Seng Leads, Coaches Others to do Same
By
Geoff Kimmerly
MHSAA.com senior editor
January 25, 2018
Meg Seng misses coaching – in her words, “those relationships really are what it’s all about … stronger than just about anything other than family.”
But the coach in Seng continues to show the way in her work every day.
Seng will be honored next month with the MHSAA’s 31st Women in Sports Leadership Award for her work at Ann Arbor Huron and Greenhills over more than 30 years in educational athletics.
The award also will recognize Seng’s teaching, training and empowering of the next generation of coaches and especially women aspiring to follow her into leadership positions in a field where they remain underrepresented.
“I’ve always loved sport, and early on found I had a knack and an interest in coaching. So to be able to share with other young women what I think is a really noble profession makes it a passion for me,” Seng said. “I think it’s a great endeavor, and I’d love for more women to have the opportunity and the confidence to seek out some of those positions.”
Seng will receive this year’s award during the WISL Banquet at the Crowne Plaza Lansing West.
Each year, the Representative Council considers the achievements of women coaches, officials and athletic administrators affiliated with the MHSAA who show exemplary leadership capabilities and positive contributions to athletics.
Seng is in her 28th year at Greenhills School, serving as the athletic director the last 15 after 13 teaching physical education and health. Previously a scholarship athlete playing both volleyball and softball at Indiana University – and winning a pair of Big Ten championships on the diamond – Seng coached both sports at Ann Arbor-area high schools over nearly two decades and has continued as a role model for emerging coaches.
“I’m pretty sure I’ve been to every single (WISL) conference, and so for years, I’ve certainly been in the audience watching these great women be recognized,” Seng said. “To have followed for that long and now be on stage, it’s a tremendous honor for me – that group of women and their value to sport in Michigan is not lost on me at all. I truly respect that group, and I’m really proud to be part of it.”
A 1977 graduate of Maine South High School in Park Ridge, Ill., Seng began coaching at the college level after her playing days with the Hoosiers were done. She served first as a graduate assistant softball coach at Louisiana Tech University in 1983-84 while studying for her master’s degree, and then as a softball assistant at Illinois State University for 1984-85.
Seng took over the Ann Arbor Huron volleyball program in 1985, and over 12 seasons stretching two tenures led her team to five league titles and a District championship in 1993. She also served as Huron's co-head varsity softball coach from 1986-90.
She completed her teacher certification at Eastern Michigan University in 1990 and began teaching at Greenhills that year, later coaching that school’s varsity volleyball team from 1993-2000 and leading the Gryphons to a District title in 1997.
In 2001, Seng co-founded The Academy of Sports Leadership (TASL), a non-profit organization that provides education and training for women interested in becoming coaches and hosts a five-day residential camp for high school girls with that aspiration. In 2003, Seng became Greenhills’ athletic director and began her work as well contributing to the Michigan Interscholastic Athletic Administrators Association (MIAAA) and National Interscholastic Athletic Administrators Association (NIAAA), serving on committees for both including as part of the MIAAA’s Leadership Academy faculty since 2011 and the NIAAA’s certification committee since 2014. She served as the MIAAA’s Executive Board president in 2013-14.
At Greenhills, Seng has hosted more than 20 MHSAA tournament events in various sports at the District, Regional and Quarterfinal levels, and she’s served on a variety of MHSAA committees as well as currently the Multi-Sport Participation Task Force. She also is an instructor for the MHSAA Coaches Advancement Program.
“Meg Seng has been a leader at every level of educational athletics – as an accomplished coach, respected athletic director and someone who empowers women interested in following her lead and filling the need we have in school sports for more women in all forms of leadership positions,” MHSAA Executive Director John E. “Jack” Roberts said. “She personifies the Women In Sports Leadership Award, and we’re delighted to present her with this honor.”
Seng received the MIAAA Jack Johnson Distinguished Service Award in 2012 and her region’s Athletic Director of the Year Award in 2008. She also received the Pathfinder Award in 2004 from the National Association for Girls and Women in Sports (NAGWS), and under her leadership Greenhills received the Exemplary Athletic Program Award from the MIAAA in 2017. She also received the Girl Scouts’ Leaders and Best Award in 2005.
In addition to her work with The Academy of Sports Leadership, she’s served since 2009 on the board as a founding member of the Michigan Softball Academy, which annually raises money for the American Cancer Society. She is published for her work in coaching education and recruitment and has spoken on various occasions on ways to provide opportunities for young women in coaching. She will present on recruiting and retaining female leaders at the annual statewide MIAAA conference this March.
“Meg sees a need and takes initiative to put a committee, group or process in place to solve and satisfy this need,” Holly athletic director Deb VanKuiken said in her letter recommending Seng for the WISL Award. “I truly respect and admire her. She has a great mind and a great heart for athletes and coaches alike. She leads, and she serves.”
Part of filling that need is helping athletic directors find candidates and helping candidates feel confident.
