Bio

Shawn H. Noël has served as the Director of Athletics and Recreation at North Idaho College since December 6, 2021. Noël brings with him not only a vast array of experience, but an energy and enthusiasm that is contagious. Noël brings over 15 years of athletic administration, coaching, business experience to North Idaho.

As the Director of Athletics and Recreation, Noël is responsible for providing leadership and direction for North Idaho’s nine intercollegiate athletic programs, student recreation programs including the Student Wellness and Recreation Center and Outdoor Pursuits.

Noël has served as an advocate for two-year college athletics and currently serves as NATYCAA Executive Board Member for District 7. He has also served in numerous national and regional leadership positions including various positions in the NJCAA and also served as an NATYCAA Executive Board Member.

Noël comes to North Idaho College after having previously served as the Director of Athletics at Union County College in Cranford, NJ. At Union, Noël transformed the student athlete experience. He introduced live webcasts of all games, increased social media presence, team media days, and player packs for all student athletes. In the classroom, Noël improved course completion rates and graduation rates of his student athletes. He was also instrumental in adding the sport of men’s wrestling with a brand-new state of the art wresting room. Noël also oversaw the E-Sports team and sent in two grant proposals for the addition of men’s volleyball and women’s flag football, both of which were approved for a $10,000 grant a piece to get the programs started. He also served as the Tournament Director for the 2021 NJCAA Division III Women’s Soccer National Championship Tournament.

Prior to his appointment at Union, Noël served as Director of Athletics and Recreation at Brookdale Community College. During his tenure Brookdale’s 14 intercollegiate athletic programs were met with unprecedented success. Under his tutelage he was a part of five National Championships, 15 Regional Championships, and 15 Conference Championships. He also served as the Tournament Director for the 2016 NJCAA Division III Women’s Basketball National Championship Tournament.  Noël also helped maintain over a 90% retention rate of student-athletes, of which many earned above a 3.0 GPA and were named to a National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) All-Academic Team. The Brookdale Athletic Hall of Fame was brought back by Noël in 2015 after a being dormant for 36 years.

Before Brookdale, Noël served as the Director of Athletics at Garrett College and oversaw the opening of a $23 million athletics and recreation center. The 75,000-square-foot facility included a gymnasium with three full sized basketball/volleyball courts, locker rooms, fully equipped fitness center, two fitness studios, athletic offices, classroom space, a wet classroom, and a natatorium which featured a competition sized pool and a warm water pool. He also added a men’s and women’s cross country team as a new intercollegiate sport.  Noël also added two positions crucial to the success of the department, Coordinator of Student-Athlete Academic Welfare and Coordinator of Athletic Social Media.

Prior to his time at Garrett, Noël served as Assistant Director of Athletics at Herkimer County Community College, where he oversaw the operation of the college’s multimillion dollar artificial turf stadium and summer camps. While at Herkimer the athletic department won three national championships, seven regional championships, nine conference championships and two NJCAA academic team of the year honors. He also implemented and maintained a new athletics website.

Noël also enjoyed a coaching career at SUNY Cobleskill and Hudson Valley Community College. At Hudson Valley he helped guide the Vikings to the Mountain Valley Conference championship and qualifying for the Region Final Four during the 2007 campaign. Noël got his start in athletics administration, working as a stadium operations assistant for the New York Yankees’ during its 1998 World Series Championship campaign.

Noël has his Bachelor of Science degree in Marketing from the State University of New York at Oswego and his Master of Business Administration degree from the University at Albany.