By Ashley Watts
Student Reporter
In the summer of 2018, Tim Lauderdale and Northwestern Oklahoma State University athletics ran into a problem with finding a golf coach.
The past golf coach had resigned right before the fall golf season started, so the university had to rush to find someone to take the position.
“We were stuck and couldn’t find anyone to take the job,” said Lauderdale, the associate director of athletics for internal operations. “So I decided that I would take a chance and become the director of golf for NWOSU.”
Lauderdale has enjoyed golf his entire life, but has never really taken it seriously. “My wife and I talked about this new opportunity, and we both thought that it would be a good idea,” Lauderdale said.
“Athletics is his passion and always has been, so I told him to follow his heart and take this new coaching job,” said Andrea Lauderdale, his wife of nine years.
“The day I took the job, I called every player on the team and told them I had taken the new coaching job, and I was excited for what this year would bring,” Lauderdale said.
Lauderdale was born in Tulsa, but moved around until his family decided to settle down in Woodward when he was five.
He had an interesting school experience while growing up in Woodward.
From kindergarten to fourth grade, Lauderdale attended public elementary school, but the summer between his fourth and fifth grade his parents decided to enroll him into a private Christian academy for two years.
After attending private school, Lauderdale went back to public school to finish junior high, but his ninth and 10th grade years he was homeschooled.
Lauderdale and his parents realized that he was too much of an extrovert for homeschool, so he went back to public school for the remainder of his education.
After graduating from Woodward High School in 2005, Lauderdale went to college at NWOSU, though it was not his first choice. NWOSU was actually Lauderdale’s third choice behind Oklahoma University and Southwestern Oklahoma State University.
He looked at his options and NWOSU gave him the biggest scholarship. While attending NWOSU, Lauderdale was a cheerleader for the Rangers and won Outstanding Senior.
“I was not going to stay at NWOSU, but this school has something about it that pulls you in,” Lauderdale said.
Lauderdale also said his biggest regret while at college was not walking onto the Ranger baseball team, but he still would not change anything about his college experience.
After earning his bachelor’s degree in mass communications at NWOSU, Lauderdale went to graduate school for 10 months at Wichita State to get his masters in sport management.
Lauderdale had many jobs before working at NWOSU as the associate director of athletics for internal operations and director of golf. While attending graduate school, he was a lifeguard at the YMCA in Wichita. He would lifeguard during the day and intern for a minor league baseball team, The Kansas City Royals, at night.
He was a marketing intern for one year and was also the public relations associate for a year before the team moved to Arkansas.
Lauderdale eventually came back to his alma mater to work as the communications and marketing manger for the Northwestern Foundation and Alumni Association for two years. During this time, Lauderdale married his high school sweetheart, Andrea Mustain, in 2009.
They have three boys: Bentley, Beckham and Braxton.
In 2011, Lauderdale and his wife moved from Alva back to Wichita where he served as the marketing associate for Shocker Athletics at Wichita State University. He dealt with implementing marketing and advertising strategies for 15 different teams.
Lauderdale still felt like this was not the job for him, so he applied at Oklahoma State University for the marketing coordination job in the athletic department.
Lauderdale stayed in Stillwater for one year before returning back to Northwest Oklahoma. He and his wife agreed that they did not want to raise a family in Stillwater, so Lauderdale accepted a job in Woodward at an oil field.
There, he was the chief financial officer and dealt with all the financial and administrative aspects of the company.
In April of 2016, Lauderdale, his wife and two sons moved back to Alva where he took on the role as the human resources director at NWOSU. He still had a passion for athletics and was finally offered his current job as the associate athletic director. In August of 2018, he also took on the job as the director of golf.
With this job as the director of golf, he took on 12 student athletes and a whole new set of responsibilities. He had to learn how to manage his time between the two jobs and a teaching position, but he said it was not hard to transition from job to job. Golf is something that he has always liked, he said.
“This coaching position allows him to get to know the student athletes on a different level than his other job,” his wife said.
“I really enjoy Lauderdale as a coach and as a teacher,” said Nikkole Donk, a senior member of the women’s golf team and health and sports science major. “As a coach, he is more laid back and understanding than when he is teaching, and that is what you need on the golf course.”
Donk also said Lauderdale is a good role model to look up to if someone wants to be a coach.
When Estefania Acosta started coaching at NWOSU, she hadn’t met Lauderdale yet, but she was still excited to see what this season would bring. Acosta and Lauderdale met over the phone during this past summer.
“Lauderdale is really organized and that helps me a lot because I can focus on the coaching part while he organizes everything else,” said Acosta, assistant coach for golf.
Another women’s golfer said she enjoys him as a coach. “He gets things done, and this golf team was in need of someone who is organized,” said Brittani Casement, a senior accounting major.
Casement and Lauderdale also met over the phone when he called and told her that he would be the golf coach for this season. “Lauderdale has helped make this team more well known on campus, and that has helped our team in the long run,” Casement said.
Lauderdale said he was excited when he decided to become golf coach and his wife was completely on board with the whole thing.
Lauderdale said his kids were his biggest accomplishment, and he hopes to see all three of them grow up into polite, intelligent gentlemen someday.
His wife said he is a really good dad, but he is an even better husband. In her eyes, he is kind, generous, sometimes a nerd and dramatic, but his heart is in everything that he does.
“It takes a lot to get on Tim’s bad side,” Casement said. During golf workout on Tuesday and Thursday mornings he is trying to be as nice and optimistic as possible.
It takes a long time to reach his breaking point because he is such a nice guy. “He keeps giving us chances to redeem ourselves before he has to put his foot down,” Casement said.
“He is a genuinely nice guy and does not hold grudges,” his wife said.
The two met while he was working for her mom in high school. They became good friends while he played baseball and she was the manager before they started dating, and if they happened to take a break in their relationship they still kept up the friendship.
They dated throughout most of high school and college before they got married, she said.
She said she was proud of him when he decided to take on the coaching job because his passion is athletics. He has always wanted to be in athletics and NWOSU has finally allowed him to follow his dream, she said.
“I always knew that I wanted to go into athletics,” Lauderdale said. “It took me awhile to get here, but now that I am here, I don’t plan on leaving anytime soon.”