Seng monitors coaching at the high school and college levels, and has watched the percentage of female coaches at the college level fall drastically since Title XI. She also hears a few things – from women finishing college athletic careers who don’t feel qualified to coach, and also from athletic directors who would love to hire women coaches but aren’t finding candidates.
“Our Academy is a grassroots organization just trying to get young girls to follow that dream and show them the possibilities,” Seng said. “It’s a primer on coaching; we show them all the things coaches do and hope it sticks, that they say, ‘I can do that.’
“Part of what we do is try to empower them to take some of those risks.”
In addition to the MIAAA and NIAAA, and NAGWS, Seng is a member of the National Association for Sport and Physical Education (NASPE) and American Alliance for Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance (AAHPERD).
The first Women In Sports Leadership Award was presented in 1990
Past recipients
1990 – Carol Seavoy, L’Anse
1991 – Diane Laffey, Harper Woods
1992 – Patricia Ashby, Scotts
1993 – Jo Lake, Grosse Pointe
1994 – Brenda Gatlin, Detroit
1995 – Jane Bennett, Ann Arbor
1996 – Cheryl Amos-Helmicki, Huntington Woods
1997 – Delores L. Elswick, Detroit
1998 – Karen S. Leinaar, Delton
1999 – Kathy McGee, Flint
2000 – Pat Richardson, Grass Lake
2001 – Suzanne Martin, East Lansing
2002 – Susan Barthold, Kentwood
2003 – Nancy Clark, Flint
2004 – Kathy Vruggink Westdorp, Grand Rapids
2005 – Barbara Redding, Capac
2006 – Melanie Miller, Lansing
2007 – Jan Sander, Warren Woods
2008 – Jane Bos, Grand Rapids
2009 – Gail Ganakas, Flint; Deb VanKuiken, Holly
2010 – Gina Mazzolini, Lansing
2011 – Ellen Pugh, West Branch; Patti Tibaldi, Traverse City
2012 – Janet Gillette, Comstock Park
2013 – Barbara Beckett, Traverse City
2014 – Teri Reyburn, DeWitt
2015 – Jean LaClair, Bronson
2016 – Betty Wroubel, Pontiac Notre Dame Prep
2017 – Dottie Davis, Ann Arbor Huron
PHOTOS: (Top) Ann Arbor Greenhills athletic director Meg Seng instructs in the classroom; she taught at Greenhills for 13 years and continues teaching as part of CAP and the Academy of Sports Leadership. (Middle) Seng, left, also was a successfull volleyball coach at Ann Arbor Huron and Greenhills. (Photos courtesy of Meg Seng.)
Detroit Public Schools' McEvans Selected for MHSAA Women In Sports Leadership Award
By
Geoff Kimmerly
MHSAA.com senior editor
January 22, 2026
Over nearly three decades as a coach, school and league administrator, Anika McEvans has worked to provide the athletic opportunities for all children that she enjoyed as an athlete herself and later as a mother of three including two who have gone on to play at the collegiate level.
Her work in several roles, serving multiple school districts over nearly 28 years, has benefited thousands of students. In recognition of those contributions, McEvans has been named the 40th recipient of the MHSAA’s Women In Sports Leadership Award.
Each year, the Representative Council considers the achievements of women coaches, officials and athletic administrators affiliated with the MHSAA who show exemplary leadership capabilities and positive contributions to athletics. McEvans will receive her award during the WISL Conference Banquet, Feb. 1 at the Crowne Plaza Lansing.
Currently midway through her seventh school year serving in the Office of Athletics for the Detroit Public Schools Community District, she is responsible for planning and implementation of the Detroit Public School League’s sports offerings for 72 elementary and middle schools in addition to her several responsibilities supporting the league’s 20 high schools. McEvans came to the PSL from Southfield Public Schools, where as district director she supervised more than 100 coaches, staff and volunteers.
Before that she was a building athletic director, and prior to becoming an administrator she coached multiple sports across tenures at three schools.
“Obviously as an athlete myself, and also the mother of female athletes, my children and I both were very fortunate to have amazing coaches and administrators who elevated our sports,” McEvans said. “I made it a goal of mine everywhere I go to advocate in the same way. I want any child to have what I’d want for my children.”
A basketball, volleyball and softball player while a student at Detroit Renaissance, McEvans returned to high school athletics after college first as a coach, serving as head girls varsity basketball coach at Detroit Academy of Arts & Sciences, assistant boys basketball and softball coach at Renaissance, and assistant girls basketball coach at Southfield.
She served as athletic director from 2012-15 at the former Southfield High School, and as district athletic director through 2017-18 she assisted in the merger of Southfield High and Southfield-Lathrup into Southfield Arts & Technology High School for the start of the 2016-17 school year.
Also during her time at Southfield, McEvans added competitive cheer to the school’s athletic offerings, and then brought the sport to the PSL after moving to the Detroit district office. Cass Tech, Martin Luther King and Renaissance high schools have added competitive cheer teams, and McEvans is hopeful two more schools will do the same over the coming year.
