The Northwest Missouri State University Department of Athletics enters the 2019-2020 year with a new look.
 
Director of Athletics Andy Peterson enters his second year in his role and has announced a new administrative structure to serve the department. This realignment strives to provide the University, coaches, staff, fans and especially the Bearcat student-athletes with the best service, effort and experience possible. The following is an overview of the department's administration:
 
Andy Peterson begins his second academic year as the Director of Athletics after moving to that capacity at Northwest in July 2018. Peterson is the accountable party to the entire athletics department which will sponsor 16 sports in 2019-20 and the total number of Bearcat student-athletes will hover near the 450 mark this fall.
 
Lori Hopkins has been promoted to Deputy Athletic Director/Senior Woman Administrator. Hopkins will continue to oversee the department's compliance efforts and serve as an institutional representative to the NCAA and MIAA. Hopkins, who came to Northwest in 2002 as Northwest's assistant women's basketball coach, enters her 10th year as an administrator for the Bearcats and will be a key leader for the department moving forward.
 
Troy Katen was hired June 1, 2019, as the department's Deputy Athletic Director for External Operations and will oversee all development, fundraising and sponsorship efforts for the department. Katen, who has more than a decade of experience in athletic administration, will also be the liaison to the Bearcat Booster Club and the Northwest Foundation. Katen is a former basketball coach at Peru State and Wentworth Military Academy before serving as Associate Athletic Director for three years at the University of St. Mary in Leavenworth, Kansas.
 
Colin McDonough, Assistant Athletic Director of Media Relations, enters his second year with Northwest Missouri as Sports Information Director and coordinating, managing, and executing all media efforts for the department's 16 programs. McDonough, a 1998 Bearcat alum, manages and updates all efforts of the Bearcat athletics website, program record books and social media. McDonough accrued 15 years of NCAA Division I experience as an SID/Media Relations professional from the University of Northern Iowa, University of Northern Colorado and University of Akron before returning to Maryville in the summer of 2018.
 
Kiersten Orton starts her first full year as an administrator for Bearcat Athletics after being promoted to the Assistant Athletic Director for Administration. Orton, who came to Maryville in 2015 to serve as a graduate assistant for the women's basketball program, steps in this year to lead all the department's general operations including ticketing efforts, facility scheduling and special events. Orton graduated from the University of Central Missouri as a four-time MIAA Scholar-Athlete for its women's basketball program and earned a master's degree from Northwest in 2017.
 
Tyler Nehring also joined the Bearcat Athletics administrative team in April 2019 as the department's Business Operations Coordinator. Nehring will oversee all budgeting, financing, purchasing and business management efforts for the department, while also supporting ticketing efforts, the Bearcat Booster Club and serve as liaison to the department's capital projects and facility improvements. Nehring, a former collegiate baseball player at Winona State University in Minnesota, originally hails from Wisconsin and previously worked for the Winona State athletics department as well as the NCAA.
 
Ryan Milke, Assistant Athletic Director for Marketing and Promotions joined the staff Aug. 1 coming from D-I Lehigh University in Pennsylvania where he served as the marketing manager for the Mountain Hawks' 26 sports. Milke will be responsible for all marketing and promotional energies at home Bearcat contests as well as gameday scripts and social media efforts for each program along with the newly-launched Bearcat App. Milke graduated from the University of Northern Iowa in 2016 and earned his master's degree from UNI in 2018.