Ricky Dotson enters his eight season (2025-26) as Athletic Director and his 13th season of service at Texas Wesleyan University. Dotson was named Athletic Director in June 2018.
Instrumental in bringing football back to Texas Wesleyan in 2017 and to the development of the program in its early stages, Dotson guided the department through an expansion in 2019 to include men's and women's wrestling. Those expansion efforts continued in 2023 as women's beach volleyball was added. Since his arrival as AD, the athletic department has grown to over 600 student-athletes and 22 intercollegiate sports, and the Rams have claimed 14 conference titles.
During Dotson's tenure as Athletic Director at TXWES, the department has claimed National Championships in men's golf and table tennis. In addition to making national tournament appearances in baseball, men's basketball, women's basketball, cheerleading, dance, cross country, women's golf, track & field, volleyball, and men's and women's wrestling. The 2022-2023 academic year proved to be the most successful of the Dotson era as Texas Wesleyan captured a school record five conference championships.
Academically, student-athletes have thrived under Dotson's leadership at Texas Wesleyan. In addition to hundreds of NAIA Scholar-Athlete and Academic All-America awards, numerous teams have earned NAIA Scholar-Team recognition, including nine Rams teams earning the distinction in 2022-2023.
Currently, Dotson serves on the Executive Committee of the Sooner Athletic Conference and as a SAC representative on the NAIA Athletic Directors Association Board (NAIA-ADA).
Before he served as the Athletic Director, Dotson served the Texas Wesleyan University men's golf team as an assistant coach beginning in the 2013-14 season. In the fall of 2015, Dotson was promoted to Associate Head Men's Golf Coach. Then, in the summer of 2016, Dotson headed up the United States Men's Golf team at the World University Championships in Brive, France, and led Team USA to an 11th-place finish.
Dotson came to Texas Wesleyan and served as assistant men's basketball coach for three seasons beginning in 2012.
He brought a wide range of experience in collegiate athletics to Texas Wesleyan, having spent 21 years in a range of positions, including coaching, administration, media relations, and faculty.
Dotson was an assistant basketball coach under his father, Dale Dotson, at Lon Morris College. He helped guide the Bearcats to four conference titles, three regional championships, and three NJCAA National Tournament appearances, including a 6th place finish in 2007. Averaging over 22 wins per year during his tenure, Dotson was part of a program that produced over 70 Division I basketball players and six NJCAA All-Americas while graduating over 90% of its players.
Dotson holds a Bachelors and a Master's degree in Communications from the University of Texas at Austin.
