Rick George Named Athletic Director of the Year

CLEVELAND – University of Colorado Athletic Director Rick George was named the Athletic Director of the Year by the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics (NACDA), the association announced Wednesday.

George is one of four honored in the Football Bowl Subdivision and one of 28 honored by NACDA throughout seven different divisions ranging from FBS to the Junior College and Community College level. 

"NACDA is honored to continue the tradition of the Athletics Director of the Year Award and recognize a new class of individuals for 2023-24," NACDA CEO Pat Manak said. "As an Association it is part of our mission to develop tomorrow's leaders led by today's decision makers, which is why it is so fitting that 21 of the 28 recipients of the ADOY award this year are first-time winners."

George was named the sixth athletic director in CU history in 2013, his second stint in Boulder, returning 23 years after he played a role in the school's first and only national championship in football. 

One of George's first achievements as athletic director was spearheading the athletic complex expansion that included a long-awaited indoor practice facility and Champions Center.  His leadership early in his career was critical in guiding CU through a 100-year flood in his first year on the job, a global pandemic and the most tenuous era in the history of college athletics. 

In 2019, he was one of 30 named to the prestigious National Football Foundation's "Team of Excellence," and also won the individual achievement award recognizing his leadership in the sports sustainability programs he developed in the athletic department by the Pac-12 conference.  He has been named CU's Staff Member of the Year three times by the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee, acknowledging his attendance at most home athletic events, willingness to meet with any student-athlete and his leadership through crisis including the pandemic.  In 2016 he was presented with an "Honorary C" award by CU's Alumni C Club for his years of dedication to Colorado Athletics. 

He served on the CFP selection committee from 2020-22, serves on the Division I Council of the NCAA as well as several other NCAA committees, including the working group that put together a framework for name, image and likeness and for two years was the chair of the LEAD1 Association, which represents athletic directors, programs and student-athletes of the 130 member schools of the FBS. 

In 2022, he hired Deion "Coach Prime" Sanders as the head football coach, a decision that immediately put Colorado Football back on the map.  CU sold out its spring game, all six home games for the first time in program history, 11 of 12 games on the season, and had five of the 14 most-watched games in the college football regular season, leading the nation in viewership until the final week of the regular season.  The center of the sporting world for the first month of the football season, CU hosted FOX's Big Noon Kickoff three times and College Gameday once, the first pregame show appearances in Boulder in 28 seasons.  

George came to CU from the Texas Rangers, where he was the chief operating officer and president of business operations after stints in professional golf leading both the PGA Tour and Champions Tour.  He was president and CEO of the Fore!Kids Foundation and also worked at Vanderbilt as the head of external operations. 

After graduating from Illinois in 1982 where he lettered four times in football, he was hired in 1987 by CU coach Bill McCartney as the football recruiting coordinator and he helped build the team that was undefeated in the 1989 regular season and won the 1990 national championship.  He is married to the former Nancy Green and the couple has two daughters, Jenni and Christi, and two granddaughters (Harper and Maddie).

Among the criteria for the award were service as an AD for a minimum of five academic years; demonstration of commitment to higher education and student-athletes; continuous teamwork, loyalty and excellence; and the ability to inspire individuals or groups to high levels of accomplishments. Additionally, each AD's institution must have passed a compliance check through its appropriate governing body (i.e., NCAA, NAIA, etc.), in which the institution could not have been on probation or cited for a lack of institutional control during the tenure of the current athletics director.

About NACDA: Now in its 59th year, NACDA is the professional and educational Association for more than 22,000 college athletics administrators at more than 2,200 institutions throughout the United States, Canada and Mexico. NACDA manages 18 professional associations and four foundations. In addition to virtual programming, NACDA hosts six 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.