Emily Stephens, the former Head Cheerleading Coach at Grand Canyon University for 13 years, has been hired as the new Spiritline Tournament Coordinator for the Arizona Interscholastic Association. Stephens will begin planning next year’s AIA Spiritline State Championships officially on July 1.

“As a college coach for over a decade, I saw a tremendous amount of talent come through GCU from our local cheerleaders and dancers, and believe Arizona has some of the most dedicated athletes and coaches in Spirit,” Stephens said. “I am truly honored to be hired as the new AIA Spiritline Tournament Coordinator and cannot wait to match the passion that already exists in our state.”

An instrumental force in establishing the Havocs at GCU, Stephens also served as Director of Spirit Programs and Director of Men’s Basketball Game Entertainment at the university. The Havocs are widely regarded as one of the top student section groups across the NCAA landscape. The goal is for Stephens to establish spirit and fanfare programs to capture the emotion of all the AIA’s state championship tournaments.

“It’s hard to match the passion, excitement and creativity Emily brings to the association,” AIA executive Director David Hines added. “We’ve been lucky to know Emily for a few years now and have seen everything that she has accomplished. Many of her talents are exactly what the AIA is looking for in running the Spiritline tournament and creating a buzz for the rest of our championships.”

The GCU cheerleading program was established in 2008 by Stephens and the program is now a highly ranked Division I squad. She has also served as a judge at previous AIA Spiritline championships.