Staff Highlight: MBU's Athletic Director, Rob Thompson

When you walk into Rob Thompson’s office, you will notice a row of baseball caps lined up neatly on the shelf behind his desk. That choice of decoration is a great example of what he does. He is a man who wears many hats, and a man who fulfills many different responsibilities at Maranatha Baptist University. In addition to being MBU’s Athletic Director, Rob Thompson holds several other titles, such as:

NCCAA North Region Coordinator
NCCAA National 1st Vice President
NCCAA Board of Directors
NCCAA Administration Committee
Indian Trails Conference President (Academy Conference)
Chair of MBU Coaches Committee
Chair of MBU Athletics Committee
MBU Assistant Women’s Basketball Coach
MBU Head Softball Coach
MBU Leadership Council Member

What exactly do you do as Athletic Director?

As athletic director, I am in charge of the ten teams at MBU, and the four teams at Maranatha Baptist Academy. I coordinate the game schedules and practice times. I am also in charge of the gym, the soccer fields, the Division Street field, and the quad. So, any department that wants to use the facilities for Fine Arts, plays, band, and so on, goes through me as coordinator of the facilities.

How did you become interested in your field?

Going back to when I was in college, the particular society I was in elected me as an athletic director. I was then selected to be the director of the inter-society athletics, which meant that I oversaw all the intramural sports within the college.

What is your educational background?

I have a BA in Bible/Theology from Maranatha with a minor in physical education. I knew that I wanted to do something with sports in my career as well as ministry. Ever since I graduated from college, I’ve been involved as an athletic director of some sorts in the schools and states I’ve been in. So really, I’ve been doing this for the past 38 years.

What did you do before you came to MBU?

My wife and I first went back to Iowa, my hometown, after graduation. I worked for a friend in a startup business and also became a lay individual with the church we attended. Eventually, that church started another church, and they asked me to become the youth pastor. When a couple of the coaches and teachers left the school, the board asked me to fill the coaching and teaching spots that opened up. For four and a half years, I was a youth pastor, coach, and teacher. After spending a few years in Iowa, my family moved to Rockford, IL. For the next 11 years, I was the principal and teacher for a Christian middle school, as well as the coach for the high school varsity teams. After that, I took a one-year break to work at a manufacturing company in order to figure out what my next step was. Immediately after, I moved here to Watertown, WI, where I’ve stayed for the last 15 years.

What brought you to MBU?

While I was working at the manufacturing company, my wife saw an ad on the Maranatha webpage for a Sports Information Director. She read the job description, and when I got home that night, she said, “This is you.” I contacted the director back then, Terry Price, and he responded within 15 minutes and told me to come up for an interview. The next week, I was interviewed and hired. Three weeks later, my family moved from Illinois to Wisconsin.

What is your favorite part about MBU?

My favorite part of MBU is interacting with the student-athletes and being able to be an influence on their life as a coach or as a mentor. I enjoy developing relationships with the students who come and go through the athletic office. Those kinds of relationships can last long after graduation. One of the highest honors I received was when three former students asked me to preside over their weddings–of course, all on different occasions.

Do you have advice for prospective students?

I would tell them that Maranatha has a lot to offer with the smallness of the school that a bigger school would not be able to offer. The personal relationships developed between students and the faculty and staff are more common here versus other schools. In addition, we have the proper academic and athletic credentials of a school, which means we are part of the NCCAA DII and NCAA DIII. We recruit prospective student-athletes on the overall experience.

What is a proud moment from your life?

I think that the proudest moment, or moments, are the life-long relationships I have developed. Almost every day, I am in contact with a former student-athlete who used to play for Maranatha. Staying connected with former students is definitely something I am proud of.

What is your salvation testimony?

I grew up in a non-Christian home. I have three sisters, no brothers. One day, a Christian family moved into our neighborhood. That family had all daughters, and they became friends with my sisters and invited them to church. Eventually, my older sister became saved and she started working on me. The youth pastor, Tom Nichols, a graduate from Maranatha, started to invite me to youth church as well. I really wasn’t interested at first, but finally on July 15, 1975, when I was 14, I got saved. I really wanted to go to a Christian high school, but since both of my parents were not saved, they told me to wait until my senior year in high school.

Can you tell us about your family?

I am married to April Thompson, whom I met here at college. We got married in the summer of 1984. We have two daughters, Emily and Brittany. Both of them graduated from here and also met their husbands here. I also have a granddaughter named Ellie, whom Brittany and Matt are parents of.

Do you have any hobbies?

My hobbies are sports, whether it be playing golf or watching basketball on TV. I also like yard work, woodworking, and working on my house. I also find time to do other things besides sports, because if my hobby is my work, it all blends together. That being said, I do try to find other things to do besides sports.