Director of athletics Barbour plans to retire
Penn State director of athletics Sandy Barbour, who helped stabilize the department when she was hired in 2014, will retire this summer, the university announced Wednesday.
The 62-year-old Barbour arrived in State College to replace Dave Joyner in July 2014 when the football program was feeling the effects of NCAA sanctions levied in the wake of the Jerry Sandusky sex abuse scandal.
During her tenure, the Nittany Lions have won six NCAA championships in women’s soccer, women’s volleyball and wrestling, one NIT title in men’s basketball and 39 conference championships, including 31 in the Big Ten. Thirty-four Penn State athletes have won individual NCAA titles.
Under Barbour, the Lions have five top-20 finishes in the Learfield Directors’ Cup, including eighth-place finishes in the 2014-15 and 2016-17 academic years.
“These last eight years have been the most incredible and satisfying of my career,” Barbour said in a statement released by Penn State. “The passion, the commitment and the purpose with which the Penn State community pursues excellence is like nothing I’ve experienced. I am honored and privileged to have had the opportunity to serve Penn State students, coaches, faculty, staff and our incredible community.”
“Penn State and the Happy Valley community have captured my heart and will always hold a treasured place.”
Penn State “plans to conduct a national search for Barbour’s replacement,” the press release read.
Neeli Bendapudi, the University of Louisville president, will replace Eric J. Barron as Penn State’s president in April.
Two days before the Lions lost to Arkansas in the Outback Bowl, Barbour said she hoped to fulfill the time she had left on her contract when she was asked about her future at Penn State.
“Obviously, those will be conversations that our new president and I will have,” Barbour said then. “I’ve got a year and a half left. That was by design in the conversations that Dr. Barron and I had three years ago, that I would have some time after the new president.
“Certainly from my perspective, I love Penn State. I love what I’m doing. As long as my health is good, and I’m having fun, I certainly see that in my future. Obviously, Penn State and Dr. Bendapudi will make their decision, as well.”
Barbour is one of the most powerful and influential women in college sports. She serves as the 2021-22 chair of the NCAA’s Football Oversight Committee and represents the Big Ten Conference on the NCAA Division I Council.
She served as the co-chair
of the medical subcommittee on the Big Ten’s Return to Competition Task Force, which developed protocols to support the health and safety of student-athletes when returning to competition during the COVID-19 pandemic.In 2017, Barbour was selected as an inaugural member of the United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee’s Collegiate Advisory Council to identify solutions to support Olympic and Paralympic varsity programming opportunities within college sports.
A native of Annapolis, Maryland Barbour played field hockey for four years and basketball for two years at Wake Forest, from where she graduated in 1981. She has master’s degrees from Massachusetts and Northwestern.
She was assistant field hockey and lacrosse coach at Northwestern. She served as associate
athletic director and AD at Tulane and as associate AD at Notre Dame before California hired her in 2004.
Barbour was one of the longest-tenured athletic directors in the Pac-12, but she received mixed reviews and reportedly was forced out at Cal before Penn State hired her.
Her most significant coaching hire at Penn State was naming Micah Shrewsberry as the men’s basketball coach last year. Joyner hired football coach James Franklin in January 2014.
During her tenure, Penn State has improved or built facilities, such as the Lasch Football Building, the Morgan Academic Center and the Panzer Stadium for lacrosse.
“We are incredibly grateful for Sandy’s leadership and dedication to Penn State’s athletics program,” Barron said, “student-athletes, coaches and staff, and fans across the
commonwealth and beyond. It’s been an honor to work with her.”
Several Penn State coaches praised Barbour, including Franklin.
“Sandy and I have worked for the last eight years to improve the experience of the student-athletes we serve,” Franklin said in a statement released by the university. “I have admired how deeply Sandy cares for our students, providing them with the resources needed to have a world-class experience at Penn State, while preparing them for a lifetime of impact beyond their time here.
“Her friendship will be missed, but I look forward to cheering her on in her next chapter. Fumi [Franklin’s wife], the girls and I will forever appreciate the time we spent together at Penn State.”