Mike Hall was hired to take over the direction of the athletic department on Sept. 12, 1994, and is now in his 19th year as the Director of Athletics at the University of South Carolina Upstate. He oversees all aspects of the Department of Athletics.

Hall has enjoyed a tremendous amount of success, while serving as the Director of Athletics at Upstate. He has overseen a program that has won 28 conference championships, has had three teams play for national championships before finishing second (men’s soccer in 1995 and 1998 and men’s golf in 2007), and has had 33 student-athletes earn All-America honors under his leadership.

Since joining the Spartan program, Hall has been instrumental in making many improvements to the athletics department. His biggest accomplishment is leading the University from NCAA Division II to NCAA Division I membership and the Atlantic Sun Conference in 2007-08.

Under Hall’s guidance as Director of Athletics, Upstate Athletics has undergone many transitions. Recently, the University received a $4 million gift from Mrs. Dodie Anderson for the renovation of the Hodge Center that was completed in the fall of 2010. Hall oversaw the completion of the Louis P. Howell Athletics Complex, which includes County University Soccer Stadium, Cyrill Stadium (softball), Harley Park (baseball) and the Upstate Tennis Complex. Parts of the Howell Athletics Complex have received numerous awards for their excellence, including Cyrill Stadium earning the TURFACE/NFCA National Field Maintenance Award in 2006. The total cost of the complex exceeded $5 million. In 1999-00, Hall assisted with a $2 million renovation to the G. B. Hodge Center which included a concession area, weight room, official’s locker rooms and offices for the athletic staff and coaches. In 2003, the men’s and women’s basketball and volleyball locker rooms were renovated.

Hall was instrumental in the development of County University Soccer Stadium, which opened in August of 2001, as well as five other soccer fields that are used by Spartanburg County as youth soccer facilities. County University Soccer Stadium, built at a cost of $850,000, is the home of the men’s soccer program, which was a perennial power in NCAA Division II soccer and is a fast-track sport into NCAA Division I membership, and provides an outstanding facility for the women’s soccer program, now in its 12th year of existence. Hall has used the facility to attract state and regional youth soccer events as well as the NCAA Soccer Championships.

Hall continues to work to enhance staff and coaching positions at Upstate. He has upgraded many positions from part-time to full-time status and expanded several assistant coaches’ positions. He also continues to coordinate over 30 corporate partners for Upstate Athletics. He continues to lead Upstate Athletics with its annual athletics auction, which raises necessary funds to help supplement the budgets of the sports teams at Upstate. Also, Upstate Athletics has received high marks in its efforts to achieve equity in funding of its women’s programs and was awarded the Tapestry Diversity Award for its efforts in promoting positive interaction and collaboration among all members of the campus community.

During his time as athletic director, USC Upstate has been awarded the NCAA Division II Men’s and Women’s National Cross Country Championship in 1995, the NCAA South Atlantic Regional Men’s Basketball Tournament in 1998, and the NCAA Division II Men’s Soccer Championship in 1995 and 1998. The athletic department also captured its fourth Peach Belt Conference Commissioner’s Cup Trophy that is presented annually to the institution with the best all-around program in the PBC. The German Olympic men’s gymnastics team was also the guest of USC Upstate in the summer of 1995.

A 1981 graduate of Liberty University, he went on to serve for thirteen years as assistant athletics director for academics, compliance and golf coach at his alma mater. He also served as the Director of the Adult Education program in admissions and advising. He earned his master’s degree in education from Lynchburg College.

Hall is married to the former Phyllis Cook, a 1982 graduate of Liberty University and an employee at QS/1 in Spartanburg. The couple has three daughters: Mary, a USC Columbia graduate who is a nurse at Spartanburg Regional Hospital and married to Mark McCalmont; Mandy, a USC Columbia graduate who teaches math at Lexington High School; and Courtney, who graduated from Liberty University now lives in northern Virginia. Hall enjoys spending time with his family, golf and fishing.