From OC Sports
Murray Evans, Assistant Athletic Director for Media Relations
OKLAHOMA CITY – David Lynn, an award-winning golf coach who has been associated with Oklahoma Christian athletics for a quarter-century, was named Friday as the university’s seventh athletic director, OC President John deSteiguer said.
Lynn has served as OC’s interim athletic director since August, after Curtis Janz left the university to become the athletic director at Arkansas-Fort Smith. In addition to his new duties as athletic director, Lynn will continue to serve as OC’s men’s golf coach, deSteiguer said.
“We had several outstanding applicants for our athletic director position,” deSteiguer said. “I think the significant interest in this role is a credit to our current student-athletes and coaches and to our tradition of integrity and competitiveness in intercollegiate sports.
“Coach David Lynn will be a strong athletic director for OC. He is recognized as an effective leader, a successful coach and a focused, trusted manager of people and programs. I am certain that the future of OC athletics is very bright under David’s guidance.”
Lynn said he was humbled and honored by his selection.
“I am extremely grateful to President deSteiguer for the faith and confidence he has in me to lead the OC athletic department,” Lynn said. “I also want to thank Executive Vice President Bill Goad and the athletic director search committee members for their time and effort throughout this process.”
Lynn, 43, arrived at OC from Everett, Wash., in 1991 and was a four-year letterman in track and field before graduating in 1995. After brief stints as an OC admissions counselor and assistant track and field coach, he became the university’s assistant men’s golf coach in 1998.
He became the Eagles’ head coach before the 1999-2000 season and guided the team until 2008, when he handed the reins to Kelsey Cline for two seasons before resuming his duties with the 2010-11 season. When OC began a women’s program with the 2011-12 season, he assumed a new title as Director of Golf, overseeing the squad that’s coached by his father, Greg.
Since 2010, he’s also served as an assistant athletic director in charge of internal operations at OC, overseeing the athletic department’s budget, among other duties. He was inducted into the OC Athletic Hall of Fame in 2014.
“I applied for this job because I have a passion for working with the student-athletes, coaches and staff at Oklahoma Christian,” Lynn said. “Helping young men and women develop their talents academically, socially, athletically and spiritually is a dream job and one that I take great pride in doing. I want OC athletics to be as successful as possible on the field, in the classroom and in the community.
“Our main goal will be to provide the student-athlete the very best college experience possible, preparing them to be successful in life in every way. What makes OC so special is the opportunity to combine athletics and academics with the spiritual environment that lives and breathes on our campus every day. My ultimate goal for our staff and student-athletes will be for everyone we come into contact with to see Jesus in what we do and say.”
Lynn said he hopes to emulate the example set by many of his predecessors as OC athletic director.
“There have been some very great men come before me in this job and I aspire to be like them every day,” Lynn said. “Max Dobson, Dan Hays and Curtis Janz all had direct influences in my life in so many ways as coaches, administrators and friends.
“I did not have the opportunity to meet Ray Vaughn Sr., but I walk past his picture every day and his legend and the stories of his great leadership I have heard so many times from (former OC track coach) Randy (Heath) and Max inspire me to be my best daily. I would not be the person I am today with their mentoring along the way.”
Lynn is a two-time national coach of the year. In 2011, the Eagles capped his first season back with the program’s second NAIA national championship and Lynn was named as the Golf Coaches Association of America’s NAIA Dave Williams National Coach of the Year. In the fall of 2012, he guided OC to the National Christian College Athletic Association national title, with the Eagles taking the crown by a whopping 52 shots, a performance that earned Lynn NCCAA national coach of the year honors.
In 2016, OC’s first season of NCAA Division II postseason eligibility, he guided the Eagles to a runner-up finish in the West-South Central Super Regional and a berth in the Division II Championship, played in Denver. He was named by the GCAA as the South Central Region coach of the year as well as the Heartland Conference coach of the year.
During Lynn’s two stints, he has guided the Eagles to 58 team tournament titles and 58 individual titles. Under his tutelage, 21 OC golfers have received NAIA, NCCAA or NCAA Division II All-America honors a total of 60 times, 10 Eagles have been named as NAIA or NCCAA Scholar-Athletes a total of 21 times and five players have been named as GCAA All-America Scholars a total of eight times.
OC strung together a run of 16 straight top-four finishes in national-tournament play (either the NAIA or NCCAA Championship), a streak that began in 2000 during Lynn’s first stint as the Eagles’ coach, and lasted through the 2014-15 campaign. Along with the NAIA national titles in 2009 (under Cline) and 2011, OC finished as the NAIA national runner-up in 2001, 2005, 2008 and 2012. In addition to the 2012 NCCAA title, OC was the NCCAA runner-up in 2014.
Lynn was named Sooner Athletic Conference coach of the year five times, in 2003, 2005, 2006, 2008 and 2012. He was picked as the Heartland Conference coach of the year in 2013, OC’s first season in the NCAA Division II conference, as well as in 2016.
He’s a past president of the NAIA Men’s Golf Coaches Association (2007-2008) and served as the NAIA’s representative to the GCAA’s National Advisory Board from 2004 to 2008 and again from 2010 to 2012. From 2003-2005, he served as a rater for the SAC and NAIA Region 6 and from 2004-2007, he served as the chairman of the GCAA’s NAIA All-American Committee.
In 2008, he served as the men’s coach for the U.S. team in the World University Games in South Africa, and he was the U.S. co-coach in the event during the 2012 Games in the Czech Republic.
“OC athletics has been a part of my life for 25 years,” Lynn said. “I ran track here and was given my first coaching opportunity here under Randy Heath. I have had the opportunity to coach golf with my father here for the past 16 years. He is my best friend and I couldn’t imagine a better situation for me personally.
“My life changed forever when my mom Laurel sent my 400-meter times, without my knowledge, to Randy Heath my senior year of high school and the recruiting process started. I didn’t know what I wanted to do for college, but my mom had the foresight to send me to a Christian school, where I wound up developing a love for OC.”
In addition to his bachelor’s degree from OC, Lynn received a master’s degree in higher education from the University of Central Oklahoma in 2000. Lynn has been married to OC alum Michelle (Hays) for 20 years and the couple has a 15-year-old daughter, Mackenzie, and an 11-year-old son, Danny.