Jason Henderson has stepped down as Lamar’s athletic director, ending a 10-year association with the university and five-year run at that position.

The reason for Henderson’s resignation is not immediately known. A spokesman for the Lamar athletic department said Henderson informed members of his staff during a Sunday night meeting and thanked them for their hard work and accomplishments during his tenure, adding Henderson did not say why he’s leaving.

The university did not release a statement concerning Henderson’s departure, and Henderson did not issue a statement through the university, but Lamar on Monday did announce that former men’s basketball standout Norman Bellard has been named interim athletics director.

Bellard will continue in his role as assistant to LU President Kenneth Evans for community relations and athletics program liaison, a position he has held since March 2015. He spent the previous 10 years as chief financial officer for Conn’s Appliance and is credited with the idea for Susan Conn McCurry’s donation of a new video scoreboard system in the Montagne Center, which debuted in time for the 2016-17 basketball season.

“Norman Bellard’s involvement with Lamar University, as a student-athlete, distinguished alumnus, Cardinals fan, and as a long-standing member of our staff, makes him uniquely qualified to serve as interim Athletic Director,” Evans said in a Lamar news release. “We look forward to his leadership and vision as we move forward at this moment of unprecedented opportunities for Lamar University Athletics.”

The university announced a “full national search” would begin immediately for Henderson’s successor.

Henderson’s resignation came two weeks after Lamar won its first Southland Conference women’s soccer tournament championship, meaning an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament. Texas A&M beat Lamar 1-0 in the first round.

Lamar also won the Southland men’s cross country title and finished second in women’s cross country last month.

The football team just completed a 2-9 season Saturday with a 13-3 home loss to McNeese State. Lamar’s win-loss record has dropped each year since going 8-4 in 2014. That is the Cardinals’ only winning season since football was reinstated at the university for the 2010 season.

Bellard played basketball at Lamar from 1975-79 and won a Southland regular-season championship as a senior, qualifying for Lamar’s first NCAA Division I tournament. (The Southland tournament began in 1981.)

“My primary goal will be to continue to put a quality product on the fields and courts that is attractive to the community, both on campus and beyond,” Bellard said in the release.

The release added Bellard has a wish list that includes upgrading athletic facilities, with projects in the works including basketball locker room improvements and “enhancements” for student-athletes and spectators at baseball games.

Henderson was first hired at Lamar as compliance coordinator in April 2006, promoted to associate athletic director for compliance in July 2007 and elevated to interim AD in May 2011. He was promoted to full-time AD in June 2012.

•

I.C. Murrell: 549-8541. Twitter: @ICMurrellPANews