The Leader in Small College Athletics Professional Development
2024 AD Hiring Trends
A look at the athletic director hires from this past year across small college athletics.
In 2024, there were 118 AD hires across Division II, Division III and NAIA. Those hires break down to 45 in both DII and DII and 28 in NAIA, meaning 14.8% of DII schools, 10.59% of DIII schools and 11.81% of NAIA members hired new ADs in the last year.
One notable trend was the disparity in where ADs were hired from, with DII schools leaning more towards external candidates while NAIA members favored internal hires.
| Division/Association | Internal | External | Ratio |
|---|---|---|---|
| Division II | 14 | 31 | 31.1 / 68.9 |
| Division III | 21 | 24 | 46.7 / 53.3 |
| NAIA | 21 | 7 | 75 / 25 |
| Total | 56 | 62 | 47.5 / 52.5 |
In Division II, the 31 external hires broke down as follows:
- Division II: 13 (41.94%)
- Division I: 8 (25.81%)
- Division III: 4 (12.90%)
- Outside: 4 (12.9%)
- NAIA: 2 (6.45%)
Comparably, those external hires in DIII were:
- Division III: 13 (54.17%)
- Division II: 4 (16.67%)
- Division I: 3 (12.5%)
- Outside: 3 (12.5%)
- NAIA: 1 (4.17%)
| Division/Association | Percentage of First-Time ADs |
|---|---|
| Division II | 57.78% |
| Division III | 68.89% |
| NAIA | 89.29% |
69.4% of AD hires in 2024 were first-time ADs. Of the internal AD hires across small college athletics, all but three individuals (2 in DIII and 1 in NAIA) were first-time ADs. With hires of external candidates, 53% of those individuals were previously ADs. That broke down to 61.3% of DII external hires, 50% of DIII external hires and 28.6% of external hires having sat in the chair before.
The NAIA led all divisions with the hire of current coaches to the AD chair, with 39.3% being hired as a coach and another 25% of
hires having been former coaches in their career. In DIII, 20% of hires were active coaches and 37.8% were former coaches. Both of those trended heavily to be internal hires, with current and former coaches accounting for 78.6% of DIII and NAIA AD hires.
| Division/Association | Male | Female | Ratio |
|---|---|---|---|
| Division II | 34 | 11 | 75.6 / 24.4 |
| Division III | 33 | 12 | 73.3 / 26.7 |
| NAIA | 21 | 7 | 75 / 25 |
| Total | 88 | 30 | 74.6 / 25.4 |
The majority of hires this past year were men, with DII, DIII and NAIA following a similar 75/25 male/female split. In Division II, seven of the 11 female hires had previous AD experience. That was not the case for DIII and NAIA, where three DIII female hires were ADs and just one NAIA female AD hire was previously an AD. The lone female AD hired for a new role, Janet Eaton-Smith at Ottawa (KS) was also the only female AD hire who was an external hire. Comparatively in DIII and in DII, 41.7% and 30%, respectively, were internal hires, slightly below the overall trend line.
| Division/Association | Minority | Alumnus | Master's Degree |
|---|---|---|---|
| Division II | 24.44% | 15.56% | 68.89% |
| Division III | 20.00% | 15.56% | 62.22% |
| NAIA | 17.86% | 14.29% | 71.43% |
DII led small college athletics with the most minority AD hires with 11. Four of those hires were at HBCUs, leaving the non-HBCU minority percentage at 17.07%. Similarly, in the NAIA, two of the five minority hires were at HBCUS.
The overwhelming majority of AD hires in 2024 held Master's degrees as their highest level of education.
- Master's: 66.9%
- Bachelor's: 18.6%
- Doctorate: 13.6%