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As Director of Athletics at the University of California, Sandy Barbour oversees an Athletic Department that ranks as one of the most successful in the country with a mission that seeks to match its level of excellence with that attained by the University as a whole.
Built upon four pillars - to teach, to serve, to compete and to excel - Cal Athletics strives to combine high athletic achievement with the academic rigors of the No. 1 public university in the country, and to do so with integrity, passion, respect, teamwork, innovation, diversity and professionalism. The department is charged to not only be a campus and community leader, but also to be a place where individuals can grow to their utmost potential.
Under Barbour's leadership, the Golden Bears have developed into a model program that has become a mainstay among the Top 10 in the annual NACDA Directors' Cup standings. Cal matched the school's best-ever finish in 2007-08 with a seventh-place standing, a ranking buoyed by seven sports that ranked among the Top 5 nationally. The Bears were also seventh in 2005-06 and ninth in 2003, '04 and '07.
"Sandy Barbour was my first appointment at Berkeley, and I consider it a privilege to have her as our athletic director," Chancellor Robert J. Birgeneau said. "Under her leadership, our student-athletes are excelling on and off the field, supported by a department committed to excellence, equity and comprehensive compliance with the rules."
Since Barbour began her tenure in Berkeley on Sept. 15, 2004, Cal programs have captured nine national team championships and 25 individual titles. This past year, the Bears repeated as champions in men's rugby and water polo, while Cal athletes won a school-record 11 individual crowns in 2006-07.
In addition, the Cal football team has won three consecutive bowl championships - the Las Vegas Bowl in 2005, the Holiday Bowl in 2006 and the Armed Forces Bowl in 2007 - and shared the Pac-10 championship for the first time in 21 seasons in 2006. Overall, Cal supports a 27-sport program with more than 800 student-athletes and a budget in excess of $60 million.
On the academic front, nearly half of Cal's student-athletes maintain a cumulative GPA of 3.0 or higher, and 14 of Cal's 27 programs earned cumulative GPAs higher than their historical average. All Bear teams also surpassed the required minimum score in the most recent Academic Progress Report, and more than 175 student-athletes have earned academic all-conference recognition in each of the last four years.
In May of 2007, the NCAA certified a comprehensive self-study of Intercollegiate Athletics at Cal, confirming that the athletic department is operating in full compliance of the organization's operating principles. This recognition demonstrates that the University is committed to sustaining a broad-based, nationally competitive athletics program that supports student-athlete academic needs and interests.
Named one of the "100 Most Influential Women in Business" in the Bay Area by the San Francisco Business Times, Barbour has also been chosen a 2006 Woman of Distinction by the East Bay Business Times and the 2006 National Association of Collegiate Women Athletics Administrators (NACWAA) Division I-A National Administrator of the Year.
Barbour is an active member of several committees on both the national and conference levels. Currently chair of the Pac-10 Finance Committee, she is also a member of the Pac-10 Executive Committee and the Pac-10 Television Committee and served as vice president of the conference for 2007-08. In addition, Barbour is on the NACDA Executive Committee, the NCAA Diversity Leadership Strategic Planning Committee, the NCAA Women's Basketball Discussion Group and the WBCA Defensive Player of the Year Selection Committee.
Prior to moving to Berkeley, Barbour was the deputy director of athletics at Notre Dame, serving as the university's senior athletic administrator from July 2003 to September 2005. She previously held an associate athletic director position there starting in 2000.
Barbour's career in intercollegiate athletic administration spans 26 years, beginning as a field hockey assistant coach and lacrosse administrative assistant at the University of Massachusetts in 1981. She has since served as assistant athletic director at Northwestern and in 1991 was recruited to Tulane as an associate athletic director.
In 1996, Barbour was appointed Tulane's director of athletics at age 36, and during her three years overseeing the program, Green Wave teams won 12 conference championships. In her first year in the position, the school captured four conference titles, a feat never before accomplished in Tulane history. She also hired Tommy Bowden as head football coach during her first year. Bowden proceeded in 1997 to post the Green Wave's first winning season (7-4) in 16 years, and then directed the school to a 12-0 record, a Conference USA championship and a No. 7 national ranking the following season as the 1998 Liberty Bowl champions.
In her position at Notre Dame, Barbour oversaw facilities and event operations for the school's 26-sport program, including football game management and the department's two golf courses. She was also responsible for developing, maintaining and implementing Notre Dame's $127 million athletics facilities master plan.
Additionally, her role at Notre Dame included responsibilities for women's lacrosse, men's and women's cross country, indoor and outdoor track, men's and women's swimming and men's golf. She also assisted with the administration of women's basketball.
Born Dec. 2, 1959, 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, as well as in Western Europe during her childhood.
Barbour graduated cum laude in 1981 with a B.S. degree in physical education from Wake Forest, where she was a four-year letterwinner and served as captain of the field hockey team. She also played two varsity seasons of women's basketball.
Barbour earned advanced degrees at both Massachusetts (an M.S. in sports management in 1983) and Northwestern's Kellogg School of Management (an MBA in 1991).
Between master's programs, Barbour served as assistant field hockey and lacrosse coach at Northwestern from 1982-84. She also held the position of director of recruiting services during that period, before being promoted to assistant athletic director for intercollegiate programs in 1984, a position she held until 1989.
Prior to joining Tulane, Barbour worked in programming and production for FOX Sports Net in Chicago during the summer of 1990.
