The Winona State athletic department has gone through some big changes in the last two months. Eric Schoh(Show) was hired as the new athletic director and Schoh in turn hired three employees to fill out his staff. All three people Schoh hired are very familiar with Winona State. Jennifer Flowers and Travis Whipple are returning to the Winona State athletic department after leaving WSU for a short period of time for two different reasons.

Flowers had been a member of the WSU athletic department for three years before she left Winona State in 2009 after marrying former Warrior basketball great Jonte Flowers. Jonte has been pursuing a professional basketball career in Europe and Jennifer had been living with him in Europe for the past two and half years.   Flowers decided it was the right time to move back to the states after her old position at Winona State opened back up.

Flowers is the associate athletic director and senior women’s administrator and her main duties will be compliance and facility management. Winona State ran into a compliance issue during the past school year when men’s basketball player Grant Johnson was ruled ineligible for the second half of the season due an error in his transfer from UW-Parkside. Winona State also had their winning percentage lowered because of the ineligibility of Johnson and it ultimately cost Winona State a spot in the NCAA region tournament. Flowers says compliance will definitely be her most important job at Winona State.

Whipple also worked for three years in the Winona State athletic department before leaving in 2011 to become the assistant commissioner of the Lone Star Conference. Whipple returns to WSU and will be doing much of the same work he did before he left. Whipple is an assistant athletic director and he will work with corporate sponsorships, external relations, event management, ticketing and game environment. Whipple says he came back to Winona State because of his love for the community and school.

Both Whipple and Flowers are former Winona State athletes.  Whipple played on Winona State's two national championship men's basketball teams while Flowers played volleyball during her college days.

The final new member of the WSU athletic department is Jill Bratburg who was previously with the university’s advancement office before being hired by Schoh to be an assistant athletic director.