June 16, 2009

Tim Curley, Penn State University, Northeast Region

Well into his second decade as the engineer of Penn State's 750 student-athlete, 29 varsity sport-athletics program, NACDA Past President Tim Curley's dynamic and passionate leadership has been the driving force behind the Nittany Lions' tremendous level of athletics and academic achievement. Named athletics director on December 30, 1993, Curley celebrated 30 years as a member of the Penn State athletics staff in 2006. Over the course of his tenure as AD, Curley has witnessed Nittany Lion squads capture 50 Big Ten titles and a plethora of individual and national crowns in the 15 years directing the department. A benchmark for success in collegiate athletics is the Learfield Sports Directors' Cup, in which Penn State has finished in the top-25 each year of its existence, including seven top-10 and four top-five finishes. Another staple of Curley's program is the magnificent graduation rate of PSU athletes. In three of the last five years, its student-athletes posted the highest graduation rate among all 119 Football Bowl Subdivision public institutions. Athletics facilities on campus have seen a dramatic overhaul, the most recently completed project was the 5,406-seat Medlar Field at Lubrano Park baseball stadium, as well as a new student fitness center and a 12,500-seat expansion of Beaver Stadium.

Damon Evans, University of Georgia, Southeast Region

One of the youngest--yet most successful--athletics directors in the country, Damon Evans splashed onto the scene when he began his tenure as director of athletics at the University of Georgia in July 2004. Evans has guided Georgia's 21-team, 600 student-athlete, 250-person athletics staff and $76 million budget athletics department to new heights in five short years. In just his first year on the job, the Bulldogs captured three national championships, finished seventh in the Learfield Sports Directors' Cup standings, and enjoyed its best year of fund raising in university history with more than $32 million raised. In 2005-06, a record seven Southeastern Conference titles were won by Bulldog teams. In his time as an athletics administrator, Evans has garnered several awards and recognitions: Street and Smith's SportsBusiness Journal "40 Under 40 Award" (2004, `05, `07); the UGA Terry College of Business Award as the "Outstanding Young Alumnus;" and Sports Illustrated's "101 Most Influential Minorities in Sports." Currently, Evans is a member of several Southeastern Conference and NCAA Committees, and is involved in volunteer and community service roles across the state of Georgia. He also serves on the Division I-A McLendon Scholarship Steering Committee.

Lawrence "Bubba" Cunningham, University of Tulsa, Central Region

Bubba Cunningham took over the University of Tulsa athletics program in the infancy stages as a member of Conference USA. Since that time, Tulsa squads have captured 15 conference championships in the three short years since Cunningham's arrival. Two teams that have enjoyed unprecedented success at Tulsa under Cunningham have been the football and men's basketball teams. The Golden Hurricane football team has made four consecutive bowl appearances, while the men's basketball team competed in and captured the inaugural College Basketball Invitational title. Many other Olympic sports have achieved success on the national level as well. Cunningham has implemented and continues to develop a strategic plan for personal and professional growth for Tulsa's student-athletes. Last year alone, Tulsa student-athletes completed more than 1,200 hours of community service. On the fund raising side, Cunningham spearheaded a $60 million athletics initiative, which included a $20 million renovation to Skelly Field at H.A. Chapman Stadium as well as a goal of $20 million for an athletics scholarship endowment and coaching salary endowment. Academically, Tulsa has had six ESPN The Magazine Academic All-America first team selections since 2005-06, while each year more than 125 student-athletes were named to Conference USA's Commissioner's Honor Roll.

Sandy Barbour, University of California Berkeley, West Region

As director of athletics at the University of California, NACDA Executive Committee Member Sandy Barbour oversees one of the most successful departments in the country, which is based upon four pillars--to teach, to serve, to compete and to excel. Since Barbour began her tenure in 2004, Cal programs have captured nine national team championships and 25 individual titles and have consistently been a mainstay in the top-10 of the Learfield Sports Directors' Cup standings. Academically, nearly half of Cal's student-athletes maintain a cumulative GPA of 3.0 or higher, and 14 of Cal's 27 programs earned GPAs higher than their historical average. One of the most impressive pieces of information on Barbour's short tenured resume so far at Cal was highlighted in May 2007, in which an NCAA study stated that the athletics department is operating in full compliance of the university's operating principles. Barbour was named one of the "100 Most Influential Women in Business" in the Bay Area by the San Francisco Business Times and was chosen as the 2006 National Association of Collegiate Women Athletics Administrators (NACWAA) Division I-A National Administrator of the Year.