BELTON - Randy Mann has been a man of many hats for Mary Hardin-Baylor in recent years.

UMHB’s men’s golf coach since 1999, Mann has taken on additional roles as many of the university’s athletic programs have experienced NCAA Division III success unprecedented in the school’s history.

As of June 1, Mann will wear a single hat - albeit a larger one.

Mann has been promoted to full-time associate director of athletics, a new position that he will fill June 1.

“I’m excited,” said Mann, who has guided the Crusaders to their only two American Southwest Conference men’s golf titles during his nine years at the helm. “It’s a new adventure, and I’m ready to see what this opportunity brings.”

It won’t be a totally new role for Mann, who has been in charge of game-day operations for most UMHB events in recent years.

But with the school’s 12-varsity sport athletic department continuing to grow in both number of athletes and success - since 2002, UMHB has won 12 ASC titles and earned 13 NCAA postseason berths - the time had come to add an additional person in a management role.

“We’ve grown pretty quickly in the past few years,” Mann said. “The success we’ve had and the expectations of our programs make it difficult to share duties.”

Mann will continue to have a hand in game-day operations in addition to other day-to-day operations of the athletic department.

“With our growth, the necessity for more attention given to daily details has grown exponentially,” said Ben Shipp, UMHB vice president for athletics. “And it’s the little things, the attention to detail, that makes you good.

“When I took the athletic director’s job in 1996 and even when I moved into the role full-time in 1998, the burden of long-range planning and policy decisions wasn’t there. The fact that now we do have those considerations is a positive by-product of (the athletic department’s) effect on the university.”

Added Mann: “This will free up Coach Shipp to do other duties and be more involved with planning. Plus, it will be more fair to the golf team because the new coach will be able to give the players the attention they need.”

Mann will coach the Crusaders through the end of the spring season and will handle recruiting duties until his successor is in place.

“I will miss working with the golf team because it has been a great experience,” Mann said. “But I’m sure we will find the right person for the job, and we’ve already had some inquiries.”