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VP for Athletics Sandy Barbour
Recognized as one of the nation’s premier Athletic Directors, Sandy Barbour enters her eighth year as the dynamic leader of the Penn State Intercollegiate Athletics program. With student success and comprehensive excellence as a steadfast focus, Barbour has helped the Nittany Lions continue to ascend and thrive as one of the nation’s most successful athletic departments.
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Barbour began her passionate and effective leadership of the Penn State Intercollegiate Athletics program in August 2014. President Eric J. Barron named Barbour the Nittany Lions’ ninth Director of Athletics after she served for 10 years as Director of Athletics at the University of California, Berkeley.
In February 2019, Barbour received a contract extension through August 31, 2023 and assumed the title of Penn State Vice President for Intercollegiate Athletics.
“Sandy has consistently promoted excellence in intercollegiate athletics — in academics and athletic competitions, and she is widely hailed among the best athletic directors in the nation,” Barron said at the time of her contract extension. “She is a powerful advocate for those who wear the blue and white, and her leadership has help advance our shared vision of what intercollegiate athletics can be. I’m proud of our student-athletes, the coaches and staff, and I’m very pleased that Sandy will be able to lead them to even greater success.”
Leader of Premier Athletic Department in Academic, Athletic and Community Engagement
One of the nation’s most highly-respected Athletic Directors, Barbour has more than 40 years of varied experiences as a collegiate administrator and coach, with a demonstrated record of championships, academic success, innovation, facility modernization and revenue growth.
Barbour directs one of the nation’s most comprehensive and successful athletic programs that boasts an NCAA Graduation Success Rate of 92 percent, while capturing 79 national championships and 116 Big Ten titles all-time. She oversees a broad-based program that supports approximately 800 students in 31 sports (16 men’s/15 women’s) and an Intercollegiate Athletics staff of more than 300 whose daily mission is preparing students for a lifetime of impact. Penn State’s 31 programs are tied for fourth-largest among all 130 FBS institutions.
During Barbour’s initial seven years of leadership in Happy Valley, Penn State student-athletes have consistently raised the bar and broken or tied school academic records, including the number of Academic All-Big Ten and Big Ten Distinguished Scholar recipients. A total of 140 Nittany Lion students graduated during the 2020 fall and 2021 spring semesters. A combined total of 1,064 student-athletes have earned their degrees during Barbour’s tenure.
The 2020-21 athletic year was unlike any others in the history of collegiate athletics. Barbour served as the co-chair of the medical subcommittee on the Big Ten’s Return to Competition Task Force, which developed stringent medical protocols to ensure the health and safety of student-athletes while returning to sport. Despite the unprecedented circumstances, the Nittany Lion women’s soccer team claimed the Big Ten regular-season championship, wrestling earned a share of the Big Ten dual meet title, women’s hockey won its first CHA regular-season crown and men’s volleyball won the EIVA regular-season and tournament championships. Under Barbour’s direction, Penn State has won six NCAA Championships and 36 conference crowns.
In addition to the competitive and academic achievements, Barbour has taken pride in the diversity and inclusion work done by the department and its student-athletes. In 2020-21, Barbour set action steps for intercollegiate athletics to continue the work of fostering and advancing a diverse, inclusive and respectful environment where staff, coaches, student-athletes and all other members of the Penn State family feel supported. Penn State United was introduced to construct a culture of respect, appreciation and empathy for all differences, while recognizing we are rooted in diversity, shared experience and hope. Under Barbour, Penn State Athletics’ Advisory Council for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (ACDEI) has expanded its work, providing diversity and inclusion resources to staff and student-athletes, and will continue Barbour’s action steps by listening, taking action and supporting growth and change.
Nittany Lions Students are the “Why” for Penn State Athletics
Soon after her arrival at Penn State, Barbour began to implement her vision for Penn State Intercollegiate Athletics and creating conditions for success for the department’s purpose and “Why” – the more than 800 Nittany Lion student-athletes.
Six months into her tenure, Barbour announced a reorganization of ICA
that introduced a more vertical structure to encourage communication and collaboration across functional units and sports. Four administrative divisions were formed: student-athlete performance, health and welfare; external relations and operations, administration and business and finance.
In 2015, Penn State Athletics launched a wide-ranging strategic planning process and conducted a series of town hall meetings. Students, faculty and staff, alumni, donors and the public were presented with the initial findings and were presented with an opportunity to provide feedback. The project helped determine strategies and priorities for the formalized strategic plan.
Barbour also oversees a comprehensive facilities master plan, which was announced in March 2017. Penn State partnered with Populous, one of the world’s leading architecture and sport event planning firms, to collaborate on developing a comprehensive facilities master plan to provide a 20-year road map for addressing current and long-term needs for all of the Nittany Lions’ facilities (competition, practice, performance enhancement and training).
Less than two months after the facilities master plan was unveiled in 2017, Penn State announced a $3.55 million gift from men’s lacrosse letterman and graduate Ken Panzer and his business partner, Jordan Kaplan, to launch construction on a new lacrosse facility. The project transformed the Penn State Lacrosse Field into one of the top lacrosse venues in the nation when Panzer Stadium opened to rave reviews in 2019.
