It’s been all systems go since Jeff O’Malley took over the Lamar University athletics department in June 2022. The programs as well as the infrastructure turned a complete 180 and it's quickly paid off.
For the first time in LU history, the Cardinals were atop as repeated winners of the 2025 Southland Conference Commissioner’s Cup and Men’s All-Sports Trophy (and third consecutive that it has won either the Women’s All-Sports Trophy, Men’s All-Sports Trophy or Commissioner’s Cup).
The trophy, which was created in 2002, tracks the overall combined success of each SLC member institution within a calendar year. The Commissioner’s Cup total score comes from combining the scores from the Men’s and Women’s All-Sports Trophies.
“This is an historic accomplishment for Lamar University, and I could not be any prouder of our student-athletes, staff and coaches,” said LU Vice President and Director of Athletics Jeff O’Malley. “What an exciting time for Lamar University. Graduating student-athletes and celebrating their success is why we are in this business.
“There is a lot of hard work that goes on behind the scenes from the entire university to make this all possible. These awards are the true reflection of the dedication of our staff, the university, and the entire Golden Triangle. To have received at least one of these awards in each of the past three seasons is a tremendous honor, and I hope that all of our student-athletes realize the foundation they have built and the history they have made.”
The Cardinals scored a combined 147.5 points between all men’s and women’s sports, outdistancing Stephen F. Austin by 4.5 points. LU’s 147.5 points are the highest since former member Sam Houston State scored 157.5 in 2017-18.
Lamar’s men scored 73.5 points to edge out the league’s other Cardinals – UIW – by one point, 73.5-72.5, and defeat SFA by 18. The LU women just missed out on recording the Triple Crown by finishing third overall with 74 points.
The Cardinals were paced by a conference title from women’s cross country – their second straight – and strong finishes from football (third), men’s (second) and women’s basketball (second), baseball (third), men’s golf (fourth) and softball who had its best season under head coach Amy Hooks.
Volleyball also provided a surge for LU during the fall semester advancing to its first conference tournament since 2011.
Even with those strong performances, the race was still close heading into the final two events of the academic year – men’s and women’s outdoor track and field. Like an anchor leg bringing the baton across the finish line, LU’s track and field teams secured both trophies by taking second place on both sides – which was the best outdoor finish for the men since 1986. Of a possible 72 points in the sports of cross country, indoor and outdoor track and field, Lamar scored an overwhelming 60 to secure the win.
“It is a lot of teamwork and collaboration,” said O’Malley. “You must let people communicate. Just from a university standpoint, you have all those people that are willing to sit down and listen and be able to work through problems and roadblocks and navigate to overcome those.
“President (Jaime) Taylor talks a lot about teamwork and collaboration, and we really tried to bring that same philosophy in the athletic department. We always talk about teamwork in terms of the student athletes, but I’m specifically referring to teamwork from a department
standpoint – the staff and the coaches. We have a great group of coaches, and they all support each other. It really goes a long way, and it shows they care.”
So, how does Lamar athletics continue to stay on top?
“You need to invest in success,” said O’Malley. “You are seeing some of that right now with the new baseball clubhouse as well as making other improvements with other sports. We are going to be making an investment in revenue sharing and NIL for some of our teams as well.”
As athletic programs continue to win, bigger schools offer coaches and even student-athletes a spot on their team.
“It’s the business, but it’s an unbelievable problem to have,” said “O’Malley. “A former mentor of mine always used to say, ‘Managing mediocrity is easy, but managing success is hard.’ Our student athletes become more attractive to other schools as well of our coaches. We have been lucky enough to retain our coaches to this point, but there will come a time when our coach gets an opportunity that they’re not going to be able to pass up and that’s fine too. If they leave the program better than what they found it, and they had a positive experience here and we were able to hire a quality candidate to replace them, then we’ll just build upon the success that they’ve had.”
So, what’s the next goal for O’Malley and the LU athletic department.
“What we’ve done here over the last two years was building an incredible foundation for that success to happen over a sustained period of time,” said O’Malley. “We didn’t want to be able to just capture lightning in the bottle and just be ‘here and there.’ We want to build success for all our teams to gain postseason opportunities. And I believe we’re doing that.
“Three years ago, a lot of people never thought winning a commissioner’s cup was even possible. And now we’ve won two in a row. With winning comes higher expectations, and we are fully embracing that.”