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For five decades,
Betty Wiseman has been an active figure at Belmont University. As a student, coach, and professor, Wiseman has been a great ambassador for the University and the Department of Athletics.
As Assistant Athletic Director/Senior Woman Administrator, Wiseman advised the athletic department on the status of women's sports and conducts administrative tasks in relation to all sports. She serves as liaison between Athletics and Student Affairs, coordinates counseling, discipline, and all random drug-testing for athletes, and serves as advisor to Belmont's Student-Athletes Advisory Committee. In addition, she works with teams as they participate in service opportunities throughout the year, including organizing and leading a yearly foreign mission trip with athletes to do Sports Evangelism overseas. Countries served through these trips include Poland, Portugal, Costa Rica, Brazil, Venezuela, South Africa, Ukraine, Malta and Italy.
Wiseman also serves on many committees and boards. In 2008 she completed a four-year term as one of the Atlantic Sun Conference's representatives on the NCAA Management Council. The Management Council serves as the main legislative body for Division I sports. She has been a member of many Atlantic Sun Conference committees.
After graduating from Belmont in 1965, the Portland, Tennessee native was named as Associate Professor of Health and Physical Education in 1966 and began a teaching career of 40 years. She was named Professor Emeritus in the Department of Health and Human Performance in 2006 where she served as Chair for six years. In 1968 the former high school basketball standout began a new career as a women's sports trailblazer when she founded the women's basketball program at Belmont, one of the first programs, not only in the state, but in the southeast. Wiseman was the head women's basketball coach at Belmont for 16 seasons, compiling a 248-152 record. She led Belmont to four consecutive berths in the National Women's Invitational Tournament from 1973-1977. In those tournaments, her teams knocked off such programs as Alabama, Nebraska, and North Carolina. She was inducted into the Belmont Athletics Hall of Fame in 1981.
Wiseman has been honored by several organizations for her contributions to collegiate athletics. In 1999 she was given the Josten-Berenson Service Award by the Women's Basketball Coaches Association during the NCAA Women's Final Four in San Jose, California to recognize her lifelong commitment to women's basketball. In 2003 Belmont honored her by naming part of the university's new athletic facility the Striplin-Wiseman Athletic Office Complex. Finally, in 2004, Wiseman was inducted into the Tennessee Sports Hall of Fame for her contributions to promoting women's basketball in the state. She is the first Belmont coach or athlete to be so honored. In July 2007 she was featured in an article on the front page of The Tennessean, as a Tennessee Sports Legend.
She is a member of Brentwood Baptist Church where she serves as Trustee, is a member of the adult choir, serves as a substitute teacher in Sunday School, and is an active missions volunteer.