is now
The Advisor Before The Hire.
Travis Smiths hosts the conversations on university leadership in public and gives the advice in private.
Executive Services
Committee Support & President Advisory
TRAVIS is ready to help guide search committees and advise presidents on their AD searches for a fraction of the cost of a traditional search firm. And Travis Smith can interview presidents on The Athletic Director show to reach a niche audience of sitting ADs and deputy ADs. The search process needs to be done in quiet, but explaining the job and expectations should be screamed loudly to an interested audience.
Deputy AD Searches
The audience of The Athletic Director show is full of capable deputies. Add this to internal TRAVIS research and a growing video library, ADs can partner with Travis Smith to identify and recruit deputies that fit their own leadership style and institution.
Search Firm Partnership
TRAVIS partners with search firms that might need help handling volume or access to the video library of candidates. The Athletic Director show is also an opportunity for search or institution leadership to join Travis Smith on the show to explain an opportunity to an interested audience of potential candidates.
ADMINISTRATIVE EVALUATIONS
Before you make a change or extend a contract, you want clarity. Or maybe you’re a new president wanting to better understand the AD you inherited. TRAVIS provides independent qualitative evaluations of sitting ADs — assessing performance, culture, alignment with institutional priorities, and long-term fit. The TRAVIS process is modeled after traditional administrative review policies in higher education.
Succession Planning
Whether your AD is likely to leave due to retirement, not renewing a contract, or because your AD is poached by another school, the best time to think about your next AD is well before you need one. TRAVIS partners with presidents and chancellors to identify internal and external candidates, assess readiness, and build a transition plan that protects the institution
Next AD
Building the Next Generation of ADs
TRAVIS is continuously building a confidential, curated library of emerging athletic directors based on institutional fit. These are professionals who are observed, researched, interviewed, and vetted over time.
This isn’t just a database. It’s a network built through relationships, earned trust, and years of talking to this profession up close. If you are building toward an AD role, make sure TRAVIS knows your updated preferences and goals by filling out the Candidate Intake Form.
TRAVIS Media
The Modern AD
A Monthly Digital Magazine for College Athletics Leadership
The Modern AD delivers insight, analysis, and perspective on the business of college athletics — written for the people running it.
“Travis has done the homework — doctoral research, direct AD interviews, actual contract data — and it comes through in every section. This isn’t commentary, it’s real intelligence on what’s happening in our industry and why it matters. The AD hire reactions, the press conference breakdowns, the deputy spotlights — all of it is practical and specific in a way that’s hard to find. But what’s pushed my own thinking the most is the content around the college presidency. If you’re serious about the AD chair, you have to understand the world your president operates in, and Travis lays that out clearly because he’s worked for a president and understands it. I’ve found myself coming back to pieces of this in conversations throughout the month. For the price, there’s nothing else like it.”
Anonymous SEC Executive Deputy AD
Available by monthly subscription or single issue purchase.
The Athletic Director
Conversations with the Leaders Running College Athletics
For nearly a decade — formerly as Higher Ed Athletics — this show has gone inside the offices of the people leading college athletic departments. Candid conversations with athletic directors about leadership, strategy, culture, and what the job really demands.
75+ available episodes in the archives. New episodes released quarterly in bulk drops, organized around a central theme.
The College Presidency
Launching August 2026 for Current and Aspiring College Presidents and Chancellors
The college president is the most misunderstood position in higher education — and one of the least studied. The College Presidency is a new show from Travis Smith featuring sitting presidents, board chairs, chiefs of staff, cabinet members, faculty leaders, and topical experts who help behind-the-scenes keep a presidency on track.
D1 AD Hiring Trends & Tracker
College athletics leadership is in constant motion. This tracker follows every Division I athletic director hire in real-time — who’s moving, where they came from, what institutions are looking for, and what the data tells us about where the profession is headed.
Updated regularly. Free to access.
How Can TRAVIS Help?
Let’s Talk.
Whether you are leading a search, evaluating your current leadership, or building toward an athletic director role — let’s talk.