Wayne State College

Mike Powicki is in his 14th year (2025-26) as Athletic Director at Wayne State College.  Powicki began his duties at Wayne State College on July 23, 2012 and has been instrumental in improvements to athletic facilities and staffing during his 13 years at the institution.  

Construction began in the summer of 2023 and was completed in the spring of 2025 on a $30 million Athletic and Recreation (ARC) project that includes the addition of the Wildcat Dome (air-supported structure), major renovations to the Recreation Center and auxiliary varsity only weight room and creation of the Bebee Family Atrium.  It was the largest athletic construction project in the history of Wayne State College and the largest amount of money raised for a facility project on the WSC campus at over $5.6 million.  Plans are in the works to move forward with Phase III of the project that includes converting the Gardner Indoor Athletic Complex into a practice gym with a wood court and complete renovation of the Rice Auditorium lobby.  

With completion of the ARC project nearly $45 million has been invested into facility improvements, staffing and operations enhancements during Powicki's tenure at Wayne State with more improvements planned to enhance Wildcat athletics.  

Wayne State student athletes continued to excel in the 2024-25 school year as all 15 Wildcat sports posted a cumulative grade point average above 3.00, finishing with a cumulative athletic department grade point average of 3.458.  71 student-athletes maintained a perfect 4.0 GPA during the spring 2025 semester.  278 student-athletes earned the Edward Jones Presidential Scholar Athlete Award, 155 were named to the NSIC All-Academic Team and three students received the NSIC Elite 18 Award as the top scholar athlete at a conference championship event - Quentin Dreyer/Men's Indoor Track and Field, Abbigail Brodersen/Women's Golf and Nate Cunningham was a repeat winner in baseball.  WSC also saw senior volleyball player Taya Beller become the first female student athlete to be named CSC Academic All-American three straight years following her Second Team selection in 2024.   

In 2023-24, the Wayne State volleyball team started the season sweeping Nebraska-Kearney at Volleyball Day in Nebraska in front of an all-time women's sporting event crowd of 92,003 fans at Memorial Stadium in Lincoln.  WSC went on to win a second straight NSIC regular season title, hosted the Northern Sun Conference volleyball tournament in Rice Auditorium and won a second NCAA Central Region title resulting in a trip to the Elite 8 in Moon Township, Pa.  Wayne State was also one of just nine schools in NCAA Division II to earn a Make-A-Wish reveal as part of fundraising and work by the WSC Student Athlete Advisory Committee and made that wish come true at the 2024 WSC Ameritas Honors Banquet.

The 2021-22 school year saw two more projects created to benefit Wildcat athletics.  The Rice Auditorium Stage Conversion Project, totaling over $1 million, enclosed the former stage and created an open-air room to provide premium fan seating and in-game hospitality area for Wildcat volleyball and men's and women's basketball games in Rice Auditorium along with providing a multi-use area for student-athlete recruitment and team meetings.  Another project was field turf installed on the WSC Soccer/Rugby Pitch.

Powicki was instrumental in the addition of two sports to Wayne State athletics in 2019-20 with the addition of beach volleyball and the re-instatement of the women's golf program.  He also orchestrated the renovation of the former natatorium into the Indoor Athletic Complex that will benefit all Wildcat athletic programs.  Powicki also helped orchestrate the largest single scholarship gift in the history of Wayne State as the Gardner Foundation announced on October 3, 2019 a $1.8 million gift to the school.  Included in the gift was a one-time donation of $300,000 toward the Indoor Athletic Complex along with $150,000 toward athletic operations and $925,000 toward athletic scholarships to WSC. 

The Bob Cunningham Field Press Box Replacement project covering $3.9 million was done in 2018.  The project increased the amount of work space for media and staff working home events at Cunningham Field.  The new facility also provides universal space on the lower level that will give WSC athletics an opportunity to host special events and create additional revenue through corporate sponsorships and donor stewardship.

In the fall of 2018, new Daktronics video scoreboards and a sound system totaling over $200,000 were installed in Rice Auditorium to enhance the game day experience for Wildcat fans and student-athletes.

The first major athletic project that was completed under the guidance of Powicki was the Bob Cunningham Field/Memorial Stadium Renovation project.  The project began in May, 2013 and was highlighted by installation of artificial turf, ornamental fencing, press box graphics and new goal posts.  The $1.6 million project also included the widening, lengthening and re-sodding of the Wildcat Soccer Pitch, along with installing new irrigation, facility fencing, scoreboard and making the facility ADA accessible.  The Dr. LeRoy Simpson Track at Memorial Stadium was re-surfaced and painted in the summer of 2014 as the final phase of the project. 

Past boards/committees Powicki has served on include the NCAA Division II Athletic Directors Association Board and the NCAA Division II Central Regional Advisory Committee for baseball.  He was honored April 25, 2024 with the Community Service Engagement Award during the Dr. Ron Holt Civic Engagement Award dinner. Powicki currently serves locally as the President of the Wayne Area Economic Development/Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors, the Wayne Kiwanis Board (Past-President) and currently serves as the Chair of the Wayne Community Development Authority.  

Prior to arriving at Wayne State, Powicki served as Assistant Athletic Director at Minnesota State University in Mankato, Minnesota.  He was the Assistant Athletic Director for Marketing and Corporate Partnerships from 2008-10 and was promoted to Assistant Director of Athletics for Development and Strategic Partnerships in 2010 where he served in that role until July 2012 when he arrived at Wayne State.