Jan Hathorn begins her 17th year as the Michael F. Walsh Director of Athletics at Washington and Lee University during the 2023-24 school year. She is the first woman and just the seventh Athletics Director in school history after stepping into the role in 2007-08.
Under Hathorn's direction, the Generals have won better than 60 percent of their athletic contests and 131 conference team championships. Additionally, W&L has been awarded the Dan Wooldridge Champions Cup as the top overall athletic program in the Old Dominion Athletic Conference following all 16 of her years as athletic director and extends W&L's streak to 21 consecutive overall champions cup.
The Generals have claimed the women's Commissioner's Cup prize each year extending to a 20-year run and have won the men's sport cup 12 times. The Generals swept the three cups on eight occasions under Hathorn's leadership.
During Hathorn's time as Director of Athletics, W&L has enjoyed some of the best seasons in the history of the school.
Outside of the two school years impacted by the CoVID-19 pandemic, W&L saw its best overall results in 2022-23. The Generals won 74.7% of its their 2022-23 athletic contests to take home top honors in the Virginia Sports Information Directors (VaSID) College Division All-Sports survey.
The combined 236-77-9 record on the year helped W&L finish with 10 conference championships, 11 NCAA team tournament appearances and 13 individuals qualified for their respective NCAA Championships. That year, the Generals finished inside the top-20 at No. 17 of the LEARFIELD Director's Cup final standings.
The 2020-21 school year saw W&L navigate the pandemic and thrive to the tune of producing a state-wide best 75.8 winning percentage (115-36-2) and five conference championships. The abbreviated 2019-20 school year produced a 174-61-5 overall record, seven conference championships, and a .744 winning percentage that also ranked as the best of any school in the Commonwealth of Virginia.
In 2018-19, Washington and Lee won a league-record 13 Old Dominion Athletic Conference championships and swept all three of the ODAC's Director's Cups as the top overall athletics program. In addition, the Generals placed 17th out of 448 Division III schools in the NACDA Director’s Cup standings.
The 2017-18 year saw W&L finish a program-best 13th overall in the NACDA Director’s Cup standings, led by a runner-up finish for the men's golf team at the NCAA Division III Championship. A total of 24 student-athletes earned All-America status, including Brian Peccie '20, who won the Division III men's golf individual National Championship.
Recent years have also produced numerous Top 50 finishes in the Director’s Cup, while scores of W&L athletes have received All-America and Academic All-America laurels.
During the 2016-17 school year alone, both the women’s swimming and women’s lacrosse teams produced best-ever finishes in NCAA Championship competition. Swimming placed seventh overall, while lacrosse advanced to the NCAA Final Four. The men's soccer team made a pair of appearances to the Final Four in 2023 and 2021.
A record 419 students earned scholar-athlete status during the 2020-21 school year and a total of 16 students have been awarded the prestigious NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship during Hathorn’s tenure. Scores more have been named the CSC (formerly CoSIDA) Academic All-America teams.
Hathorn, the 2019 recipient of the NCAA Division III Administrator of the Year Award from Women Leaders in College Sports, continues to play an active role within the NCAA and served on the NCAA Management Council from 2011-15. During this time, she was a part of the Honors Committee, the Postgraduate Scholarship Committee and the Division III Subcommittee for Legislative Relief. She also served as a panelist for the 2019 NACDA/NADIIIAA summer forum and the 2016 NCAA Inclusion Forum in Indianapolis.
Hathorn began her appointment as no stranger to W&L, having served as the women's lacrosse coach for 19 seasons and as the women's soccer coach for 14 seasons. She had also been an assistant athletic director and the University's Director of Physical Education from 2002-07.
Hathorn arrived at W&L in the fall of 1987, serving as women’s soccer coach from 1987-2000 and women’s lacrosse coach from 1989-2007. Between the two sports, she earned 11 ODAC Coach of the Year Awards and led the Generals to nine conference titles. In 2010, she earned the Diane Geppi-Aikens Memorial Award for Lifetime Achievement in the sport of lacrosse.
Hathorn also coached lacrosse for five years at Denison University, immediately preceding her time in Lexington. She earned a bachelor of arts in physical education from the State University of New York at Cortland in 1982 and a master of arts in physical education from Ohio State University in 1985.
In 2022, Hathorn was inducted into the Intercollegiate Women's Lacrosse Coaches Association (IWLCA) Hall of Fame.
