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Date: 9/5/2023
NORTHAMPTON — Kristin Hughes, the director of athletics for Smith College, was named the 2023 Division III Nike Executive of the Year.
Hughes, who has been Smith’s director since 2015, was chosen for the award by the Women Leaders in College Sports, a leadership organization that develops, connects and advances women working in the NCAA. They present the award annually to Women Leaders in College Sports members for significant contributions made as a senior-level administrator of intercollegiate athletics. The award is given to members in each NCAA division.
“I’m incredibly grateful for all of the people who nominated me and wrote letters,” Hughes said, in an interview with Reminder Publishing. “I think with any kinds of awards around administrators, it’s just a reflection of coaches and teams and student athletes and what they’re doing. And so as much as it’s my name on this award, I really do think it’s more of a reflection on what we’re doing as a department. So, that part’s really nice.”
When Hughes became director in 2015, she said there was a motivation to build upon the decades of “incredible things” achieved by the many longtime coaches and the previous athletic director.
“We’ve been lucky enough to hire a lot of new coaches through our graduate program, so that’s been really nice,” Hughes said. “I think we have a very different look than probably how we looked in 2015, but I think the mission is still pretty similar and certainly aligned.”
Hughes’ journey in sports began at a young age. She told Reminder Publishing that her father was a football coach in Swampscott and instrumental in starting a lot of women’s sports in her town. Hughes said she grew up loving the sport of football.
“If I had my way, I probably would’ve played,” she said. “That’s probably my favorite sport.”
Sports in general were always part of Hughes’ life, whether playing or watching them on television. Eventually, basketball became a sport of her choice, as she played in college and coached in the sport for 20 years before moving to administration.
After finishing Smith College’s graduate program, Hughes said she received her first coaching job in Cleveland, where she stayed for 20 years. She describes her journey as an athletic director as “atypical,” at point serving as an interim athletic director while coaching.
Eventually, she received her first real administrative job at a large high school sports program in Cleveland.
“We had really good teams, and I had no idea what I was doing but loved it,” Hughes said. “Honestly, it was a great experience, some incredible people, and it was from that job, but then I ended up coming out here to Smith.”
A lot has happened since Hughes became the director of athletics at Smith. She has initiated projects like the Friends of Athletics Endowment, facility rebranding and an annual Giving Day, a 24-hour competition that brings together alums, faculty, staff, students and community to raise funds for Smith athletics.
The program has also experienced some important milestones on the field, including postseason success from the field hockey team and the basketball team’s first Final Four run in their history during the 2022-23 season.
“Seeing when teams like that have success and then what that does for the community and the campus, that feels really fulfilling,” Hughes said. “I love our coaches. I love the other administrators and support staff that I get to work with. I think they’re unique people in terms of their level of commitment to students and their enthusiasm.”
Beyond on-field success, Hughes has also had to navigate universal issues within collegiate sports, including mental health, a global pandemic and ideas around diversity, equity and inclusion.
According to Hughes, approaching these issues involves taking more proactive stances.
“We’re trying to be more proactive about those issues so that we’re doing things that give students the support they need, give students the space they need, the confidence they need, and overall the experience that they need,” Hughes said. “I think if you stay aligned with what the mission is, then it becomes sort of the way you anchor yourself to decisions and sort of how you intentionally approach each day. And I think our coaches buy into that as well.”
Hughes credits the department for thoughtfully navigating the coronavirus pandemic during an “incredibly distressing situation.”
“The way our coaches and admin, and support staff jumped in and pivoted to different roles, not only just for the teams, but for the student body, for alums, for the community, was amazing,” Hughes said. “And they did it in a way that was positive and gave energy to people.”
Coming out of COVID-19 and the recent success from the basketball team, Smith Athletics is seeing a lot of positive momentum, according to Hughes. She hopes that Smith Athletics continues to be a place where students can come and learn how to go out into the world and change it for the better.
“We’re never going to be content with just being okay, being the middle of the pack,” Hughes said. “The expectation is that if you’re an athlete and you identify as Smith is a place that you want to be, then we should be the best Division III experience in the country.”