Plymouth State University

Lauren Lavigne has been associated with Plymouth State athletics since her days as an undergraduate multi-sport student-athlete in the early-1990s. She was named Assistant Director of Athletics for Enrollment Management and Advancement in 2012 after serving as head women’s basketball coach for 14 years.
  
Lavigne plays an instrumental role in the recruiting process, serving as the athletic department’s liaison to the university's admissions office. In her role, she helped create Plymouth State’s inaugural Student-Athlete Open House, which has become an annual admissions/recruiting event attracting more than 200 prospective student-athletes to PSU’s campus. During the COVID-19 pandemic, she pivoted the program to virtual Open House events.
  
Lavigne also works hand-in-hand with university advancement, helping guide fundraising and philanthropic efforts for PSU’s 25 varsity athletic programs and the department as a whole. Her efforts have included some of the most significant capital projects within athletics, such as the Stadium and Turf Field project and Strength and Conditioning Open Lab.
  
The winner of the 2020 Alumni Association Faculty/Staff Award of Excellence, Lavigne also works with Alumni Relations to establish plans annually for Homecoming Weekend. She played a major role in the return of tailgating to Plymouth State football in the Fall of 2016.
  
Also in 2016, Lavigne co-founded the Women’s Leadership Summit, a community dedicated to supporting women at Plymouth State through philanthropy, unity and personal growth. The group endowed the Women’s Circle of Giving Scholarship in 2020, which supports non-traditional (22 years of age and older) female students at Plymouth State with real financial need.
  
Prior to moving into an administrative role, Lavigne established herself as one of the top women’s basketball coaches in New England, amassing 210 career wins over her 16-year career. She became Plymouth State’s all-time winningest women’s basketball coach during the 2002-03 season, while also leading the Panthers to six post-season bids and winning a pair of ECAC New England championships. PSU made consecutive ECAC Tournament appearances in 2009 and 2010, advancing to the championship game in 2010, and posted four consecutive 20-win seasons and ECAC berths from 1999-2003, winning ECAC championships in 2002 and 2003.
  
Lavigne was a four-year basketball letter-winner and two-time captain of the Panthers from 1990-94 and also earned All-New England honors twice as a first baseman on the softball team. After serving as an assistant women's basketball coach at New Hampshire College, Lavigne returned to Plymouth State in 1995-96 as an assistant coach while also completing her Master’s degree. She was assistant athletic director and head women’s basketball coach at Endicott College from 1996-98, before spending the next 14 years back on the sidelines in Foley Gymnasium as PSU’s head coach.
  
Lavigne is a past President of the New England Women's Basketball Association (NEWBA), was inducted into the Queen City Hall of Fame in Manchester, N.H. in 2001, and was one of the New Hampshire Union Leader's 40-Under-40 in 2010, recognizing 40 top community leaders under the age of 40.
  
She resides in Plymouth with her husband, Charlie Mason, head men’s basketball coach at New England College, and their son.