Seemingly out of nowhere, Oklahoma apparently had a favorite to replace Joe Castiglione as its next athletic director, then made it official.
ESPN's Pete Thamel reported on Friday that Illinois Chief Operating Officer and Executive Senior Associate Athletic Director Roger Denny has emerged as the top candidate to soon be named OU's next athletic director after recently interviewing for the position twice on campus. According to Thamel, the deal to make Denny OU's 12th AD could happen in the "upcoming days," then the university made the hire official shortly after.
Illinois' Roger Denny named Oklahoma AD
Denny had been at Illinois since 2021 in the same role. According to Illinois' website, Denny's role included oversight of the football program as he "supervises the department’s internal operations, including the business office, facilities and capital projects, human resources, data and business intelligence, and sports technology units." His role also include negotiating all contracts for head coaches.
According to Toby Rowland, Denny secured a $100 million gift, which was the largest in Illinois history, in his position, as well.
Before getting into college athletics, Denny was an attorney for about 15 years after graduating with a law degree from St. Louis University and with a bachelors from Southeast Missouri State University. His prior legal experience included the representation of college athletics departments and sports businesses in a wide variety of critical and complex transactions, including executive compensation and collective bargaining matters, per OU's release.
A St. Louis native, Denny has no known prior connection to Oklahoma. He tried to get back to his home state in 2024 as a finalist to be Missouri State's athletic director.
Denny replaces Castiglione, who in July announced that he would retire after serving as OU's AD for 28 years. He was the longest-tenured AD in Division-I college sports before stepping away. Castiglione will not fully retire until June 30, 2028, and will serve as Emeritus Athletics Director until then.
After Castiglione's decision, a lengthy list of possible candidates emerged, but Denny wasn't found on any of them. It was clear OU was willing to look everywhere, though, after assembling a 12-person search committee led by Chair of Football and Advisor to the President and the Director of Athletics Randall Stephenson and hiring The Athlete Group, which helped bring in football general manager Jim Nagy.
According to Thamel, OU liked Denny's legal background and "saw a skill set for the new era" of college athletics between NIL, revenue share and more. Thamel also reported that Stephenson is expected to stay at OU with the athletics department.
“College athletics is undergoing profound disruption that requires us to think well beyond conventional structures and roles,” OU president Joseph Harroz Jr. said in a statement. “In Roger we have the next natural leader who understands both the complexity of the moment and the opportunities it presents. It is clear Roger will advance the bold vision needed for OU to continue leading in a highly dynamic environment.
“We have already seen the transformational difference Randall has made to OU Athletics with the success of football this past season. His continued engagement will ensure a smooth leadership transition to a new era of Sooner athletics.”