OU’s Joe Castiglione named Athletic Director of the Year

By Chip Rouse | Mar 6, 2018

PASADENA, CA - JANUARY 01: A general view of the Oklahoma Sooners prior to the 2018 College Football Playoff Semifinal at the Rose Bowl Game presented by Northwestern Mutual at the Rose Bowl on January 1, 2018 in Pasadena, California. (Photo by Harry How/Getty Images) /

Oklahoma athletic director Joe Castiglione has done many great things while at OU, including helping bring seven national championships to the school in the past two years.

Castiglione is one of four college ADs to receive the award this season. The longtime OU director of University of Oklahoma athletics was recognized for the work he has done over the past year for and within the NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision. The award covers the period from February 2017 through January 2018.

This is the third time Castiglione has been recognized as Athletic Director of the Year. In 2004, the Bobby Dodd Foundation named him Athletic Director of the Year. The Sports Business Journal honored him as AD of the Year in 2009, and he was a finalist for the same honor in 2016.

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In Castiglione’s 20 years overseeing the OU athletic program, have excelled nationally in a number of collegiate sports. It is safe to say that the 60-year-old vice president of intercollegiate athletic programs at Oklahoma has been the man in charge of perhaps the most successful eras of athletic achievement in school history.

Under Castiglione’s leadership, almost half of OU’s team national championships have come about during the time he has been in his current position. Seventeen of the Sooners’ 36 all-time team national champions have been crowned since Castiglione became the AD at OU. And that doesn’t include three Heisman Trophy winners and two college Basketball Players of the Year.

Castiglione is not only the best athletic director in the Big 12 Conference, he is one of the very best in the country, and the University of Oklahoma is extremely fortunate to have him.

According to two separate surveys conducted earlier this year by Sports Illustrated – one done with members of the print and TV media and another with an anonymous, random selection of college athletic directors – Castiglione was the top vote-getter in both polls.

This is the 20th year that the National Association of College Directors of Athletics has presented the AD of the Year Awards. The program recognizes the efforts and accomplishments of ADs at all levels for their commitment and positive contributions to student-athletes, their campuses and surrounding communities.

Along with Castiglione, Kirby Hocutt of Texas Tech, Whit Babcock of Virginia Tech and Barry Alvarez of Wisconsin were also honored by the NACDA. Hocutt previously worked as an associate athletic director at OU under Castiglione.

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