Biola University Athletics

The Faculty Teammate Program pairs a member of the Biola faculty with a varsity athletics team and welcomes that person into the team's community for the full academic year. The faculty teammate supports student-athletes alongside the coaching staff, and gets to enjoy the intercollegiate athletics experience from the inside.

The idea came from our PacWest colleagues and from several Division II peer institutions, and it launched at Biola in 2026-27. It exists because the classroom and the competition venue are not separate worlds. Our student-athletes already carry two full jobs.

Biola University is a Christian university in La Mirada, California, competing in NCAA Division II as a member of the PacWest Conference across seventeen varsity programs. Our student-athletes consistently rank at the top of the conference in academic honors, and this program exists to strengthen that.

There is no required hour count and no template. Before the season starts, each coach and faculty teammate meet, exchange contact information, and shape a plan that fits both of their calendars. That plan can include attending games, dropping into practices, joining team meetings, or simply being a steady presence over the course of a season.

What the pairing consistently produces is mentorship, career encouragement, academic support and spiritual presence, offered by someone the student-athletes see on campus every week. Teams with a large roster or with more than one interested faculty member were paired with two.

Pairings were locked in over the summer. On the first Wednesday of September, every team, coach and athletics administrator packed the Ethel Lee Auditorium for the first Faculty Draft in Biola history.

Team by team, student-athletes walked to the podium, introduced themselves, opened an envelope, and read out the professor who would be walking with them all season. Each faculty teammate came to the stage, took a hat and a handshake, said a few words, and joined the team for a photo. The night closed in prayer.

Biola Athletics holds three core values: Faith, Formation and Fierce. The Faculty Teammate Program is Formation in practice. We are committed to the whole student-athlete, in mind, body and spirit, and we believe the people who teach them should know them as competitors too.

Coaches do not just build athletes. They build people who will lead, serve and shine long after the final practice. Faculty teammates are part of that work now.

Interested faculty complete an interest form in the spring, indicating the sports they care about and any existing relationships with student-athletes. Pairings are made by the end of May, welcome letters go out over the summer, and the draft celebration opens the fall. If you teach at Biola and want to be on a roster next year, keep an eye on the internal newsletter for when the interest list opens.