Phillips Named Finalist For SBJ Athletic Director of the Year
3/19/2018 12:10:00 PM | General, Academic Services & Student Development, King NU P.R.I.D.E. Program
NEW YORK, N.Y. – Northwestern University Vice President for Athletics & Recreation Jim Phillips has been named one of five finalists for the SportsBusiness Journal's 2018 Athletic Director of the Year award, the publication announced Monday.
Phillips is joined in the final quintet by Sandy Barbour (Penn State), Jeff Bourne (James Madison), Boo Corrigan (Army) and Danny White (Central Florida). The winners of the 11th annual Sports Business Awards, which recognize excellence over the past year, will be announced at an awards gala on May 23 at the New York Marriott Marquis at Times Square.
2018 SBJ Sports Business Award Finalists (17 categories)
Since arriving at Northwestern in 2008, Phillips' leadership has led the Wildcats to unprecedented heights in the classroom, in the community and in competition, in line with his mission to provide each student-athlete with a world-class experience academically, socially and athletically.
NU scored a 97 percent overall Graduation Success Rate (GSR) in the latest data released by the NCAA, a figure which leads the Big Ten by seven percentage points and ranks among the best scores in the nation. Northwestern has surpassed 200 Academic All-Big Ten honorees each of the last seven years, including in 2016-17 when a school-record 245 NU student-athletes earned the distinction. The group of nearly 500 young men and women representing 19 varsity athletic programs combined to post a record average GPA of 3.31 during the fall academic quarter.
Northwestern continues to be among the nation's leaders in community service under Phillips, who in 2011 oversaw the creation and hiring of NU's first assistant A.D. for community relations. All of Northwestern's nearly 500 student-athletes participated in at least one philanthropic initiative during the 2016-17 academic year, with the group as a whole totaling more than 5,500 hours in service of more than 100 community organizations.
In competition, Northwestern has achieved historic success. Wildcats football has posted three 10-win seasons and three bowl championships in the last six years, men's basketball earned the first NCAA Tournament berth in school history, diver Olivia Rosendahl has won back-to-back NCAA platform titles and women's golf won the 2017 NCAA stroke-play championship. During Phillips' tenure in Evanston, lacrosse, softball, golf, fencing, soccer, tennis, field hockey, swimming, diving and wrestling all have won team or individual conference championships.
The Department of Athletics & Recreation is currently in the midst of a facilities transformation, supported by nearly $400-million in fundraising. Over the next 12 months Northwestern will open Ryan Fieldhouse, Wilson Field and the Walter Athletics Center on the lakefront, a completely renovated Welsh-Ryan Arena, and the new Trienens Performance Center. In recent years the department has unveiled Martin Stadium, Hutcheson Field, Miller Park, a new multi-million dollar sailing center, and a 30,000 square-foot expansion of the Henry Crown Sports Pavilion, the hub of campus recreation.
While raising the profile of Chicago's Big Ten Team locally, Phillips has been a leader in college athletics nationally. He was elected as the inaugural chair the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I Council in February 2015. During a two-and-a-half year term, he served as the first-ever sitting athletic director on the NCAA Board of Directors and Board of Governors. He is currently in his first year as a member of the NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Selection Committee, Northwestern's first representative in 50 years. He also was appointed to the Fiesta Bowl Board of Directors and the Rose Bowl Committee.
A former president of the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics (NACDA), the first Northwestern A.D. to be elected to the position, Phillips also has served as the Athletic Director Chair of the Big Ten Conference, as a member of the NCAA Awards, Benefits, Expenses and Financial Aid Cabinet, as an athletic mentor in the NCAA Pathway Program, and on the NCAA Champions Forum panel, a group of football coaches and athletic directors making an effort to increase the hiring and awareness of minority football coaches.
Phillips is joined in the final quintet by Sandy Barbour (Penn State), Jeff Bourne (James Madison), Boo Corrigan (Army) and Danny White (Central Florida). The winners of the 11th annual Sports Business Awards, which recognize excellence over the past year, will be announced at an awards gala on May 23 at the New York Marriott Marquis at Times Square.
2018 SBJ Sports Business Award Finalists (17 categories)
Since arriving at Northwestern in 2008, Phillips' leadership has led the Wildcats to unprecedented heights in the classroom, in the community and in competition, in line with his mission to provide each student-athlete with a world-class experience academically, socially and athletically.
NU scored a 97 percent overall Graduation Success Rate (GSR) in the latest data released by the NCAA, a figure which leads the Big Ten by seven percentage points and ranks among the best scores in the nation. Northwestern has surpassed 200 Academic All-Big Ten honorees each of the last seven years, including in 2016-17 when a school-record 245 NU student-athletes earned the distinction. The group of nearly 500 young men and women representing 19 varsity athletic programs combined to post a record average GPA of 3.31 during the fall academic quarter.
Northwestern continues to be among the nation's leaders in community service under Phillips, who in 2011 oversaw the creation and hiring of NU's first assistant A.D. for community relations. All of Northwestern's nearly 500 student-athletes participated in at least one philanthropic initiative during the 2016-17 academic year, with the group as a whole totaling more than 5,500 hours in service of more than 100 community organizations.
In competition, Northwestern has achieved historic success. Wildcats football has posted three 10-win seasons and three bowl championships in the last six years, men's basketball earned the first NCAA Tournament berth in school history, diver Olivia Rosendahl has won back-to-back NCAA platform titles and women's golf won the 2017 NCAA stroke-play championship. During Phillips' tenure in Evanston, lacrosse, softball, golf, fencing, soccer, tennis, field hockey, swimming, diving and wrestling all have won team or individual conference championships.
The Department of Athletics & Recreation is currently in the midst of a facilities transformation, supported by nearly $400-million in fundraising. Over the next 12 months Northwestern will open Ryan Fieldhouse, Wilson Field and the Walter Athletics Center on the lakefront, a completely renovated Welsh-Ryan Arena, and the new Trienens Performance Center. In recent years the department has unveiled Martin Stadium, Hutcheson Field, Miller Park, a new multi-million dollar sailing center, and a 30,000 square-foot expansion of the Henry Crown Sports Pavilion, the hub of campus recreation.
While raising the profile of Chicago's Big Ten Team locally, Phillips has been a leader in college athletics nationally. He was elected as the inaugural chair the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I Council in February 2015. During a two-and-a-half year term, he served as the first-ever sitting athletic director on the NCAA Board of Directors and Board of Governors. He is currently in his first year as a member of the NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Selection Committee, Northwestern's first representative in 50 years. He also was appointed to the Fiesta Bowl Board of Directors and the Rose Bowl Committee.
A former president of the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics (NACDA), the first Northwestern A.D. to be elected to the position, Phillips also has served as the Athletic Director Chair of the Big Ten Conference, as a member of the NCAA Awards, Benefits, Expenses and Financial Aid Cabinet, as an athletic mentor in the NCAA Pathway Program, and on the NCAA Champions Forum panel, a group of football coaches and athletic directors making an effort to increase the hiring and awareness of minority football coaches.
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