Tiffani-Dawn B. Sykes is helping to bring in a different change to the Virginia State University athletic department.
Sykes was hired on Feb. 27 to fill in the role of Associate Vice President of Intercollegiate Athletics. She has many innovative ideas that she wants to bring to the athletic department.
“You know my goal is for all of our student athletes to leave here with a degree and a championship ring,” Sykes said.
Sykes also has other goals such as placing the VSU sports teams that are competing independently into the Division II conference. She also has her eyes set on collaborating the VSU sports department with local community organizations, to help sell sponsorships.
“I think there’s a lot of opportunity here and a lot of people who want to support us,” Sykes said. “So, I’m really excited to get started.”
Sykes who is a VSU alumna, majored in mass communications during her time at VSU. She has fond memories of being a mass communications major and doesn’t have any regrets about being an undergrad in that department.
“It was really great to be in a major that has produced such great professionals within the industry and people who I can still maintain a friendship with,” Sykes said.
This isn’t Sykes’s first time being the athletic director as she was the athletic staff director at Florida Agricultural Mechanical University. She has also worked at Dartmouth College where she served as the executive associate director.
“I’ve worked in college athletics full-time for over two decades,” Sykes said. “I actually started my career as a graduate assistant coach and then spent the first half of my career working in sports information at a number of institutions.”
As Sykes comes in, she’s taking over for the previous athletic director Peggy Davis, who passed on Oct. 16, 2024. The passing of Davis is still felt not only throughout the athletic department, but Sykes feels it also.
“You know, it’s really bitter sweet because on one hand you’d love to be back at your alma mater,” Sykes said, acknowledging the complex feelings in her position. “But the way the position came is just really, really sad and unfortunate.”
Like many people within the athletic department, Sykes also has fond memories of knowing Davis.
“I was actually a student athlete here when she was a basketball coach,” Sykes said, reflecting on her memories with Peggy Davis.
Sykes also plans to honor Davis’s memory by continuing her legacy and keeping some of the things she did for the athletic department.
“I’m going to do everything within my power to honor her legacy by doing her thing,” Sykes said.
Sykes noted that there are a few things that she wants not only the student athletes but also the university to know about what she wants to do with her tenure as athletic director.
“I think the thing that I really want to be a part of my legacy here is that I created an outstanding student-athlete experience,” Sykes said. “So, when people look back on their experience here, they feel that Tiffani did everything she could to make sure they had everything they needed to be successful.”
