Maryville Names New Director of Athletics
4/27/07
Maryville University has named Tony Duckworth (pictured) as its new director of athletics. The sixth person to hold this position in Maryville’s history, Duckworth begins his new duties June 4. He replaces Linda Anderson, who resigned earlier this year but who will continue in the job through the end of May.
“I am humbled that Maryville University has selected me to lead the athletics department,” Duckworth said. “Maryville is a first class academic institution that has a quality athletics administration, first class coaching staff and student-athletes who represent the values of NCAA Division III.”
Duckworth comes to Maryville from Huntingdon College in Montgomery, Ala., where he served as associate director of athletics and head men’s basketball coach for six years. In his administrative role, Duckworth also served as the NCAA Eligibility and Compliance coordinator. Additionally, he is a member of the National Basketball Coaches Association and has served on the NCAA/NABC Division III Marketing and Promotion Committee for the past three years.
In six seasons as head men’s basketball coach, Duckworth helped lead Huntingdon to 65 victories and Great South Athletic Conference (GSAC) regular season and tournament championships in 2005-06. Duckworth was named GSAC Coach of the Year in 2005-06 after his squad won its final 13 games and posted a 20-7 record, equaling the school record set during the 1961-62 season.
Duckworth has coached at the collegiate level for 10 years, amassing 122 total victories. Prior to Huntingdon, he was head men’s basketball coach at Belhaven College, a NAIA program in Jackson, Miss., where he led his squad to the 2001 NAIA national tournament. Duckworth also spent four years as an assistant coach at Covenant College in Lookout Mountain, Ga. “I’m looking forward to Tony bringing his high energy, love for athletics and ability to build partnerships that will heighten the presence of Maryville’s athletics programs,” said Nina Caldwell, Ed.D., Maryville’s dean of student life.
“I have been overwhelmed by the number of people in the Maryville community who have contacted me since this became official,” Duckworth commented. “My family and I are proud to be members of the Saints family.”
Duckworth earned his undergraduate degree in financial management from Bob Jones University in 1990. He then went on to complete his master of education in physical education in 1994 at the University of Tennessee-Chattanooga.
– by Nicole Heasley, sports information director