Marquette University Using Collegiate Sports Associates to Find New Athletic Director

May 23, 2024 – Raleigh, NC-based Collegiate Sports Associates was recently called in by Marquette University to lead in its search for a new vice president and director of athletics. This position provides leadership for a department of approximately 100 coaches and staff who are committed to student-athlete success. Reporting directly to the president, the AD is responsible for overseeing 16 varsity sports, engaging more than 300 student-athletes. As leader of Marquette Athletics, the AD maintains a positive culture within the department and promotes the role of athletics in the community culture, nourishing a strong bond of loyalty and spirit among students, faculty and staff, parents, alumni, friends of the university, and fans of Golden Eagle Athletics.
This leader will creatively connect and collaborate with, then inspire and motivate, a wide range of stakeholders such as student-athletes, coaches, athletics staff, university faculty and staff, donors, alumni, fans, and external partners.
Collegiate Sports Associates also notes that this incoming leader will organize and manage the responsibilities of the AD with humility and decisiveness while consulting and collaborating with and advising the president, university leadership council, vice president(s), university trustees, and other university leadership groups on the issues critical to the athletics department’s success.
A bachelor’s degree is required with a master’s degree strongly preferred. Those applying must have a minimum of 10 years of Division I athletic administrative experience and/or similar type of leadership role in relevant field. The school is seeking an individual who will live by, lead, and promote Marquette’s guiding values while ensuring the holistic success of the university’s student-athletes on and off the fields of play. They should demonstrate significant experience working with the sport of basketball, especially at the elite NCAA Division 1 level.
Preferred Qualifications
- Comprehensive knowledge of intercollegiate athletics, including experience at the Division I level.
- Working knowledge of NCAA Division I athletics programs and what the requirements to achieve success at that level within the changing policy landscape. Experience dealing with issues such as NIL, transfer portal, conference realignment, transformation committee, and student-athlete mental health and wellness.
- A focus on student success, with demonstrated commitment to supporting student-athlete health, safety, and holistic wellness, as well as their academic, athletic, and personal success.
- Demonstrate vision and passion for the values of higher education.
- Have significant senior-level management experience including experience with budgets, facilities, operations, personnel, academics, compliance and student-athlete development.
- Demonstrated success in managing a multi-million-dollar budget.
- Excellent organizational, management, planning and marketing skills.
Marquette University, established in 1881 as Marquette College, is a private Jesuit research university with a student body of over 11,000 undergraduate and graduate students. Marquette Athletics (the Golden Eagles) sponsors 16 NCAA Division I varsity sports and is a founding member of the current Big East Conference.
Related: Cardinal Grange Retained by Stephen F. Austin State University to Lead AD Search
Founded in 2008, Collegiate Sports Associates helps recruit talent for athletics programs at NCAA Division I universities and conferences across the U.S. The firm’s network of associates includes current and former Division I athletics directors and other senior university and conference officials, including commissioners, presidents, faculty athletics representatives, coaches, and associate athletics directors.
CSA founder and president Todd Turner has over 30 years of experience in intercollegiate athletics, 21 of which were as the athletics director at four major Division I FBS/BCS institutions. By coupling Mr. Turner’s experience and thriving personal relationships throughout higher education with top-level professional consulting and search services, Collegiate Sports Associates has a reputation for delivering a unique level of service.
Today’s Athletic Directors
Athletic directors are playing an increasingly vital role at colleges and universities across the country. With the expansion of athletic departments and, for the larger schools, the infusion of big dollars for sports, more schools have turned to search firms when such positions become open. Too much is at stake, they feel, to go at it alone. What’s more, the AD job has come to demand greater business and management skills than the typical academic search.
“The AD today is the CEO of athletic operations at a college,” said John Lahey, current president at Quinnipiac University. “Thirty to 40 years ago, you were more likely to see former coaches and athletes promoted into those roles as a way of rewarding success or longevity, but now you need a business-person who is able to lead people, generate revenue and understand how the marketing and brand of athletics can impact the entire university.”
Bill Lennox, president at St. Leo University in Florida, said schools must make sure that the AD is a senior member of the entire university staff. “We moved the AD to the equivalent level of a vice president, so he sat in all of the meetings and in the decision-making process with the rest of the VPs of the university,” he said.
The modern AD position oversees finances, marketing, human resources, student-athlete wellness, media contracts, and of course overall performance – all while salaries head well into seven figures and beyond.
Related: Collegiate Sports Associates Assists Louisville with Athletic Director Search
Contributed by Scott A. Scanlon, Editor-in-Chief; Dale M. Zupsansky, Executive Editor; Lily Fauver, Managing Editor – Hunt Scanlon Media