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The most recent Hollins University athletic teams are talented, coached well and competitive. That’s a significant change.
Ryan Hunt
Hollins swimming.
Time was that the words “Hollins” and “athletics” were more oxymoron than explanation. Gone are those days. Since 2018 — with a break for COVID-19 — “Hollins athletics” is a legitimate Google search.
Basketball coach Emily Dunton accepted the job in 2018, a week before her team hit the floor for the first time. The daughter of Liberty University’s basketball coach, she had an extensive background as a player in high school and college and an idea of just how to approach her team. There was immediate improvement across all aspects of the team’s performance, says Director of Athletics Chris Kilcoyne. Recruiting was becoming successful and the record was getting better game-by-game.
Ryan Hunt
Hollins Volleyball
“Then COVID-19 hit the campus and nearly everything stopped. We lost our good senior class and several freshmen,” says Dunton. That meant rebuilding the rebuild. “In D3 [the lowest NCAA division, offering no scholarships and no NIL money] retention of athletes is always a challenge.”
But the players in all 10 of Hollins’ sports teams had seen what was possible with renewed commitment from the entire university, ranging from President Mary Dana Hinton to those who swept the basketball floor.
Hinton has become quite the fan of her teams with no nickname, the only university or college in the country without one. “I am incredibly proud of our student-athletes for their outstanding academic achievements …” she says. “Their academic excellence (with all teams having GPAs of over 3.0) and athletic achievements are a testament to their dedication, discipline and commitment to excellence both on and off the field.
Dan Smith
Basketball coach Emily Dunton with players Sarah Morales and Moriah Hill.
“At Hollins, we believe athletics plays a vital role in enriching the undergraduate experience. Through sports, our students develop essential life skills such as time management, collaboration and perseverance, all while fostering a strong work ethic that translates to success in the classroom and beyond. These impressive academic results are a clear indication that our student-athletes are truly embracing the holistic education that Hollins provides.”
Recruiting good athletes at a small (622 students, 110 athletes) woman’s college is Challenge No. 1 primarily because most of the athletes know little or nothing about Hollins before deciding to attend. Still, basketball player Sarah Morales and soccer player Anna Starman found their way to Hollins from Texas, where Morales attended an all-girls high school, and Portland, Oregon.
Want to know how Hollins transformed its athletics program into a competitive force while maintaining academic excellence? Check out the latest issue, now on newsstands, or see it for free in our digital guide linked below!
The story above is a preview from our July/August 2025 issue. For more stories like it, Subscribe Today. Thank you!