Studying the athletic director position

D1 Athletic Director Hiring Trends + Tracker

There have been 253 D1 hires at 216 unique institutions since 2020

Updated 12/29/25. This page will be updated to reflect ongoing D1 AD changes.

Most Common Immediately Prior Job Titles

  • The 3 most common pathways to these D1 athletic director hires have been:
    • Deputy AD: 88 hires
    • Sitting AD: 72 hires
    • Senior Associate AD: 30 hires

These 3 pathways represented 190 hires, which is 75% of total AD hires since 2020.

Key Observations

  • There have been 67 total internal promotions to the AD chair since 2020 across division one, a 27% rate.
  • 16 sitting ADs have left their position voluntarily to become a Deputy AD since 2020—and 12 of those were to Power schools. Two have since returned to AD positions: Dr. Ed Scott (Memphis) and Tommy McClelland (Rice). In recent moves, Diana Sabau went from Utah State to Maryland, Brent Jones went from Troy to Georgia Tech, UC Riverside’s Wesley Mallette left the AD chair for South Carolina, and Ohio’s Julie Cromer went to LSU.
  • FCS athletic directors rarely move into FBS or FBS Power AD positions with it happening in only 6 of 100 hires since 2020.
  • Football schools almost never hire ADs from non-football schools as it’s only happened in 7 of 197 hires since 2020.
  • Retirements remain a major driver for departures with 66 ADs retiring since 2020 and 23 of those coming in 2024 and so far in 2025.
  • ADs leave for other AD positions often, too, with 72 sitting ADs leaving for the same position at other D1 schools.
  • Eleven sitting ADs were classified as “reassigned” internally.
  • Out of 253 hires since 2020, only 42 were female (17%) and 15 of those hires were internal promotions (37%)

16 Openings as of December 29, 2025

There are currently 16 projected open AD positions:

  • FBS Autonomy: 2
    • **California, ***Oklahoma
      • **Cal has two interim ADs for the 2025-2026 academic year
      • ***Oklahoma’s AD is retiring at the end of the year and the search is ongoing
  • FBS Non-Power: 4
    • Charlotte, Delaware, New Mexico, Washington State
  • FCS: 6
    • Austin Peay State, South Carolina State, Southern Utah, Rhode Island, Texas Southern, Wagner College
  • I-AAA: 4
    • New Orleans, UC Riverside, CSU Bakersfield, *San Francisco
      • *San Francisco’s AD tragically passed away in mid-October and an interim has since been named. There is no indication there will be a search anytime soon.

D1 Subdivision Analysis

Institutions were counted in the D1 subdivision based on the particular year(s).

FBS Power (Autonomy)

  • 53 hires since 2020
    • 36 came from other Power schools
    • 9 came from other FBS schools
    • 2 from non-FBS (Villanova and Omaha)
  • 2024–2025 so far: 22 hires
    • 4 females
    • 7 internal promotions
    • 12 were sitting ADs (8 from Power schools)
    • 6 were Deputy ADs (all from Power schools)
    • 15 came from Power schools
    • 4 came from other FBS schools
    • 1 came from FCS

Other FBS

  • 48 hires since 2020
    • 18 came from Power schools, including 8 from SEC and 7 from Big 12 schools
    • 18 from other FBS non-power schools
    • 7 from FCS
    • 3 from I-AAA
    • 11 were sitting ADs
    • 23 were Deputies
  • 2024–2025 so far: 22 hires
    • 0 females
    • 3 internal promotions
    • 6 were sitting ADs
    • 13 were Deputy ADs
    • 8 from other FBS schools
    • 7 from Power schools
    • 5 from FCS schools
    • 1 from I-AAA schools

FCS

  • 97 hires since 2020
    • 48 from other FCS schools
    • 15 from Power schools
    • 13 from FBS Non-Power
    • 17 were sitting ADs
    • 33 were Deputy ADs
    • 17 female hires
    • 31 internal promotions
  • 2024–2025 so far: 30 hires
    • 5 females
    • 11 internal promotions
    • 18 from other FCS schools
    • 6 from Power schools
    • 3 from other FBS schools
    • 5 were sitting ADs
    • 13 were Deputy ADs
    • 5 were Senior Associate ADs
    • 2 held Associate VP titles to reflect institutional structure of titles

I-AAA

  • 57 hires since 2020
    • 14 female hires
    • 14 internal promotions
    • 18 from other AD positions
    • 14 from Deputy AD roles
    • 10 from Senior Associate AD roles
    • 22 from other D1-AAA Schools
    • 10 from FCS
    • 8 from D2
    • 7 from Power Schools
    • 5 from Other FBS Schools
  • 2024–2025 so far: 14 hires (11 in 2024)
    • 6 females
    • 0 internal promotions
    • 4 were sitting ADs
    • 7 were Deputy ADs

Conference AD Hires Since 2020

  • Big Ten: 17 (Northwestern X3)
  • ACC: 15 (Boston College and Georgia Tech have made 2 hires each)
  • SWAC: 14 (5 schools have made 2 hires each)
  • Sun Belt: 14 (Arkansas State X3)
  • MVC: 11 (Valpo and Illinois State made 2 hires each)
  • Big West: 13 (Hawaii and CSUN made 2 hires each)
  • The American: 11 (Tulsa X2)
  • SEC: 9 (Missouri X2)
  • Mountain West: 10
  • Big 12: 9 (across 9 different schools)
  • Big East: 7 (across 7 different schools)

Final Takeaways

  • Deputy AD remains the most reliable stepping-stone position, especially for becoming athletic directors at FBS and Power schools.
  • Internal promotions are significant in FCS and I-AAA, but not as reoccurring in FBS and FBS Power school hires.
  • Females remain woefully underrepresented in hires, especially outside I-AAA.
  • Power schools mostly hire from within their own subdivision ranks.