WILLIAMSBURG — William & Mary Director of Gymnastics Mike Powell ’04 was recently honored with the prestigious Plumeri Award for Athletics Leadership Excellence.
Established by Joseph J. Plumeri ’66, D.P.S. ’11, the eponymous award recognizes and rewards outstanding coaches and staff whose core virtues and accomplishments help to define excellence in intercollegiate athletics at William & Mary.
Award nominees are selected on their contributions and accomplishments of student-athletes and/or departmental success in various areas. One awardee is selected every year and receives a $20,000 prize expended over three years.
Powell has distinguished himself by providing an experiential education through varsity athletics. Using the medium of gymnastics, Powell has enhanced the education and growth of exceptional W&M student-athletes through excellence in athletics, academics, and community engagement.
A former student-athlete at W&M, Powell has continued the program’s legacy of fostering connections throughout campus and the local community. He has guided student-athletes to the myriad of leadership and educational opportunities available at W&M and, as a result, seven gymnasts have received the Cypher Award in the last eight years for their efforts to make a difference at the university.
Under Powell’s leadership, the gymnastics program continues to collaborate with local community partners, maintains a strong and sustaining community of alumni and makes unique contributions to campus life.
In addition to his roles on campus, Powell serves on the leadership teams for both national championships in men’s gymnastics, the NCAA Men’s Gymnastics Committee and the working group for the USA Gymnastics Men’s Collegiate Championships. He has also played an active role in a coalition of national organizations seeking to expand NCAA Gymnastics opportunities.
In eight competitive seasons, Coach Powell has been recognized as the ECAC Conference Coach of the Year three times and the College Gymnastics Association of East Region Coach of the Year once. His team won the 2018 conference championship and qualified to the 2021 NCAA Championships. Additionally, his men’s teams produced 56 NCAA Championship individual qualifiers, 67 all-conference honors and 51 USA Gymnastics Collegiate All-America accolades. Highlighting these distinctions are two NCAA All-Americans, three USAG Collegiate National Champions and four finalists for the Nissen-Emery Award, the most prestigious award in the sport.
Academically, Powell’s teams won the National Academic Championship for the highest combined GPA in the sport in 2018 and were three-times runners up. Individually, his gymnasts have garnered 83 All-American Scholar Athlete Awards and five have been recognized as the top graduating student in their major at W&M, spanning four departments at the university.
