Randi Lydum enters her fifth year as the Executive Director of Intercollegiate Athletics at Western Oregon University in 2025-26.
Prior to moving up to serve as athletic director, Lydum was the Director of Compliance/Senior Women’s Administrator at WOU. In her previous role, she coordinated and monitored all NCAA Division II compliance functions within the athletic department. In addition, she served as the Student Athlete Advisory Committee supervisor.
Lydum currently serves on the NCAA Division II Cross Country Committee, a four-year term that started the 2023-24 school year.
For the second year in a row in 2024-25, the Wolves finished fourth in the GNAC All-Sports Championships while finishing second in the GNAC Academic All-Sports Awards. In 2022-23, under Lydum's guidance WOU took second place in the GNAC All-Sports Championships and fifth in the GNAC Academic All-Sports Awards. In August of 2023, Lydum was named to the NCAA Division II Cross Country Committee where she will serve a four-year term.
Lydum helped guide the Wolves through a challenging 2020-21 year, adjusting to the pandemic while still providing opportunities for WOU student-athletes. Teams returned to strength and conditioning workouts and practice during the fall, but were not cleared for competition until February. Several WOU athletic teams returned to competition in spring 2021 with baseball, softball and men's and women's track and field competing in condensed seasons culminating in GNAC Championships. Western Oregon hosted the GNAC Softball Tournament and competed in the four-team event. WOU also hosted the GNAC Track & Field Outdoor Championships with the men finishing second and the women coming in fifth. The Wolves baseball team finished second in the NCAA West Regional Championship after also finishing second in GNAC play. Women's soccer and volleyball played condensed non-conference schedules during the 2020-21 season, while the football and basketball programs were unable to compete due to COVID restrictions.
Before joining the staff at WOU, Lydum served as the Director of Retention and First Year Experience at Defiance College in Ohio. In this role, she was responsible for numerous student success initiatives as well as teaching in the exercise science program. While at Defiance, she also served as the Faculty Athletic Representative for the athletic department.
Prior to Defiance College, Lydum served as a teaching assistant and faculty development specialist at the University of Arizona. While at Arizona, she was an instructor for the Peak Performance for Athletic and Academic Success course designed for first-year student-athletes.
Lydum also has experience in the coaching ranks as head men’s and women’s cross country and women’s track & field coach at San Francisco State University. In addition to her coaching duties, she was the Assistant Athletic Director for Compliance for two years while at SFSU. She began her coaching career at Pendleton High School, where she was the head boys and girls cross country coach, assistant track coach and taught health education.
Lydum graduated from Western Oregon State College (now WOU) in 1990 earning a degree in Health Education and Language Arts. She was a three-year participant on the cross country and track teams, earning NAIA All-American status nine times during her career. In addition, she earned her MS in Health Education from Western in 1993. Lydum was inducted into the WOU Hall of Fame in 2007.
