With more than 20 years in sports administration, Bernard Muir joined Stanford University in August as its new director of athletics. His predecessor, Bob Bowlsby, is now Big 12 Conference commissioner.
Most recently, Muir spent three years as University of Delaware athletics director overseeing 21 varsity sports. Previously, he was athletics director at Georgetown University and worked his way up the ladder at the University of Notre Dame, finishing as deputy athletics director. Muir also has worked in athletic departments at Butler and Auburn universities and held positions in the National Collegiate Athletics Association. This past February, he was named to the NCAA Division I men’s basketball committee, which chooses teams for the NCAA Tournament.
He earned a bachelor’s degree in organizational behavior and management from Brown University, where he was a four-year basketball letterman and team co-captain his senior year, and a master’s in sports administration from Ohio University.
All of Stanford’s 35 varsity sports exceed the NCAA’s Academic Progress Rate. For 36 consecutive years, Stanford teams have won at least one national championship, the longest such streak in the country. Its grand total of 103 NCAA championships ranks second nationally, and its 423 individual national titles is tops.
The addition of Muir makes Stanford one of the few traditionally White institutions with an African-American athletics director, head football coach (David Shaw) and head men’s basketball coach (Johnny Dawkins).
DI: Unlike many college athletes around the country, you went to Brown already knowing you wanted to pursue a career in sports administration. What sparked your interest?
BM: Growing up in Gainesville, Florida, our local sports teams were those at the University of Florida, which has a big program. I noticed the preparation and behind-the-scenes work surrounding games, practices and wondered, who’s in charge of all this?
