Colorado College Athletics

Lesley Irvine began her tenure as Vice President and Director of Athletics at Colorado College on June 1, 2019. In her role, Irvine serves on the President’s cabinet and oversees Athletics and Recreation within the Division.
 
Since arriving in Colorado Springs, Irvine has led several high-profile projects that have shaped the implementation of the department’s Championship Culture. This includes:
 

• Launched the Tiger ExCCellence campaign, a championship culture fundraising initiative celebrating the history of Colorado College athletics and charting a course for its ambitious future. Tiger ExCCellence has grown each year and ended the 2025 fiscal year with historic highs in dollars raised and participation rates, breaking the 1 million mark.
• Provided key leadership in the planning, construction and operating of the brand new Ed Robson Arena, which opened in October of 2021. The state-of-the-art 3,400-seat multi-purpose facility provides the Colorado College hockey team an on-campus home for the first time in program history and also serves as one of the City for Champions projects. Robson Arena has sold out every game since opening in 2021.
• Oversaw the planning, unveiling and implementation of a logo refresh that was unveiled in February 2020.

 
During Irvine’s tenure, Colorado College Athletics has experienced unprecedented success and several landmark moments including:
 
32 All-Americans
16 Teams in NCAA Tournament
14 Individuals in NCAA Tournament
25 Team Conference Titles
76 Individual Conference Titles
24 SCAC Elite 19 Awards
22 Coach of the Year Awards
 
Irvine directed the Tigers to one of the most successful years on and off the field in school history in 2024-25 with 10 of the 17 teams being nationally ranked. The men’s cross country team won its sixth consecutive SCAC title, while the women won their fourth straight and finished a program-best sixth-place at the NCAA Division III Championships. Isabel Olson, Sydney Rankin and Will Shuflit earned All-America honors.
 
In addition, the men’s soccer team shared the SCAC regular-season title with a perfect 10-0-1 record and advanced to the NCAA Division III Tournament for the second consecutive year, as did the women’s lacrosse team. The women’s basketball team appeared in the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 1990 and the men’s swimming and diving team captured its first-ever SCAC Championship.
 
Colorado College finished 76^th in the final Division III Learfield Directors’ Cup standings, the best result since 2005.
 
Irvine has also led the resurgence of the hockey team with the hiring of Kris Mayotte in 2021. The Tigers posted a 21-13-3 record in 2023-24, the most wins in a season since 2011, and tied for third place in the NCHC. Sophomores Kaidan Mbereko (first-team) and Noah Laba (second-team) were named All-Americans and Mayotte was the NCHC Coach of the Year.
 
Last season, the Tigers finished 18-18-1 and were in the national polls for most of the season, including a season-high ranking of No. 7.
 
In the classroom, nearly 90 percent of all CC student-athletes earned a spot on their respective conference academic teams in 2024-25, while the men’s swimming and diving team had the highest grade-point average of any team in the country, regardless of Division, for the 2025 spring semester at 3.90.
 
Irvine’s service on the national and local level is also extensive. This includes currently serving on the Board of Directors for Women Leaders in College Sports as an elected officer as well as serving on the Colorado Springs Sports Corporation Board as an executive committee member, the Olympic City USA Task Force and the Colorado Springs Sports Authority. She has also recently served as the Chair of the National Collegiate Hockey Conference (NCHC) Athletic Director Council and the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference (SCAC) Athletic Director Council.
 
Irvine is also a founding Board Member of the WeCoach organization and serves regularly as a faculty member at the NCAA Women Coaches Academy. She has also served on three NCAA Championship Committees during her career.

Under Irvine’s direction, Colorado College transformed both Washburn and Stewart Fields by installing the Greensport Synthetic Turf System. In addition, a lighting system was added to Stewart which allowed both soccer teams to play night games for the first time on CC's historic soccer pitch.
 
Prior to joining Colorado College, Irvine was Director of Athletics and Recreation and Chair of Physical Education at Pomona and Pitzer Colleges. At Pomona-Pitzer, Irvine managed 21 intercollegiate athletics teams, the Pomona physical education curriculum, faculty/staff fitness and wellness programs, and club, intramural, and recreation programs. She led the department to 15 Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference championships and its first-ever SCIAC Men's All-Sports Trophy in 2018. Irvine served as chair of the SCIAC’s Athletic Administrators Committee from 2016 – 2019.
 
Irvine's leadership also pointed to successful fundraising as she helped raise two lead gifts totaling $20 million for a new campus athletics and recreation building at Pomona, and created an athletics annual fund that raised $1.25 million in under 3 years.
 
Before Pomona-Pitzer, Irvine was the senior associate athletic director and senior woman administrator at Bowling Green State University from 2010-15.
 
From 2001-2010, she was the field hockey head coach at Stanford University, leading the Cardinal to three consecutive Northern Pacific Conference championships. She is a two-time conference Coach of the Year recipient, and led her team to program highs in national ranking, wins, goals, assists, and points in 2009.
 
As a student athlete in field hockey, Irvine led the University of Iowa to the Big Ten regular season title and an NCAA Final Four appearance in 1999.
 
A native of England, Irvine was a three-time national champion in outdoor field hockey and two-time national champion for indoor field hockey while attending Loughborough University. Irvine also played for the England Under 18 and Under 21 National team.
 
Irvine earned a Bachelor of Science degree in physical education, sports science, and sport management at Loughborough University in 1998, and a master’s degree in health, leisure, and sports studies with an emphasis in athletic administration from the University of Iowa in 2001.