Jim Murphy Position: Director of Athletics Institution: Davidson College

Jim Murphy, 52, was introduced as Davidson College's director of athletics in November of 1995, returning to his alma mater to lead the Wildcats on the eve of their 100th anniversary of intercollegiate athletics and into the next century.

Prior to his appointment at Davidson, Murphy spent 10 years as executive associate athletics director and chief financial officer for the Georgia Tech Athletic Association.

Murphy, an Atlanta native, played football and baseball during his freshman year at Davidson. His experience has been invaluable as Murphy guides a program which is characterized by its desire for excellence in both athletics and academics and has one of the smallest enrollments among NCAA Division I schools.

Murphy, the 2004 NACDA Division I-AA/I-AAA Southeast Region Athletics Director of the Year, recently completed a second term on the prestigious NCAA Division I Management Council, a policy-making body within the NCAA governance structure. He chaired the Division I-AA Governance Committee and formerly served on the NCAA Division I Business and Finance Cabinet, the Division I Governance Committee and the Division I Finance Committee. From 2002 to 2004, Murphy chaired the Athletics Directors Association of the Southern Conference. He was part of Charlotte's successful bid to host the NCAA Division I Men's Soccer Championships in 1999 and 2000 and also served as Tournament Director of the First- and Second-Round games of the 2005 NCAA Men's Basketball Championship in Charlotte. Murphy is a past member of the Division I Football Issues Committee and is the immediate Past-President of the FCS Athletic Directors Association. He was also a member of the NCAA Task Force on Recruiting, an 18-member panel charged with changing the culture of recruiting in intercollegiate athletics.

Murphy, a Certified Public Accountant and 1978 graduate of Davidson with a degree in economics, earned his master's degree in management from Georgia Tech in 1979.

Murphy's wife, Dr. Susan Roberts, is a Political Science professor at Davidson and his 23-year-old son, Matt, is a graduate of the University of North Carolina and works in advertising in Chapel Hill, NC.