Shawn Nagel of Lindenwood University has been named the recipient of the 2026 Ohio Valley Conference Thurston Banks Award for Distinguished Academic Service.

The award, selected by the OVC Faculty Athletics Representatives (FARs), was established in 2013 to recognize individuals (e.g. academic advisor, professor, tutor, etc.), with at least five years of service at one or more OVC member institutions, for their outstanding contributions to OVC student-athletes' academic success, learning and development as well for his or her overall commitment to the institution's athletics program.

The award is named after Dr. Thurston Banks, who served the Tennessee Tech Department of Athletics for 31 of his 34 years on the faculty and served as the Faculty Athletic Representative (FAR) for 25 years before stepping down in 2006. He was inducted into the OVC Hall of Fame in 2007.

Nagel has served as an Academic Coordinator in Lindenwood's Academic Success Center since it was created in 2012.  He has helped the institution move from NAIA to Division II and now to the Division I level. Since the institution's move to Division I and the OVC, Nagel has been instrumental in helping the school earned the 2024-25 OVC Institutional Academic Award, awarded to the member institution with the greatest percentage of its eligible student-athletes that earn a 3.25 grade point average or higher for that academic year. Additionally, the Lindenwood football team earned the 2024-25 OVC Team Academic Award

In addition to working with the school's football team, he also directly serves the Lindenwood men's and women's hockey programs. Nagel also teaches a UNIV 1010 Orientation course and a UNIV 1400 Auditing course. Overall, he has spent the past 22 years at Lindenwood, serving in the capacities of Strength and Conditioning, as a professor in the Health Sciences Department and a Defensive Coordinator with the Lions football team from 2004-10 (including advancing to the 2009 National Championship Game). He was inducted into the Lindenwood Sports Hall of Fame in 2015.

Prior to coming to St. Charles, Nagel also coached at Ottawa University and Kansas Wesleyan and worked on the staffs at Fort Hayes State and Bemidji State. He has an undergraduate degree from Fort Hays State University and a graduate degree from the University of Kansas.