Hall of Fame
PAUL LUEKEN
- Administrator: Director of Athletics
- Active Years: 1994-2021
- Highlights: Longest-tenured director of athletics in SRU history, serving for just over 26 years, oversaw significant improvements to SRU Athletics facilities, significant increases to student-athlete scholarships and a significant improvement in academic performance by SRU student-athletes, saw SRU win 39 total PSAC titles in 11 different sports.
Paul Lueken was a lock for the Rock Athletics Hall of Fame after serving as the director of athletics for more than 26 years from 1994 until his retirement in January of 2021. Lueken's 26+ years of service in that role make him the longest-tenured director of athletics in school history.
The list of accomplishments for Slippery Rock Athletics over those 26 years includes 39 PSAC championships, a Dixon Trophy as the top Athletics Department in the PSAC, significant increases in student-athlete scholarship dollars and most importantly, a streak of academic success that rivaled any program in the country.
Slippery Rock won the 2007-08 Dixon Trophy as the top Athletics Department in the PSAC to mark one of the high points in athletic performance under Lueken. Other highlights on the playing surfaces included eight trips to the NCAA Division II football playoffs and two appearances in the national semifinals. Lueken saw 11 SRU students win individual national championships during his tenure thanks to a stellar track and field program, which claimed 19 total PSAC titles. In total, Lueken oversaw 21 women's PSAC titles and 18 men's titles for 39 conference championships during his 26 years.
The success on the fields, courts and track could be attributed to major improvements in facilities and increases in athletics scholarships. When Lueken arrived in 1994, the total scholarship fund was just over $300,000. When he retired in 2021, that number had climbed to more than $1.1 million in annual scholarships.
Under Lueken, numerous facilities were constructed and all of SRU's athletic facilities underwent major upgrades. The creation of new facilities during his tenure included the field hockey and lacrosse locker rooms, training room and offices at Mihalik-Thompson Stadium and the women's soccer and softball locker rooms and offices at the SRU Softball Complex. While all of the facilities at SRU have received significant upgrades, the most impressive upgrade to the SRU campus under Lueken came with the construction of Jack Critchfield Park and its significant enhancement that was completed in 2020. The state-of-the-art home of Slippery Rock baseball is now one of the finest collegiate baseball facilities in the country, regardless of NCAA division.
Those facility upgrades also gave Slippery Rock another way to connect with Butler County and the surrounding community and became a significant source of revenue generation for the Athletics Department. Slippery Rock's campus routinely hosts PIAA, WPIAL and District 10 high school playoff events, in addition to cheerleading regional tournaments, youth soccer tournaments and other camps and clinics.
More important than the athletic success during Lueken's tenure was the academic achievements of SRU student-athletes. During his tenure, Slippery Rock ranked at or near the top of all PSAC schools in academic success. A total of 11 SRU student-athletes were named the PSAC Pete Nevins Scholar-Athlete of Year during his tenure, while 69 SRU student-athletes were named to PSAC Top 10 teams. That number was just two shy of Shippensburg (71) for the most in the PSAC during that stretch. Under Lueken, Slippery Rock had a total of 75 student-athletes named to CoSIDA Academic All-America honors, a figure that led all schools in the Atlantic Region and ranked sixth nationally.
When Lueken took over in the fall of 1994, Slippery Rock's student-athletes combined for an average GPA of 2.614 his first semester on campus. Over the course of his tenure, that average rose nearly a full point with The Rock's student-athletes posting a 3.532 cumulative GPA in the spring of 2020. During the entirety of his tenure, Slippery Rock's student-athletes recorded a total combined average GPA of 3.064.
Since retiring, Lueken has stayed active in the Slippery Rock community and has attended numerous SRU games as he continues to support the SRU student-athletes. He and his wife, Donna, still reside in Slippery Rock. The couple have four combined adult children: Lindsey Lueken, Adam Rose, Tyler Ruby and Hannah Buckley.
