Oklahoma State Athletics Head Physician Val Gene Iven Announces Retirement

STILLWATER – Dr. Val Gene Iven, who has served as the head team physician of Oklahoma State Athletics since 2007, has announced his retirement from the position.

"I've been blessed to have worked in college athletics for 32 years," Dr. Iven said, "including 19 at my alma mater and the alma mater of my parents."

A graduate of Pond Creek High School, and a 1985 graduate of Oklahoma State, Dr. Iven attended medical school at the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, where he completed a family medicine residency and was later chosen as the program's first Primary Care Sports Medicine Fellow.

He returned to Stillwater from the University of Tennessee after spending 13 years as the head team physician for the Volunteers, where he was part of the 1998 national championship football team. In 2025, he worked his 400th collegiate football game and retires as the second longest tenured head team physician in the Big 12 Conference.

"I am grateful to former president Burns Hargis and former athletic director Mike Holder for bringing me back to Oklahoma State in 2007," Dr. Iven sa Advisory Committee. Dr. Iven played a critical role in both the Big 12 and Oklahoma State's COVID response, coordinating OSU's COVID medical advisory team, whose plan was lauded by many as one of the most effective in the country. He was also a member of the Big 12 COVID medical advisory team and served on numerous other Big 12 committees.

His tenure in the Southeastern Conference as well as the Big 12 saw him work with 10 national championship teams across six different sports. He oversaw athletic medicine for 29 bowl teams, 13 Southeastern Conference championship teams, 28 Big 12 championship teams and more than 30 Olympians and over 500 All-Americans.

Dr. Iven has been recognized by Top Doctor Magazine with its family medicine award and sports medicine award. He was recently honored with a 25-year membership award by the American Medical Society of Sports Medicine and achieved Fellowship status within the American Academy of Family Physicians. He has been a member of the U.S. Olympic Sports Medicine Society and has served at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs and at the Goodwill Games in New York City.