Pat Atwell
Pat Atwell

Bio

Pat Atwell was hired as Culver-Stockton College's Director of Athletics on Oct. 28, 2014.

Under his leadership, C-SC’s student-athletes have maintained 3.23 overall grade point average and at least 10 athletic programs have been named scholar teams by the NAIA each year he has been in charge of the department. In six years, 325 student-athletes have earned the distinction of Daktronics-NAIA Scholar-Athlete (3.5 GPA or above and junior standing).

In addition to his duties at C-SC, Atwell currently serves as the chair of the Heart’s Board of Governors and is a member of the Heart competition scheduling committee. He also serves on the Heart COVID-19 Task Force and the Heart strategic planning team. In the past, Atwell has served as the sport liaison for soccer and baseball, and is currently the liaison for softball. He just recently ended an appointment as the Heart Liaison to the NAIA Athletic Director’s Association (NAIA-ADA).

Atwell has over 30 years of successful experience in intercollegiate athletics as an athlete, coach or administrator. He was previously the athletic director at Quincy University (Ill.) for six years, and served in the same capacity at Drury University (Mo.) for severn years prior to his appointment at at Culver-Stockton.

In his tenure at Drury, the Panther program ranked as one of the best in the nation. With Atwell at the helm, the DU program finished in the top 35 of the Learfield Director's Cup national all-sports standings in each of his seven seasons, including a No. 11 finish in 2010-11 and 2013-14. During his tenure, Drury won 13 national championships, 12 in swimming and diving and one in men's basketball. Drury won 19 conference championships in nine different sports and the student-athletes carried between a 3.30 and a 3.40 GPA every semester.

In addition, Atwell spearheaded agreements with Cox Health for the care of over 300 student-athletes and Mediacom to televise up to 20 sporting events each year. Atwell also oversaw fundraising efforts that totaled over $400,000 annually and led a department that had over $100,000 in NCAA scholarships awarded to its student-athletes.

Prior to Drury, Atwell served as the athletic director at Quincy University from 2001-07. As athletic director, Atwell was instrumental in the construction of an on-campus softball field, placed the football team in a conference and hired several coaches who took their teams to NCAA tournaments.

Before moving into administration, Atwell was the Head Baseball Coach at Quincy where he enjoyed a highly successful run in that role. He coached the Hawks to a record of 288-200-3 overall record, making him the all-time winningest coach in program history at the time. The 2000 team won Quincy's first GLVC championship.

Atwell began his coaching career as an assistant men's basketball coach at SUNY-Alfred (N.Y.) before moving to Salem College (W. Va.) where he served as head women's basketball coach and assistant baseball coach in 1986-87 and assistant men's basketball coach in 1988-89. He was later named the head baseball coach at Salem-Teikyo University in 1989-90.

A native of Andover, N.Y., Atwell graduated from Salem College with a Bachelor's of Science degree in physical education in 1983. He also earned his Masters of Science degree in education from Salem-Teikyo University in 1990. Atwell, and his wife, Lisa, are the parents of two grown children. Melissa and Eric.