“Anika McEvans continues to create and expand opportunities so as many students as possible can enjoy all of the good that comes with participation in school sports,” MHSAA Executive Director Mark Uyl said. “This award celebrates Anika’s leadership in this way, but also the example she sets in showing what’s possible when someone is driven to make a difference.”
McEvans received an MHSAA Allen W. Bush Award in 2024, celebrating her work often “behind the scenes” in school sports. She was selected for a Skillman Foundation Visionary Award this past year for her work “updating and upgrading the education system in Detroit and beyond.”
She has contributed her expertise to statewide athletics in many ways as well, serving on several MHSAA committees including athletic equity, junior high/middle school, scholar-athlete and as part of multiple officials and site selection committees. She also provided a key voice as part of the MHSAA Multi-Sport Task Force during the last half of the last decade and has played a leading role in providing coaches education throughout Detroit Public Schools through the MHSAA Coaches Advancement Program.
McEvans graduated from Renaissance in 1994 and went on to earn a bachelor's degree in sports management and communications from University of Michigan and a master’s in business administration from the University of Detroit Mercy. She also previously served as director of business operations and then general manager for the Detroit Demolition/Detroit Danger women’s professional football franchise from 2002-06 and as assistant general manager for the Motor City Mechanics minor league hockey team from 2004-06.
Her daughter Cheyenne McEvans is currently a graduate student playing her final season of college basketball at University of Nevada. Son Cameron McEvans played basketball at Lawrence Technological University and most recently professionally in Uruguay. Youngest daughter Cierra McEvans participated on West Bloomfield’s competitive cheer team and is now a sophomore at Grand Valley State University.
“I know how for young men and women that participate in sports, that it rounds out their development, gives them leadership skills and confidence to move through the world,” Anika McEvans said. “I was telling someone the other day that because of their successes and failures on the court, I knew my children would move through the world fearlessly.
“I (also) know in my particular role (at DPSCD) and also to a certain degree at Southfield, there are still gaps in how minority students and programs are supported … (and helping fill that gap) is just my mission.”
More than 700 participants – mostly female high school student-athletes from across the state – have registered to attend this year’s sold-out WISL Conference, the 27th in the series that remains the first, largest and longest-running program of its type in the country.
The opening address Feb. 1 will be presented by Kristen Kelsay, a two-time team captain during her playing career for the Michigan State University women’s volleyball team who recently completed her first season as the Spartans’ head coach and led the team to its highest win total since 2017. MSU women’s basketball coach Robyn Fralick – in her third season and leading a Spartans team that is 17-2 and ranked No. 13 by The Associated Press – will speak during the general session at the start of the Feb. 2 conference schedule.
Several workshops will be offered over the two days, with topics including coaching, teaching and learning leadership; sports nutrition and performance, and empowerment and goal-setting. Presenters are accomplished in their fields and represent a wide range of backgrounds in sport. A complete itinerary is available on the Women In Sports Leadership page.
The first Women In Sports Leadership Award was presented in 1990.
Past recipients
1990 – Carol Seavoy, L’Anse
1991 – Diane Laffey, Harper Woods
1992 – Patricia Ashby, Scotts
1993 – Jo Lake, Grosse Pointe
1994 – Brenda Gatlin, Detroit
1995 – Jane Bennett, Ann Arbor
1996 – Cheryl Amos-Helmicki, Huntington Woods
1997 – Delores L. Elswick, Detroit
1998 – Karen S. Leinaar, Delton
1999 – Kathy McGee, Flint
2000 – Pat Richardson, Grass Lake
2001 – Suzanne Martin, East Lansing
2002 – Susan Barthold, Kentwood
2003 – Nancy Clark, Flint
2004 – Kathy Vruggink Westdorp, Grand Rapids
2005 – Barbara Redding, Capac
2006 – Melanie Miller, Lansing
2007 – Jan Sander, Warren Woods
2008 – Jane Bos, Grand Rapids
2009 – Gail Ganakas, Flint; Deb VanKuiken, Holly
2010 – Gina Mazzolini, Lansing
2011 – Ellen Pugh, West Branch; Patti Tibaldi, Traverse City
2012 – Janet Gillette, Comstock Park
2013 – Barbara Beckett, Traverse City
2014 – Teri Reyburn, DeWitt
2015 – Jean LaClair, Bronson
2016 – Betty Wroubel, Pontiac
2017 – Dottie Davis, Ann Arbor
2018 – Meg Seng, Ann Arbor
2019 – Kris Isom, Adrian
2020 – Nikki Norris, East Lansing
2021 – Dorene Ingalls, St. Ignace
2022 – Lori Hyman, Livonia
2023 – Laurie Glass, Leland
2024 – Mary Cicerone, Bloomfield Hills; Eve Claar, Ann Arbor
2025 – Jennifer Thunberg, Freeland