No stranger to Minnesota State Athletics, Shane Drahota has been with the Maverick Athletic Department for over 20 years in one capacity or another and was named Senior Deputy Athletic Director/Administration & Student-Services in February of 2022.
A native of Jackson, Minn., Drahota owns both an undergraduate (1999) and graduate degree (2008) from Minnesota State and started his career in athletics as a graduate assistant in MSU’s Athletic Communications office before joining the staff as the department’s first full-time assistant in 2006.
Drahota served as Assistant Director of Athletic Communications for six years before leaving Minnesota State for South Dakota where he worked as the Coyotes’ Assistant Athletic Director for a year before ultimately moving back to Minnesota State as the Assistant Athletic Director/Compliance & Student Services in November of 2007.
At that time, Drahota oversaw the compliance and rules education efforts for Minnesota State’s 23 sports, while also serving as the University’s head Bowling Coach from 2009-2011.
In March of 2013, Drahota was named the Assistant Athletic Director for Internal Affairs at Wayne State College where he handled all compliance responsibilities for the for the Wildcats and assisted in the formation of a gender equity plan for WSC Athletics to adhere with Title IX Relations.
Drahota returned to Minnesota State in January of 2016, again in the Assistant Athletic Director/Compliance and Student Services role, one in which he held until 2019 when he was elevated to Associate Athletic Director/Compliance and Communications, until 2022 when he was named to his current position.
During his latest stint with the Mavericks, Drahota has created and monitored the departments scholarship plan that annually includes approximately 600 student-athletes and a budget of over $3,000,000. Additionally, he is the sport supervisor for the Maverick men’s & women’s cross country teams as well as men’s and women’s indoor and outdoor track and field programs. As sport supervisor, the Mavericks have claimed an women’s indoor track and field title (2022) as well as a pair of national runner-up finishes in women’s indoor and outdoor track and field in 2023.
His efforts have helped foster an environment in which the Maverick student-athletes have posted seven of the highest combined GPA’s in school history, including the past eight semesters, highlighted by the spring 2021 semester in which the department’s GPA was 3.66.
On top of his myriad of duties, Drahota also developed the institution’s Name, Image and Likeness guidelines and took on responsibility of NIL monitoring in 2021. During the short time the NIL has been permissible, Drahota’s efforts have single-handily made the Mavericks one of the nation’s most friendly NIL schools, regardless of division. Following the 2021-22 athletic season, Drahota was named one of Opendorse – MSU’s official partner for NIL Compliance – as one of the companies Compliance Coordinators of the Year.
Drahota has also served on several committees on the conference, regional or national level including the NCAA Division II Women’s Soccer Regional Committee (member 2004-06, Chairperson/National Committee Member 2010-13), CoSIDA Academic All-American District Coordinator (2003-06), National Association for Athletic Compliance (Reasonable Standards Committee, 2013-2015), NCAA Division II Men’s & Women’s National Track and Field Committee (started July, 2023) as well as the serving as a legislative consultant for the National Fastpitch Coaches Association since 2021.
Additionally, Drahota has served on several Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference Committees, including the Forms Committee (2016-18) the Legislative Committee (2019-present), the Covid-19 Task Force (2020), NSIC Student-Athlete Transfer Policy (2021-present and the Transgender Student-Athlete Participate Guidelines Committee (2022-present).
Drahota and his wife Liz and son Dayne reside in Mankato.
