Lauren Vossler is the 'problem solver,' 'motherly figure' of Arizona football

This week, the Star is spotlighting five individuals who are a part of the Arizona Wildcats football program, but don’t receive the same amount of attention as, say, Brent Brennan or Noah Fifita.

Our series, “Behind the Bear Down,” is focusing on the glue pieces of Arizona football on a weekly basis in the fall — most of them year-round. Up first: Lauren Vossler, assistant athletic director of football operations.

Lauren Vossler described her job as “doing a little bit of everything” and “being a problem solver” for Arizona football.

As Arizona’s assistant athletic director of football operations, “everything runs through me,” Vossler said. Day-to-day operations for the Arizona football coaches and players are influenced by her.

“Whether it’s team travel or organizing the schedule or helping out in recruiting, meals, every little piece of the program, I have a hand in, and I feel like I’m the problem solver,” Vossler said. “If a kid needs help getting his financial aid, or if we need help scheduling team meals or recruiting, I’m just a go-to Swiss-army knife.

“It’s hard to explain, but just anything behind the scenes that just helps the program run.”

Vossler knew she was destined to pursue a career in sports, “but I didn’t know in what capacity,” she said. Growing up in Mesa, her family was longtime season-ticket holders for the Arizona Diamondbacks.

“I really thought my route was Major League Baseball, because that’s my favorite sport, but this was a great opportunity and I just felt like I had a direct impact on the team. ... Working in football now, I admire the sport more and have grown an appreciation for it.”

Vossler played basketball at Red Mountain High School in Mesa and graduated in 2016, before enrolling at the UA, where she initially took a business route, but she switched to general studies with sports-focused classes. Vossler was a recruiting intern for the UA football program under former UA coaches Rich Rodriguez and Kevin Sumlin until she graduated in 2019.

After graduation, she was hired as Arizona’s on-campus recruiting coordinator and became the assistant director of football operations in 2020. Under former head coach Jedd Fisch, she was the director of travel and football logistics, then replaced Dr. Andrew Simms as the assistant athletic director for football operations under Brent Brennan.

Long story short, every Division I college football team has a “director of ops” and that person for Arizona is Vossler, who is one of the longest-tenured staff members at Arizona.

Vossler, nicknamed “Voss Dawg” and "Voss Boss," has worked for four different coaching staffs and is entering her ninth season with the program — seventh as a full-time staffer.

She was there for Khalil Tate’s breakout season in 2017. She hosted NFL players Jordan Morgan and Tyler Loop on their official visits at the UA. She was there to orchestrate safe ways to practice during a pandemic-influenced season. She saw 70-7 against Arizona State. She saw the 20-game losing streak followed by the 10-win season and victory at the Alamo Bowl two years later under Fisch in 2023. She saw Arizona jump from the Pac-12 to the Big 12.

“I’ve seen it all,” Vossler said. “I have respect for all the head coaches I’ve been with. I appreciate them all in different ways.”

Since the 26-year-old Vossler isn’t far removed from her days as a student at Arizona, “I can relate to the players in a way, but they also respect me and see me more as a motherly figure,” she said.

Even though Vossler has worked for the Arizona football program for nearly a decade, she still has “pinch-me moments.”

“I was in a coordinator meeting with (offensive coordinator Seth Doege), Brennan, (defensive coordinator Danny Gonzales) and then me at the table,” Vossler said. “I was running the meeting and I’m just like, ‘What am I doing? Am I supposed to be doing this?’ It’s really cool.”

Another pinch-me moment for Vossler was her influence on Arizona’s “turnover sword,” a cactus-shaped sword the UA defense has been using to stab footballs to celebrate turnovers. Former Arizona defensive coordinator Johnny Nansen, who had a turnover sword at USC, approached Vossler about Arizona having its own version of the turnover sword three weeks before the 2022 season opener.

Vossler didn’t want to mimic USC, but “the answer is never no” with Arizona’s director of operations.

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“Even if someone comes to me with something crazy, I entertain it, figure it out and give it an effort,” Vossler said.

Vossler drew a concept of the turnover sword on a sticky note and vetted multiple swordsmiths, but found a welder through printing manufacturer “Graphic Impact.”

Not everyone was the biggest fan of the turnover sword. In Arizona’s home opener against Mississippi State in 2022, the Wildcats’ three takeaways resulted in three Adidas-branded MSU footballs getting punctured and deflated.

“Mike Leach thought it was awesome and he was only mad about his team throwing turnovers, but their admin weren’t so fired up about it,” Vossler said.

To make both sides happy, Vossler ordered Arizona’s equipment staff to order replica balls that opponents use, “so now we don’t ruin their game balls,” Vossler said.

The turnover sword was mostly used in 2023, especially in the Alamo Bowl, when Arizona caused six takeaways to beat Oklahoma. Arizona went to San Antonio with six replica OU footballs and stuck every single one on the sword.

Arizona made a new turnover sword, with the original model — with all six OU footballs pronged like a kabob — displayed in Vossler’s office at the Lowell-Stevens Football Facility.

Now, the turnover sword will be an added feature in “College Football 26,” EA Sports’ wildly popular video game.

“It’s cool,” said Vossler, who unsheathes the turnover sword during every Arizona game. “The joy that the defense finds in it and how they celebrate is really cool. It’s my little contribution to Arizona.”

Sometimes problems arise on the job, like Arizona’s team plane having a slash in a tire as the Wildcats boarded for Salt Lake City to battle 10th-ranked Utah last season. Every road trip during the season, Vossler takes a commercial flight to wherever Arizona is playing on two days prior to “set up the hotel, meet the busses on the road and do a bunch of on-site things.”

“I handle all communication with the plane, the busses and hotels throughout the week,” Vossler said. “There’s a lot of different layers to it.”

When Arizona’s plane to Salt Lake City couldn’t leave, “I was in Salt Lake and there wasn’t much we can do, but we just kind of went into crisis and problem-solving mode,” Vossler said. Arizona found a late-night flight, albeit some staffers were forced to travel the following morning.

“You just find a way to solve problems,” she added. “So all I could do was call people, call the airline to see if they had a recovery plane. You just find a way.”

Vossler “takes a lot of pride” in being a young woman in a male-dominated field, “but I look across the country and there’s finally more females getting in this role.”

“You’re finally seeing more females in the operation space,” she said. “Even in the NFL, more females are being presidents and taking over their organization and operations. It’s just really cool. I think we bring a different perspective and skillset than males do.

“With the players, I do feel like I’m either an older sister or a mom to them. They don’t have their families here and if they need help with things, they can come to me for anything and I can help them out. I take take a lot of pride in it.”

Vossler said her “end goal is to leave Arizona football better than I found it.”

“I think I will, but I think there’s still a little bit more I can do,” she said. “This role, what Coach Brennan has given me, this opportunity, it’s why I’m here.”