On Oct. 1, 2024, Lincoln University elevated Tim Abney to the position of Director of Athletics and Campus Recreation. Abney had previously been named as LU's Interim Athletic Director on April 1, 2024.
Abney, who entered the Lincoln University Athletic Hall of Fame in 2017, is a true Blue Tiger in every sense of the word. The Assistant Athletic Director for Administration the past eight years, Abney graduated from LU with a business degree in 1978 and has spent most of his professional career as a coach or administrator at Lincoln University.
During Abney's tenure as athletic director, Lincoln has won GLVC championships in both men's basketball and men's indoor track & field, and the 2025 LU men's soccer team went undefeated in the regular season before making a run to the NCAA Sweet 16. Lincoln's women's track & field program posted runner-up finishes at both the 2025 indoor and outdoor championship meets before winning multiple event national championships that season.
As the coach of Lincoln's tennis program for seven years, Abney's athletes were stellar in the classroom, with more than half of his players earning All-MIAA academic honors. A true believer in the importance of a college education, Abney concurrently served as the Assistant Athletic Director for Academics at Lincoln. Abney served as an advisor and coordinator for each of Lincoln's student-athletes, and in the fall of 2015, over 120 Blue Tigers made the Dean's List.
A former star basketball player at LU, Abney helped lead the Blue Tigers to its best four-year stretch in history. From 1974-1978, Abney was a member of Lincoln teams that won 83 games and two MIAA regular season championships. During his senior season, Lincoln advanced to the Elite Eight of the NCAA tournament and came within two points of earning a berth in the Final Four. During the 1975-76 campaign, Abney was a part of a team that totaled 1,458 rebounds, which still stands as the Lincoln single-season record. Following the 1976-77 and 1977-78 seasons, Abney was named to the All-MIAA basketball teams.
Following his stellar playing career, Abney served as an assistant coach with the Blue Tigers in 1978-79, helping the program achieve a 17-9 record. Abney then followed his coach, Don Corbett, to North Carolina A&T, where he helped the program win six MEAC championships between 1979-1988. Abney later became the head women's basketball coach at North Carolina A&T, where he directed the program to the 1994 MEAC tournament title and the MEAC's first-ever automatic bid to the NCAA Division I Women's Basketball Championship tournament.
Abney also formerly served as Lincoln's women's basketball coach for 10 seasons, including in 2008-09 when he also began his tenure as the tennis coach. Under Abney's guidance, Lincoln won 72 games, making him the second-winningest coach in program history behind the legendary Leo Lewis. Abney joins Lewis as one of just two coaches in LU history to lead the women's basketball program to four-consecutive seasons with 10 or more wins, accomplishing the feat by winning 45 games between 2001 and 2005. In 2002-03, Abney was named the Heartland Conference Women's Basketball Coach of the Year.
In addition to being in the Lincoln Athletic Hall of Fame, Abney is also in the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame and the North Carolina A&T Sports Hall of Fame.
Abney is originally from Kansas City, Mo. He and his wife, Diane, have three children: Darrell, Dannon and DeAndrea.
