Contact: Crystal Drake, Office of Strategic Communications
For Reginald Ruffin, Vice President of Intercollegiate Athletics and Athletic Director, the mission of the Kiwanis Club is deeply personal.
Born in Meridian, Mississippi and raised in Lisman, Alabama, it was there that the local Kiwanis Club “spoke life into me,” Ruffin said, visibly emotional from the memory, during his remarks at The Kiwanis Club of Montgomery meeting this week.
The Kiwanis Club of Meridian stepped in when Ruffin’s hopes to participate in youth athletic programs were in jeopardy because of financial hardship many young players faced.
“They said ‘we got you’ and did not let the cost of fees and equipment stop me and other youth leaguers from playing football, this sport we all loved,” he said. “The Kiwanis Club of Montgomery didn’t know this story when they asked me to do this. Above all else, I accepted this invitation to speak because I wanted to say this publicly to The Kiwanis Club as an organization. Thank you, thank you, thank you.”
Ruffin then went on to get into the details of his brand of leadership – he calls it the Ruffin Effect – and the exciting work happening at Tuskegee to continue advancing Tuskegee University’s student-athlete model in men and women’s sports – including a new sport for the university, men’s and women’s soccer, which will debut in August.
“It is a profound honor to walk the hallowed grounds of Tuskegee and to be challenged by our president and CEO, Dr. Mark Brown, in this Renaissance Era,” said Ruffin. “The best is yet to come,” he said of Dr. Brown’s vision for the university and the rebirth of the university’s mission.
Ruffin’s leadership prowess has been illustrated over and over at the university. Most recently, in a landmark achievement that further defines the Renaissance Era through the athletics lens, it was announced last month that Tuskegee has been recognized as the premier academic athletic program in the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference after an unprecedented performance in the SIAC's 2025–26 Academic Awards. Tuskegee University led the SIAC in team academic honors while also earning the distinction of posting the highest combined cumulative GPA among all men's sports, all women's sports, and all student-athletes across the conference during the 2025–26 academic year. In addition, Tuskegee captured an extraordinary 12 team academic championships.
A seasoned athletic leader with more than 20 years of experience in higher education and college athletics, Ruffin leads the Tuskegee Athletics program’s comprehensive strategy focused on, as he often frames it, the university’s goal to “educate, motivate and graduate” every student-athlete.
During a Q&A session, Ruffin was asked what attributes are highest on his list when he evaluates interested candidates.
“I want to find the person who truly wants to be here,” he said. “The scholar who is working to be the next engineer, architect, or veterinarian – because we are granting degrees in all of that and more – and who understands that his or her athletics prowess can be the way to get them there.”
Ruffin was also frank when asked about the changing college athletics landscape and the realities of what NIL means to even the strongest programs.
Regardless of those challenges, Ruffin shared that he was optimistic about the future of Tuskegee Athletics and proud of recent upgrades to playing fields, training facilities and players lounges that address some concerns from a generation of students who make different demands than in Ruffin’s heyday as a college powerhouse at the University of North Alabama.
He spent several years as defensive coordinator and linebackers coach at Tuskegee University from 2006 until 2010. In 2011, he took the helm at Miles College as head coach and athletic director. Over 10 seasons at Miles College, he guided the Golden Bears to seven SIAC Championship appearances, winning four titles and earning three SIAC Coach of the Year honors. His teams also advanced to the NCAA Division II playoffs twice. Ruffin is a member of the Miles College Sports Hall of Fame.
Ruffin returned to Tuskegee University as head coach and athletic director in 2022 and immediately revitalized the football program, leading the Golden Tigers to an 8-3 record, eclipsing the 700 all-time win mark for the program, and reaching the SIAC Championship Game.
The Kiwanis Club of Montgomery was chartered in 1919 and currently holds the ranking of the fourth largest Kiwanis Club in the world, out of 8,000 clubs within Kiwanis International, its parent organization.
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