in 2022-23. In that role, Koehler and the others on the committee were primarily responsible for overseeing the selection of the national championship tournament field each year, approving directives surrounding the execution of the tournament, and providing direction and operational assistance for the tournament at the championship site each year. In addition, the committee would provide input on sport rules and regulations and possible modifications during their annual meeting. Prior to serving on the national Men’s Soccer Committee, Koehler was a member of the Regional Advisory Committee for women’s tennis in the Midwest region, whose responsibility was to provide input to the national committee by giving their recommendations on which teams from the region should be included in the national championship tournament each year.
Koehler has been selected for multiple national working groups or special programs. He was selected to sit in on the Advanced Sessions for D2 Compliance Coordinators at the Regional Rules Seminar in 2015 and 2017, where the NCAA Academic and Membership Affairs staff solicited input for future major bylaw changes to help direct their efforts and provide helpful information to the Division II membership as the new legislation was moving toward inclusion in the business session at future conventions. In 2023, he was selected to receive a stipend to attend the Senior Administrators Mentoring Institute held at the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics convention in Orlando and was also selected to the prestigious NCAA Pathways program for the 2023-24 academic year.
Away from Rockhurst, Koehler continues to assist at the University of Kansas by serving on the statistics crew for men’s basketball games. He also volunteers for the local chapter of the ALS Association and serves as their volunteer coordinator, responsible for assigning and directing over 200 volunteers each year at the chapter’s three fund-raising events, the Night of Hope Auction and Gala, the Joe McGuff ALS Golf Tournament, and the Walk to Defeat ALS®.
