BRISTOL, Tenn., May 18, 2023 – King University has announced the promotion of Athletic Director David Hicks to the position of vice president of Athletics.

During Hicks’ time at King, the average GPA for Tornado student-athletes has remained above a 3.0, with 15 receiving the Conference Carolinas Elite 23 Award for having the top GPA at the Conference Championships finals site. Three dozen student-athletes have been named the Conference Carolinas Scholar-Athlete of the Year for their respective sport, with nine becoming academic All-Americans. On the field, Tornado athletic teams have won a total of 35 Conference Carolinas regular or postseason championships.

Hicks is also credited with establishing King’s Acrobatics and Tumbling, Bass Fishing, Women’s Triathlon, and Esports teams. In addition, he has helped upgrade the University’s soccer, baseball, and softball fields, and is currently helping oversee the construction of a new track and field complex.

“David is an exceptional, forward-thinking coach who understands what it means to lead, both on the field and in the King community,” said Alexander Whitaker, president. “He exemplifies King’s mission of encouraging and serving others, calling forth the best in each of us, and his promotion is well deserved.”

Prior to his 2011 arrival at King, Hicks spent 13 years at Rhodes College, serving as assistant athletic director and head softball coach. He departed the Memphis school as its winningest softball coach in school history.

In 1995, the West Virginia native earned a bachelor’s degree in history from Kenyon College in Ohio, where he also was a four-year starter on the baseball team. He received his master’s degree in sport management from Ohio State University a year later.

Hicks is an avid NCAA and Conference Carolinas supporter, having served on more than a dozen advisory committees, panels, and councils, including as a member of the Women’s Volleyball Southeast Regional Advisory Committee and the Playing Rules Oversight Panel, as a board member of the Division II Athletic Directors’ Association, and as chair of the Conference Carolinas Championships Committee, among many others.

Hicks and his wife, Cindy, have been married more than a quarter-century. They have four sons, including Alex, a 2021 King graduate; Daniel, a senior at Rhodes College, with plans to attend law school; Stephen, who will start at Carson-Newman University in the fall; and Luke, a rising sophomore at Tennessee High School.

“It is a privilege and honor to be a member of the King community, and I appreciate the confidence President Whitaker has in my ability to lead King Athletics,” Hicks said. “I look forward to continuing to serve our student-athletes and provide guidance to our outstanding coaches and athletic staff as we build on King’s traditions of excellence.”