June 6, 2007

Jeremy Foley, University of Florida -- Southeast Region
This past year, Jeremy Foley became the first director of athletics in NCAA history to hold both the football and men's basketball national championships simultaneously. These championships represent two of the 11 NCAA titles for Florida under Foley. Foley began his career at the university in 1979 when he was hired as an intern in the Gator ticket office. He was named director of athletics at Florida in 1992. Foley's dedication to Gator athletics has lead to the elimination of three quarters of a million dollar debt and as the chief financial officer for the University Athletic Association (UAA), Foley is directly responsible for capital improvements of more than $149 million. Since 1990, at a time when the majority of Division I institutions are losing money on intercollegiate athletics, the Florida UAA has made contributions of more than $34.4 million to help fund University of Florida academic endeavors. As athletics director, Foley has been directly responsible for two major expansions of the football field, a multipurpose athletics fieldhouse, new facilities for tennis, track & field, soccer, baseball, golf, softball and swimming. Under Foley's leadership, Florida has added women's soccer, softball and lacrosse as varsity sports. Also under his leadership, Gator student-athletes have been honored 63 times as academic All-Americans, which is the fourth highest among all Division I institutions. Last year alone these student-athletes were honored 187 times on the SEC academic honor rolls. In June of 2006, Foley was named the Street & Smith's SportsBuisness Journal National Athletics Director of the Year.

Dan Guerrero, UCLA -- West Region
Dan Guerrero was hired as director of athletics at UCLA in 2002. Since then, UCLA has won 13 NCAA national team championships. Also under Guerrero's leadership, 10 Bruin teams have finished second nationally and another 12 have finished in the top-five (through 2/07). A total of 80 teams have qualified for postseason play and the UCLA football team has made five bowl appearances. Guerrero was honored on September 10, 2002 by the Los Angeles City Council with Dan Guerrero Day. He has also been named one of the nation's Top 100 Most Influential Hispanics by Hispanic Business Magazine and Sports Illustrated ranked him 28th among the 101 Most Influential Minorities in Sports. In 2004-05, Guerrero solidified a multi-million dollar agreement with ISP Sports, a premier national collegiate sports marketing association, and successfully negotiated a six-year, multi-million dollar extension with adidas. Guerrero's efforts have also resulted in a 20-year agreement between UCLA and the Rose Bowl, which includes over $13 million in facility enhancements to benefit the UCLA football program. Furthermore, Guerrero has reorganized the UCLA External Relations area by integrating corporate sponsorships, marketing and development under one umbrella, in anticipation of a major revenue generating initiative designed to address capital project needs, operational support and program endowments. Since Guerrero's hiring, UCLA has held one of the top six spots each year in the Directors' Cup standings. In Guerrero's first four years, UCLA student-athletes earned 2,439 spots on the Directors' Honor Roll and community service activities within the athletics program are at an all-time high. Before coming to UCLA, Guerrero served as director of athletics for 10 years at UC Irvine. Guerrero is also a member of NACDA's Executive Committee.

Jeffrey Hathaway, University of Connecticut -- Northeast Region

Jeff Hathaway is in his fourth year as the director of athletics at Connecticut. From 1990-2001 Hathaway was the executive associate director of athletics at UConn, which makes this his 15th year with the Huskies. During 2002-03, Hathaway left Connecticut to take over the helm of the athletics department at Colorado State. He returned to UConn in 2003-04, just in time to see Connecticut become the first school to win the NCAA Division I men's and women's basketball championships in the same year (2004). Also in 2004, the UConn football team participated in, and won, the university's first-ever bowl game. Each year since Hathaway's hiring as director of athletics, UConn fundraising has set institutional records. In 2004, a gift of $2.5 million was secured from UConn graduate Mark Shenkman for the building of the Mark R. Shenkman Training Center and during 2005-06, over $17 million was raised for the UConn Athletics Development Fund. Hathaway's primary focus at UConn is the student-athlete. Under his leadership the division of athletics boasts a 99 percent retention rate among its student-athletes. Furthermore, in both the fall and spring semesters of the 2005 calendar year, 40 percent of UConn student-athletes earned a 3.0 grade point average or better. Hathaway is currently working on a Ph.D. in educational leadership from UConn.

Mark Murphy, Northwestern University -- Central Region

Since being hired as athletics director in 2003, Mark Murphy has been at the helm of a Northwestern athletics program that has won seven conference championships and 25 individual conference titles. Eight Wildcat coaches have earned conference Coach of the Year honors, while 20 student-athletes have earned Player and Freshman of the Year honors. Northwestern student-athletes have earned 40 first-team All-America, 175 all-conference, 438 academic All-Big Ten (including a school-record 143 in 2004-05), nine Academic All-America and 24 academic all-district awards. Moreover, since Murphy's hiring, Northwestern has won six national individual championships and the women's lacrosse team has won back-to-back national titles (2005-06), the first team titles at NU since 1941. In 2005 and 2006, Northwestern recorded its top two finishes in the Directors' Cup, placing 29th both years. Murphy holds a master's degree in business administration from American University, where he worked during the off-seasons while playing for the Washington Redskins, and a law degree from Georgetown University Law Center. Previously, Murphy worked as a trial attorney for the U.S. Department of Justice and as a radio commentator for National Public Radio. Before coming to Northwestern, Murphy served successfully for 11 years as athletics director at Colgate. Murphy is also a member of NACDA's Executive Committee.