Val Sheley

Position: Senior Associate Athletics Director/SWA

Val Sheley, who has experience as a former student-athlete, coach, athletics director and several other administrative areas, including compliance, academics and student-athlete development, is in her fifth year as senior associate athletics director and senior woman administrator. Her many responsibilities include administration of eight sports and the compliance office.

Her athletics career started in 1988 when she served as head of men’s and women’s track and field, then added the responsibilities of assistant athletics director/senior woman administrator at UNC Asheville. From there, she went to the NCAA office working as a legislative assistant for the national organization.

Sheley is in her second stint with the University of South Carolina during her college athletics career, having served as an associate athletics director for NCAA compliance at the school from 1995 to 2000. In 2000, she left the Gamecocks to become athletics director at Presbyterian College, where she oversaw the school’s 13 athletics programs and facility improvements for three years. During 2003-04, Sheley served as the interim associate athletics director for academic support and career development at the University of Maryland before returning to Carolina.

Sheley has a bachelor’s degree from Murray State University, where she excelled as a track and field athlete. She earned a master’s from the University of Houston and is a graduate of the Sports Management Institute.

Sheley was a 1984 Olympic qualifier in track and field for Great Britain. Her husband, Mike, was a track and field All-American and NCAA national champion (4×800-meter relay, 1974 indoors) at South Carolina.