Webster University (WU) selected J. Scott Kilgallon as its new Director of Athletics in April of 2014 after a nationwide search. Since Kilgallon’s appointment as athletics director, the Gorloks have won the St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SLIAC) All-Sports Trophy for the best athletics program seven times over *nine years (*award canceled during COVID year).
In addition, Webster was awarded the SLIAC Commissioners Cup twice for winning the SLIAC All-Sports Trophy and Sportsmanship Award in same year (2021, 2022). During the NCAA convention in 2019, Webster accepted the DIII NADIIIA/Jostens Community Service Award.
Kilgallon’s goal since taking over as AD in 2014 was for all teams to continue to do well at the SLIAC level and challenged the coaching staff to improve the program to join the successful varsity baseball team to strive to be relevant at the NCAA Regional and National level while ensuring GPA’s of the student-athletes, sportsmanship, welfare, and community service remain as priorities.
The result was the men’s baseball team advanced to the DIII World Series twice along with having a player selected in the 5
th round of the draft and pitching in MLB’s World Series for the Tampa Bay Rays (2020). Webster also saw its softball team making it to the NCAA Tournament for the first time in ten years, a men’s golfer winning the school’s first ever individual NCAA National Championship, women’s soccer and women’s basketball teams earning regional rankings, and a member of the men’s track & field team finishing second in the NCAA Championships in the 200-meter run.
The challenges to move the program forward are two-fold given WU is a landlocked campus with majority of facilities offsite and challenges created by the COVID pandemic. Kilgallon implemented stringent protocols and testing procedures resulting in a very low positivity of 0.17% keeping WU student-athletes safe while allowing them to compete. As a result, Kilgallon earned the WU Staff Member of the Year in 2021.
Kilgallon leads a program committed to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DE&I) and supporting the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee and staff regarding initiatives to promote the mental health of our student-athletes. Diversity of student-athletes on teams increased by 20% during his tenure. The department also provided support of WU’s DE&I office with participation of our student-athletes and helping to offset DE&I programming costs through the NCAA Tier Grant.
During the 2022-23 Academic Year, SLIAC history was made as Webster University became the first SLIAC school to reach the mark of winning 100 SLIAC Championships. Prior to Kilgallon taking command, 60 of those championships were won over 24 years. Under Kilgallon’s leadership, the department has won 45 championships in just over 9 years!
Kilgallon expanded sports offerings adding men’s and women’s indoor track and field and brought the Cheer Team under Athletics umbrella. He served a three-year term on the NCAA DIII Convention-Planning Subcommittee (2016-19), and the NCAA DIII Faculty Athletics Representative Engagement Working Group (2016). Kilgallon has also helped lead his staff in successfully hosting four NCAA DIII Baseball Regional Championships.
Facilities upgrades include:
- New bleachers in Grant Gymnasium with half of gym bleachers as seat backs
- Design and installation of HOF Wall of Fame
- Public Private Partnership with City of Webster Groves upgrading Tennis Complex
- Secured support for new weight room for student-athletes
- Locker room upgrades at GCS Ballpark
- Partnership with local high school for track & field team to practice on their track
- Brokered agreement to upgrade softball field use with local high school
- Secured individual office spaces for coaches
Kilgallon is a 27-year member of NACDA/NADIIIAA (Since 1997) and serves on WU’s President Council, Strategic Planning Committee, and COVID-19 Task Force. He served as the SLIAC Executive Vice Chair of the Administrative Council (2014-15), Executive Chair (2015-16), Presidents Council Executive Committee (2015-16), and Chair of SLIAC Commissioner Search Committee.
University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire (UWEC) Director of Athletics (2004-14)
Kilgallon was responsible for leading 22 sports and over 550 student-athletes in the competitive Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC). The year prior to Kilgallon’s arrival, the program was ranked 68
th in the Directors’ Cup. Just in his first year, the program improved to 28
th and was as high as 10
th. The University finished in the top 18 slots in seven of the 10 years he was AD.
Additionally, three out of the four UWEC NCAA Championships were won during his tenure, with three of his coaching hires earning national coach of the year honors by winning NCAA Championships during and after his time. Kilgallon led his team in the successful hosting of many NCAA Regional Championships, four NCAA National Championships, along with one National Gymnastics Championship.
Kilgallon served on the UWEC Outcomes Assessment Committee, Sports Facilities Committee, AD Chair of the National Collegiate Hockey Association (NCHA) Men’s and Women’s Ice Hockey Association (2010-12), Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Gender Diversity Task Force Committee, and Chair of the Unity High School (WI) Athletics Review Committee.
Southern Vermont College (SVC) Athletic Director & Men’s and Women’s Cross-Country Coach (1997-2004)
Kilgallon moved SVC through the NCAA DIII Provisional member process securing full membership his first year. He then secured affiliation with the Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) in 1999 which was critical given legislation for the NCAA Automatic Qualifier was soon to pass. As a coach, Kilgallon’s women’s cross-country team won SVC’s first GNAC Championship (2001) while coaching the men’s three-time GNAC individual cross-country champion. The men’s basketball team would win the GNAC Championship the following year with history made as this small school in Bennington, VT would successfully host and win a first round of the NCAA Tournament game.
Kilgallon added women’s volleyball and men’s and women’s track and field where he served as coach. He was recognized in 1998-99 by the SVC/SJC Alumni Association with the Faculty/Staff Appreciation Award. Even 15 years after leaving SVC, Kilgallon was inducted into its Hall of Fame in 2019 in recognition of the growth of college athletics under his leadership.
Kilgallon earned a BS in Industrial Technology/Management at Central Connecticut State University and a Master of Science Degree in Management at Lesley University in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
While at Central, Kilgallon was a four-year cross-country, indoor, and outdoor track and field student-athlete. He set the Plainville, CT five-mile road race record of 24:21.6 his senior year and competed post collegiately gaining sponsorship as a member of the Saucony National Racing Team.
Kilgallon is a native of Canton, Massachusetts and is married to Virginia Grottke Kilgallon.
