Director of Athletics Sandy Barbour

With student success and comprehensive excellence as a steadfast focus, Sandy Barbour enters her sixth year as the dynamic leader of the Penn State Intercollegiate Athletic program. Barbour has helped the Nittany Lions continue to ascend and thrive as one of the nation’s most successful athletic departments. Barbour has more than 35 years of varied experiences as a collegiate administrator and coach, with a demonstrated record of championships, academic success, innovation, facility modernization and revenue growth. She began her passionate and effective leadership of the Penn State Athletic program in August 2014, when she was named the Nittany Lions’ ninth Director of Athletics by President Eric J. Barron. In February 2019, Barbour received a contract extension through August 31, 2023, and assumed the title of Penn State Vice President for Intercollegiate Athletics.

The “Why” –– Preparing Students for a Lifetime of Impact

Barbour began implementing her vision for Penn State Intercollegiate Athletics and creating conditions for success for the department’s “Why” – the more than 800 Nittany Lion student-athletes. She oversees a broad-based program that supports students competing in 31 sports and a staff of more than 300 individuals whose daily mission is preparing students for a lifetime of impact. A reorganization of ICA introduced four administrative divisions: student-athlete performance, health and welfare; internal and external relations and operations, administration and business and finance. Barbour also announced a wide-ranging strategic planning process to determine strategies and priorities for the formalized 2017-21 strategic plan.

Excellence in Academics and Athletics

Penn State student-athletes have consistently raised the bar and broken or tied school academic records in the last five years, including the number of Academic All-Big Ten and Big Ten Distinguished Scholar recipients in 2019-20. A record 28 of 31 teams recorded at least a 3.0 semester GPA in the 2019 fall semester. All 31 teams earned at least a 3.0 semester GPA with the University’s COVID-19 alternative grading system in place for the 2020 spring semester. Eighteen Nittany Lions have earned CoSIDA Academic All-America accolades during Barbour’s tenure, boosting Penn State’s all-time total to 205, No. 4 nationally among Division I institutions. In November 2019, the NCAA released its annual national graduation rates study, which disclosed that Penn State student-athletes earned a school-record Graduation Success Rate (GSR) of 91 percent, marking the third consecutive year of a GSR of 90 percent or higher. Ten Nittany Lion teams earned a perfect 100 percent Graduation Success Rate.

Six NCAA Team Championships and 31 Conference Titles

During Barbour’s five years in Happy Valley, the Nittany Lions have captured six NCAA Championships in women’s soccer, women’s volleyball and wrestling and won 26 Big Ten titles and five EIVA crowns for 31 total conference championships. In 2019-20, the Nittany Lion women’s soccer team claimed its second Big Ten Tournament title in three years with an overtime victory over Michigan. The men’s hockey program earned its first Big Ten regular-season title with a 20-win season. The football team played in its third New Year’s Six bowl in four years and finished in the top 12 of the College Football Playoff rankings for the fourth consecutive season. In addition, the men’s basketball squad tied its highest national ranking in program history (No. 9) and was poised to return to the NCAA Tournament before the season was cut short due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

AD of the Year Recipient in 2016-17 and Finalist in 2018

Barbour’s leadership was recognized with her selection for the prestigious National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics (NACDA) Under Armour AD of the Year Award in 2016-17. Twice Barbour has been named a finalist for Sports Business Journal’s prestigious Athletic Director of the Year, most recently in 2018. In 2020, Barbour was among the honorees on Sports Illustrated’s “The Unrelenting” list of the most powerful, most influential and most outstanding women in sports.

Barbour is a member of the NCAA Football Oversight Committee, and in 2017, the United States Olympic Committee (USOC) appointed her as one of the inaugural members of its Collegiate Advisory Council.

A Path of Successful Leadership

Serving as the Director of Athletics at Cal from 200414, Barbour guided the Golden Bears through one of the most successful periods in school history. Twenty team national championships, 97 individual national titles, and six top-10 finishes, including No. 3 in 2011, in the annual Learfield Directors’ Cup standings were highlights of her tenure. Barbour was the deputy director of athletics at Notre Dame, the senior athletic administrator from July 2002 to September 2004. She oversaw facilities and event operations was also responsible for developing, maintaining and implementing the university’s $127 million athletics facilities master plan. In 1996, Barbour was appointed Tulane’s director of athletics at age 36. The Green Wave won four conference championships in her first year, a feat never before accomplished, and continued its success with 12 titles in three years. She hired Tommy Bowden as football coach and the Green Wave posted its first winning season in 16 years. The next season, Tulane went 12-0, won a Conference USA title and earned a No. 7 national ranking as 1998 Liberty Bowl champions. Born in Annapolis, Md., Barbour grew up in a military family. Her father was a career aviator in the U.S. Navy, and her family lived in various U.S. locations and in Western Europe during her childhood. Barbour graduated cum laude in 1981 with a B.S. degree in physical education from Wake Forest University, where she was a four-year letterwinner and captain of the field hockey team. She also played two seasons of women’s basketball for the Demon Deacons.

Barbour earned advanced degrees at the University of Massachusetts (an M.S. in sports management in 1983) and Northwestern’s Kellogg School of Management (an MBA in 1991). Barbour’s career in intercollegiate athletics began as a field hockey assistant coach and lacrosse administrative assistant at Massachusetts in 1981.

SANDY BARBOUR AD

Vice President of Intercollegiate Athletics • Eighth Year Wake Forest ’81 (B.A.) • Massachusetts ’83 (M.S.) • Northwestern ’91 (M.B.A.)

• Hired as Penn State Director of Athletics Aug. 18, 2014 • Previously led Cal and Tulane as athletic director