Since the first Lasch Football Building renovation project was announced in January 2015, Barbour has helped raise more than $32 million for the Football Excellence Fund to finance several phased upgrades of the football facilities, including a $48.5 million phase, currently under construction and slated for completion in time for the 2022 season.
During Barbour’s tenure, Penn State Athletics has had four of the top seven fundraising years in department history.
Barbour initiated the additional utilization of ICA’s physical assets, resulting in the first NHL pre-season games in Pegula Ice Arena and the initial concert in Beaver Stadium – the Happy Valley Jam, featuring Blake Shelton, in July 2017. Pegula Ice Arena has also hosted three NHL preseason contests, all featuring the Buffalo Sabres, since 2016.
Academic Excellence Among RecordSetting Achievements; 92 Percent NCAA Graduation Rate
Penn State student-athletes have consistently delivered academic excellence and record performances during Barbour’s tenure.
In November 2020, the NCAA released its annual national graduation rates study, which disclosed that Penn State student-athletes earned a schoolrecord Graduation Success Rate (GSR) of 92 percent, marking the fourth consecutive year of a GSR of 90 percent or higher. The GSR was the fourthstraight record-breaking or record-tying effort in department history. Nine Nittany Lion teams earned a perfect 100 percent Graduation Success Rate.
Nittany Lion students posted a 3.51 grade-point average, and all 31 teams had a 3.30 GPA or higher following the 2020 fall semester with the University’s COVID-19 alternative grading system in place. In the fall semester, 742 student-athletes posted at least at 3.0 GPA, and 327 were named to the Dean’s List for earning at least a 3.5 GPA (minimum 12 credits).
For the fourth consecutive year, more than 350 Penn State studentathletes earned Academic All-Big Ten honors with 446 Nittany Lions posting a 3.0 GPA or higher in 2020-21.
Starting with the 2014 fall semester, Barbour’s first as Penn State AD, Penn State student-athletes have achieved the 10 highest semesters all-time for the number of students earning at least a 3.0 GPA (please note: record performances do not include spring 2020, fall 2020 and spring 2021 due to COVID-19 alternative grading system).
In the seven years Barbour has led Penn State Athletics, the Nittany Lions have captured six NCAA Championships in women’s soccer, women’s volleyball and wrestling and won 28 Big Ten titles, seven EIVA crowns and one CHA championship for a total of 36 conference championships.
In 2020-21, the Nittany Lion women’s soccer team claimed its 20th Big Ten regular-season title, marking the first regular-season crown for the women’s soccer team since 2018 and 11th under head coach Erica Dambach. The wrestling team won a share of the Big Ten dual meet championship for the seventh time with a 6-0 record. The women’s hockey team claimed their first CHA regular-season title with a 16-2-2 conference record. The women’s hockey squad becomes the 27th Penn State team to win a conference championship.
The men’s volleyball squad claimed its 35th EIVA regular-season title and 32nd EIVA Tournament championships with a 22-4 record. The Nittany Lions made their first NCAA Tournament appearance since 2017 and earned their first win since the 2015 season with a first-round win over Belmont Abbey.
A total of 24 Penn student-athletes have won NCAA individual national championships since 2016-17, including a combined total of 18 the past three years from six different sports. Fencer Ryan Griffiths earned the NCAA epee individual title in 2020-21, while Roman Bravo-Young (133 lbs), Nick Lee (141 lbs), Carter Starocci (174 lbs) and Aaron Brooks (184 lbs) guided the Nittany Lions wrestlers to a perfect 4-for-4 effort on NCAA Championship night.
In 2020-21, six Nittany Lions claimed Big Ten individual titles to give Penn State 42 individual champions in the past four years. Swimmer Michael Daly won the 400 IM, while Aaron Brooks captured his second Big Ten crown with a victory at 184 pounds and Roman Bravo-Young claimed the 133 lb. Big Ten title. At the Big Ten Indoor Track & Field Championships, Dom Perretta won his second 800-meter title, while Sincere Rhea on the men’s 60-meter hurdles and Victoria Vanriele won the women’s 800 meters for a Penn State sweep in the event.
Penn State Athletics has finished in the top 10 twice and top 15 three times in the final Learfield IMG College Directors’ Cup standings under Barbour’s direction. Penn State also was ranked No. 8 among the nation’s 65 Power Five institutions in 2017-18, according to Yahoo! Sports.
Nittany Lion Student-Athletes Engaged in Student Athlete Welfare and Development Programming and Community Service with 40Plus Organizations
In addition to their academic and athletic achievements, studentathletes have helped support Penn State’s comprehensive excellence by investing in themselves through ICA’s Student-Athlete Welfare and Development programming with the Athletic Director’s Leadership Institute (ADLI), the Nittany’s, SAAB, financial literacy and career networking programs. In addition, Penn State student-athletes spend thousands of hours each year involved in community engagement. Nittany Lion students annually participate in a range of activities from clinics and visits and team up with more than 40 organizations on projects and events. Among the organizations Penn State student-athletes are involved are THON, Special Olympics, Uplifting Athletes, Pennsylvania Pink Zone, Coaches vs. Cancer, United Way Day of Caring and LifeLink.
AD of the Year Recipient in 2016-17 and Finalist in 2018
