CLEVELAND (April 14, 2025) – The National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics (NACDA) announced that former College Football Playoff (CFP) Executive Director Bill Hancock has been selected as the 13^th recipient of the Michael J. Cleary Merit of Honor Award in the Association's 60-year history. The award recognizes an individual whose superior integrity is displayed in tireless commitment to the highest ideals of athletics in general and intercollegiate athletics in particular. Hancock will be honored in conjunction with the 2025 NACDA & Affiliates Convention at the World Center Marriott Resort in Orlando, Fla., at the beginning of the Association-Wide Featured Session on Monday, June 9, starting at 4 p.m.

"Bill Hancock has had a profound impact on intercollegiate athletics over the last several decades, especially when it comes to laying the foundation for the future," said Pat Manak, NACDA chief executive officer. "His forward thinking and sound business mindset helped to enhance and expand postseason opportunities and the student-athlete experience during his time leading the Men's Final Four, BCS and College Football Playoff. Bill's guidance and mentorship allowed many individuals to learn and develop both personally and professionally to prepare the next wave of administrators for the new age of the industry."
 
"This is an overwhelming honor. Mike Cleary was a friend and confidant; we were bound by our shared roots as championships administrators," Hancock said. "NACDA is a beacon of integrity and represents the legion of folks who showed me the right path over the past half-century. I am deeply flattered and grateful."
 
Hancock's career objective when he entered college was to be a classical piano player. He got a job in the athletics department at the University of Oklahoma (OU) and quickly switched to athletics as a vocation and an avocation. He took up endurance sports and ran 15 marathons, with a career best of three hours and six minutes; rode his bicycle across the United States twice; climbed Washington's Mount Rainier and backpacked the Grand Canyon rim-to-rim-to-rim twice.

Hancock achieved a unique trifecta in college athletics. He was the first full-time director of the NCAA Men's Final Four, the first administrator of the Bowl Championship Series (BCS), and the first executive director of the College Football Playoff.

He began his career in 1971 as assistant sports information director at the University of Oklahoma (OU). Three years later, he became the editor of the Hobart Democrat-Chief newspaper (Okla.), then spent 11 years at the Big Eight Conference before becoming Final Four director in 1989.
 
After 16 years with the basketball tournament, Hancock joined the BCS in 2005.
 
Hancock was named executive director of the CFP a few months after the event was created in 2012. He was the only CFP employee at the time. The leaders of the 10 Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) conferences and Notre Dame directed him to finalize the details of a media rights agreement, negotiate agreements with bowl games and championship-game host cities, build a staff, find office space, contact members to serve on the selection committee, and draft protocol and procedures for the committee to use.
 
The result was a decade of a successful four-team playoff model before the expansion to the 12-team era for the 2024-25 season.

A 2015 inductee into the Oklahoma Hall of Fame, Hancock has served on the U.S. Olympic Committee staff at 16 Olympic Games and two Pan American games throughout his career.
 
Hancock's wife, Nicki, is retired after 30 years teaching high school English. Their son, Nate Hancock, and his wife, Kristin, live in Overland Park, Kan. Their daughter-in-law, Karen Hancock, is senior associate athletics director and senior woman administrator in the athletics department at Oklahoma State University. Their older son, Will, died in the crash of an airplane carrying members of the Oklahoma State men's basketball team and staff in 2001. Hancock and his wife have three grandchildren.
 
Hancock is also an accomplished and published author, with two books to his credit. His memoir about his 36-day bicycle journey from Huntington Beach, California, to Tybee Island, Georgia, Riding with the Blue Moth, is his story of overcoming grief and self-reflection. Riding with the Blue Moth was among the top sports books following its release in October 2005, and was re-issued in 2015. His second book, This One Day in Hobart, is a history of his hometown.
 
The last individual to be recognized with the Merit of Honor Award was former Big Ten Commissioner Jim Delany in 2021. The award was named after former NACDA Executive Director Mike Cleary in 2011. Cleary served at the helm of NACDA from the Association's inception in 1965 through his retirement in 2011, when he became director emeritus, a role he held until his passing in 2015. To view the complete list of previous Merit of Honor Award winners, click here.
 
Hotel and Convention registration for #NACDA25 is now live. Visit nacda.com/convention for more information.
 
About NACDA: Now in its 60th year, NACDA is the professional and educational Association for more than 24,000 college athletics administrators at more than 2,300 institutions throughout the United States, Canada and Mexico. NACDA manages 19 professional associations and four foundations. In addition to virtual programming, NACDA hosts and/or has a presence at seven major professional development events in-person annually. The NACDA & Affiliates Convention is the largest gathering of collegiate athletics administrators in the country. For more information, visit www.nacda.com.