Kayla Weaver Named Director of Athletics at NMJC

The Thunderbirds have promoted Assistant Athletic Director Kayla Weaver to Director of Athletics starting June 1.

"Kayla Weaver has been an integral part of NMJC Athletics, and we are thrilled to see her step into the Athletic Director role," NMJC Interim President Cathy Mitchell said. "Her three years working alongside Deron Clark has prepared her well, and her passion for student-athlete success is evident. We are confident she will build on our strong foundation and continue to elevate our programs and support our students."

She succeeds Deron Clark who is stepping down at the end of the month. Weaver will be the 11th athletic director at NMJC and the first female AD for the school.

"I'm incredibly grateful to President Cathy Mitchell and NMJC for the opportunity to step into the Director of Athletics role at New Mexico Junior College," Kayla Weaver said. "It's truly an honor to follow Deron Clark, someone who not only led this department with integrity and vision but also gave me the opportunity to grow alongside him as his assistant. I'm excited to continue building on the strong foundation that's already been established and to keep supporting our student-athletes, coaches, and the entire NMJC and Hobbs community."

Weaver first arrived at NMJC in July of 2023 after accepting the newly created Assistant Athletic Director position. Her duties included athletic eligibility, coordinating travel, budgeting, booster club fundraising and memberships, and the annual booster club golf tournament.

Weaver is a part of several committees at the collegiate level. She is a member of the strategic planning committee at NMJC, the Women's Leaders in Sports, the National Alliance of Two Year College Athletic Administrators (NATYCAA), the National Alliance of Two Year College Athletic Administrators (NATYCAA), and has completed the 2026 Aspiring Leaders Certificate Program at the NJCAA conference in April.

The spring of 2024 saw Weaver step in as the interim men's golf head coach. Weaver was the tournament director for the NJCAA DI Men's Golf Championship in May of 2024 at Rockwind Community Links in Hobbs, NM. There she helped lead the T-Birds to their first men's golf national title.

Since her arrival, the Thunderbirds have won five national championships and were national runners-up in 10 times.

Weaver joined NMJC after more than 12 years of experience at the collegiate level as a women's basketball coach.

Weaver began her career as a student athlete at Panola College in Carthage, Texas. She competed at the school from 2007-09 and was a First Team All-Region selection. Weaver was named to the All-Academic Region XIV first team and was the Panola College's Buddy Lowery Award Winner as the top academic athlete in the graduating class.

She continued her basketball career at Texas Women's University (TWU) from 2009-11. In 2011, she led the Pioneers to their first conference championship in program history. Weaver was named to the All-Lone Star Conference First Team and earned LSC Tournament MVP for her performance in the postseason.

The Aquilla, Texas native entered the coaching ranks following her last season at TWU. She returned to her alma mater Panola College as an assistant from 2011-14. There she made two Region XIV tournament appearances in three seasons.

Weaver's next stop was at NCAA DIII University of Texas at Tyler from 2014-15. The Patriots finished 27-3 and 19-1 at home in her only season as an assistant. The squad won the American Southwest Conference and reached the Round of 32 at the NCAA Division III Championships.

Weaver continued her career as an assistant, this time back in the junior college ranks at San Jacinto Community College in Houston, Texas from 2015-17. In 2017, Weaver helped guide the Gators to their first-ever NJCAA National Tournament appearance.

Weaver was promoted to head coach for the final year of the Gators women's basketball program. She broke the record for most wins in school history with a 25-11 record. The Gators also won Region XIV Tournament Championship for the first time and won a game at the NJCAA National Tournament for the first time in school history. Weaver was named NJCAA District L Coach of the Year in her lone season at the helm for San Jac.

After San Jac axed the women's basketball program, Weaver joined UTEP as an assistant coach before moving on to Texas A&M Kingsville as an assistant coach for three seasons (2019-22). In her final year with the Javelinas, Weaver helped lead the team to a 17-11 record. This was the first winning season for Kingsville in more than a decade and the first time the Javelinas beat a No. 1 team in the defending national champions Lubbock Christian. Weaver was named TABC Small College Women's Assistant Coach of the Year for the 2021-22 season.

Weaver has coached 18 All-Conference players, three All-Americans, one Freshman of the Year, and one Newcomer of the Year in her 10 plus years as a women's basketball coach. Weaver is highly skilled in the classroom as well. She has been a professor of math at all her NJCAA stops.

Weaver graduated Texas Woman's University in 2011 with a Bachelor's of Science in Mathematics and a minor in education. She received her Master of Science in Kinesiology at Texas Woman's University in 2016.