Clarkson University Athletics

On April 3, 2023, Laurel Kane was promoted to become the 10th Director of Athletics at Clarkson University. 

Kane is no stranger to Clarkson Athletics, as she has been both a coach and administrator in the department for the past 22 years. She has tremendous knowledge and experience in all aspects of the department.  

Since 2019 Kane has been the Senior Associate Athletic Director, getting more involved with the men’s and women’s hockey programs and overseeing the daily operations of the department. Prior to that role she also held the positions as Assistant and Associate Athletic Director/Senior Woman Administrator (SWA), where she worked closely with the Division III coaching staff and oversaw the day to day operations of the 18 Division III sports. She also implemented student-athlete welfare initiatives, and worked with the Student Athlete Advisory Committee.

During her time as a senior level administrator, the Athletic Department has seen remarkable growth, by not only adding varsity and intramural offerings, but in raising the level of competitiveness in all 20 of our varsity programs. The sport teams have appeared in more than 25 NCAA Tournaments, and our Alpine and Nordic teams are perennial contenders at the USCSA National Championships. Throughout the years, our Division I and the Division III programs have produced more than 35 different student-athletes achieving All-American status. Furthermore, the Athletic Department has seen multiple coaches earn league, regional, and national staff recognition.

Not only has the Athletic Department seen tremendous athletic success, but has also seen continued academic excellence. The teams’ cumulative GPAs are consistently above the general student populations, and more than 60 student athletes are named to the academic all-conference teams on an annual basis.

Kane came to Clarkson in 2001 to coach both the women's soccer and lacrosse teams. In 2003 she stepped away from coaching lacrosse, but continued to coach soccer until 2010.

Prior to coming to Clarkson, Kane was the Head Women’s Soccer coach and Assistant Athletic Director at Earlham College in Richmond, Indiana.  

Kane earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from Earlham in 1996 and completed a Master of Science in Athletic Administration at SUNY College of Brockport in 2000. She played both soccer and lacrosse at Earlham College in the mid-1990s, and in 2011 she was inducted into the Earlham College Athletic Hall of Fame.

Laurel and her husband, Jim, Clarkson's Baseball Coach, reside outside of Potsdam, in South Colton.