After eight years as Penn State’s athletic director, Sandy Barbour is moving on to the next chapter. Barbour announced Wednesday morning that she will be retiring from her position this summer.
Barbour, whose official title is Vice President for Intercollegiate Athletics, has experience in college athletics that stretches more than 40 years and includes stops at Cal, Notre Dame, Tulane and Northwestern along with Penn State.
Barbour became the ninth athletic director in Penn State history when she replaced David Joyner in 2014 and was the first woman to serve in the role.
Penn State president Eric J. Barron praised Barbour for her “leadership and dedication to Penn State’s athletics program, student-athletes, coaches and staff, and fans across the commonwealth and beyond. …
“Through her forward thinking, competitive spirit and passion for people and sports, Sandy has built a collegiate model to aspire to and has helped the Nittany Lions thrive as one of the nation’s most successful athletics departments.”
In Barbour’s tenure, Penn State’s teams have combined to win six national championships and 39 conference titles. 34 athletes have won individual national titles as well.
Penn State will conduct a national search to find Barbour’s replacement. In the meantime, Barbour thanked Barron for giving her the opportunity to lead at Penn State, and expressed gratitude toward the University and Happy Valley community as well.
“Thanks to Penn State, I’ve had to opportunity to develop amazing relationships, work with the best coaches and staff in all of college sports and, most importantly, been surrounded by the most remarkable student-athletes in the country,” Barbour said.
In the year of the 50th anniversary of Title IX, the federal law that mandated gender equality in athletics, Barbour will step down as one of only five female athletic directors out of the 65 Power Five schools, including Heather Lyke at Pitt, Candice Storey Lee at Vanderbilt, Carla Williams at Virginia and Jennifer Cohen at Washington.
