{"id":64701,"date":"2026-04-13T19:33:59","date_gmt":"2026-04-13T23:33:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/?p=64701"},"modified":"2026-04-13T19:34:04","modified_gmt":"2026-04-13T23:34:04","slug":"florida-polytechnic-university-has-officially-named-derek-lower-as-its-first-ever-athletic-director","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/2026\/04\/13\/florida-polytechnic-university-has-officially-named-derek-lower-as-its-first-ever-athletic-director\/","title":{"rendered":"Florida Polytechnic University has officially named Derek Lower as its first-ever athletic director"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-full is-resized\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" data-dominant-color=\"988fa4\" data-has-transparency=\"false\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"200\" height=\"200\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1110px) 100vw, 1110px\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/download-11.webp?resize=200%2C200&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-64702 not-transparent\" style=\"--dominant-color: #988fa4; width:302px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/download-11.webp?w=200&amp;ssl=1 200w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/download-11.webp?resize=150%2C150&amp;ssl=1 150w\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\" id=\"p-rc_e1800c59a37a443e-19\">Florida Polytechnic University has officially named <strong>Derek Lower<\/strong> as its first-ever athletic director, marking a major milestone as the school transitions from a purely academic STEM institution to a competitive collegiate program.<sup><\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\" id=\"p-rc_e1800c59a37a443e-20\">Lower, who has been with the university since 2017, previously served as the associate director of campus recreation.<sup><\/sup> During his tenure, he helped build the university&#8217;s intramural and club sports foundations, making him a natural choice to lead the department&#8217;s leap into official intercollegiate play.<sup><\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">The Launch of Florida Poly Athletics<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\" id=\"p-rc_e1800c59a37a443e-21\">The program is scheduled to debut this <strong>Fall 2026<\/strong> and will compete in the <strong>NAIA (National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics)<\/strong>.<sup><\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Inaugural Sports Lineup<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\" id=\"p-rc_e1800c59a37a443e-22\">The university will field teams in eight different sports initially:<sup><\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Court Sports:<\/strong> Men&#8217;s and Women&#8217;s Basketball<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Field Sports:<\/strong> Men&#8217;s and Women&#8217;s Soccer, Baseball, and Softball<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Endurance Sports:<\/strong> Men&#8217;s and Women&#8217;s Cross-Country<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Program Goals and Recruitment<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\" id=\"p-rc_e1800c59a37a443e-26\">The university&#8217;s strategy is to attract high-achieving student-athletes who don&#8217;t want to choose between a rigorous STEM degree and competitive sports.<sup><\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Academic Rigor:<\/strong> Lower and university leadership have emphasized that student-athletes will be expected to maintain the high academic standards Florida Poly is known for.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Roster Expansion:<\/strong> The program expects to bring roughly <strong>150 student-athletes<\/strong> to the Lakeland campus.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Coaching Hires:<\/strong> Hiring for foundational roles, specifically for <strong>softball and cross-country coaches<\/strong>, began earlier this spring to prepare for the fall season.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Community Impact<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\" id=\"p-rc_e1800c59a37a443e-30\">The addition of collegiate sports is seen as a way to boost campus pride and deepen the &#8220;Poly Purple&#8221; identity.<sup><\/sup> Local leaders also hope the program acts as a bridge between the university and the surrounding communities of Lakeland, Auburndale, and greater Polk County.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=NDhtKacs52Y\">Florida Poly Athletics Announcement<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This video provides a visual introduction to the launch of the new sports program at Florida Polytechnic University.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Florida Poly Athletics has arrived\" width=\"1110\" height=\"624\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/NDhtKacs52Y?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Florida Polytechnic University has officially named Derek Lower as its first-ever athletic director, marking a major milestone as the school transitions from a purely academic STEM institution to a competitive&hellip; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":64702,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_robots_follow":"","_seopress_robots_imageindex":"","_seopress_robots_snippet":"","_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"14","_seopress_robots_breadcrumbs":"","_seopress_robots_freeze_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_custom_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_canonical":"","_seopress_social_fb_title":"","_seopress_social_fb_desc":"","_seopress_social_fb_img":"","_seopress_social_fb_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_height":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_title":"","_seopress_social_twitter_desc":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_height":0,"_seopress_redirections_value":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled_regex":"","_seopress_redirections_logged_status":"","_seopress_redirections_param":"","_seopress_redirections_type":0,"_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","inline_featured_image":false,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"wpai_generated_summary":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"dois","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":true,"token":"eyJpbWciOiJodHRwczpcL1wvaTAud3AuY29tXC9sYWtlbGFuZGdhemV0dGUuaW5mb1wvbmV3c1wvd3AtY29udGVudFwvdXBsb2Fkc1wvMjAyNlwvMDRcL2Rvd25sb2FkLTExLndlYnA_Zml0PTIwMCUyQzIwMCZzc2w9MSIsInR4dCI6IkZsb3JpZGEgUG9seXRlY2huaWMgVW5pdmVyc2l0eSBoYXMgb2ZmaWNpYWxseSBuYW1lZCBEZXJlayBMb3dlciBhcyBpdHMgZmlyc3QtZXZlciBhdGhsZXRpYyBkaXJlY3RvciIsInRlbXBsYXRlIjoiZG9pcyIsImZvbnQiOiIiLCJibG9nX2lkIjoxNjMwNDA2NjF9.PJPayJJtHtCdANZ8ONR6eF7Zg4YJo5IVIRr8MSm0NxEMQ"},"version":2,"media_source":"sig","attached_media":[{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/jetpack.com\/redirect\/?source=sigenerate&query=t%3DeyJpbWciOiJodHRwczpcL1wvbGFrZWxhbmRnYXpldHRlLmluZm9cL25ld3NcL3dwLWNvbnRlbnRcL3VwbG9hZHNcLzIwMjZcLzA0XC9kb3dubG9hZC0xMS53ZWJwIiwidHh0IjoiRmxvcmlkYSBQb2x5dGVjaG5pYyBVbml2ZXJzaXR5IGhhcyBvZmZpY2lhbGx5IG5hbWVkIERlcmVrIExvd2VyIGFzIGl0cyBmaXJzdC1ldmVyIGF0aGxldGljIGRpcmVjdG9yIiwidGVtcGxhdGUiOiJkb2lzIiwiZm9udCI6IiIsImJsb2dfaWQiOjE2MzA0MDY2MX0.T1L35NHdgqYDCKlBvGyHW6KEZ-4zQiqix13JScCCTYUMQ","type":"image\/jpeg"}]},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false},"categories":[14],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-64701","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64701","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=64701"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64701\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":64703,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64701\/revisions\/64703"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/64702"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=64701"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=64701"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=64701"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}