Western Carolina University

Todd Lawing, who previously worked in Catamount Athletics senior-level management from 2011 through 2018, returned to the WCU staff as the department’s Deputy Athletics Director in July 2025. In his role, Lawing will serve as a member of the WCU Athletics Senior Staff and second in command in the department. He will manage and coordinate all internal functions and day-to-day internal operations for Catamount Athletics.
 
Lawing has spent the past seven years as the Director of the Ramsey Center, a role that he will continue as WCU’s Deputy Athletics Director. He assumes the deputy role vacated by Pifer, who was named WCU’s athletics director in mid-May 2025.
 
Lawing originally came to Cullowhee in 2011 as the Associate Athletics Director for Internal Operations, a similar role he previously held at his alma mater, Lenoir-Rhyne, in Hickory, N.C. Many of the duties he executed in his previous athletics role at WCU will again become his main job responsibilities. He will also oversee the Catamount sports medicine and athletic training, the strength and conditioning efforts in sports performance, and act as a sport supervisor for baseball and both men’s and women’s golf.
 
Originally from Denver, N.C., Lawing spent seven years at Lenoir-Rhyne, working his way to Senior Executive Associate Athletic Director in the summer of 2010 after serving as an Associate Athletic Director three years prior. He got his start with the Bears’ athletics department while earning his master’s from 2000 through 2002, as the department’s first-ever athletic marketing intern. His start full-time role in collegiate athletics was as the Assistant Athletic Director and Director of Special Events at Lenoir-Rhyne from 2004-06 before progressing in athletics administration.
 
During his tenure at L-R, the university hosted an NCAA Division II Women’s Basketball regional (2009) and three Southeast Regional Tournaments in softball (2009, 2010, 2011), where he served as a tournament official. Lawing additionally worked as the Director of NCAA Compliance for the NCAA Division II Bears and served as an Associate Trustee for the Piedmont Educational Foundation / Bears Club.
 
Lawing received his bachelor’s degree in sports management with a minor in business administration in the spring of 2000 and earned his master’s degree in business administration in 2002, both from Lenoir-Rhyne, where he was a four-year letterwinner in baseball.
 
Lawing is married to the former Andi Penley, who is also a graduate of Lenoir-Rhyne (2002) and is originally from nearby Enka, N.C. The couple has a daughter, Kenna, and a son, Grady.