Dylon Hoffpauir brings unique experiences to the Loyola Wolf Pack competitive cheer and dance programs
NEW ORLEANS – The Loyola University New Orleans Director of Athletics Brett Simpson announced the hiring of Dylon Hoffpauir as the school's next competitive cheer and dance head coach Tuesday. Hoffpauir's unique background of knowing the cheerleading and dance worlds, as well as working in admissions and recruitment at the higher-education level made him a good candidate to take over the Wolf Pack programs.
"I have always dreamed of coaching cheer and dance at the collegiate level," Hoffpauir said. "I fell in love with Game Day entertainment when I cheered at LSU with the end goal of being a collegiate coach one day. Years later, my goal is finally realized and I am so incredibly grateful to join the Wolf Pack as the Head Coach of Cheer and Dance at Loyola. I am excited to blend my collegiate cheer experience and my current experience as an NFL Cheerleader together to lead and develop current and future athletes. Let's do this!"
Hoffpauir competed collegiately at LSU and professionally with the New Orleans Saints' Saintsations to bolster his cheer and dance background. He's also worked as a Manship Recruitment and Retention Coordinator at LSU and a Recruiter for Tulane's School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine to give him experience in higher education.
"Dylon's experience as a collegiate cheer student-athlete as well as his professional background in cheer and dance with the New Orleans Saints made him the ideal candidate for the position. Additionally, his background in admissions at LSU and Tulane will help us continue to grow our programs. We are excited for him to join the Wolf Pack and bring his passion for cheer and dance to Loyola," said Simpson.
His cheer days date back to high school when his team won the Cheerpower National Championship. What sparked his creativity and passion for the sport, though, was his time spent on the LSU cheer team where he was voted Team Favorite by his peers. After his collegiate days, he'd go on to work in the Entertainment Department at Walt Disney World Parks and Resorts, and he performed thousands of unique and entertaining interactions during his two-plus years working there.
"My biggest takeaway from working at Disney and cheering at LSU is the creativity and open-mindedness it takes to collaborate with people from all walks of life," Hoffpauir said. "I am confident that my experience would empower me to connect with student-athletes at Loyola, and to make each potential student-athlete feel comfortable and at ease with me and with the idea of being a student-athlete at the University."
At LSU as a Manship Recruitment and Retention Coordinator, where he worked from October 2016 to July 2019, Hoffpauir organized and implemented all recruiting and retention weekly events, developed more effective recruitment tools for prospective students, created social media strategies in collaboration with the school's communications department, and managed a team of 25 ambassadors.
After his time in Baton Rouge, he moved back to New Orleans and made the Saintsations squad while also holding his recruiter position at Tulane. He became Team Captain during his third season and he led social media efforts by putting together monthly plans for the Saintsations' social media platforms. At Tulane, where he held his position since July 2019 before arriving at Loyola, he helped boost the enrollment by 8 percent by planning and executing a full recruitment cycle for prospective students, as well as coordinating all in-house recruitment events both in-person and virtual.
Hoffpauir succeeds Rickey Hill who unexpectedly passed away in September. Hoffpauir is taking over two teams that have seen success in their early days of becoming programs at Loyola. The Wolf Pack competitive dance team has earned berths to the NAIA National Championship four times in their six years of existence, while the cheer team has made it once.
Hoffpauir currently resides in New Orleans and will hit the ground running with the Wolf Pack starting in May.
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