Jim Livengood Position: Athletics Director

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Jim Livengood has given the University of Arizona athletics program arguably the nation's top leader over the past several decades. His performance in a position that requires both consistency and change has been exemplary.

His extensive experience and innovation at the top levels of intercollegiate athletics have helped the UA maintain its status as an institution of excellence on all fronts - competitively, academically and fiscally.

Livengood became UA's eighth athletics director in January 1994. Behind his direction, remarkable developments have occurred throughout the program in the past 15 years. Administratively he oversees the 19 men's and women's teams that make up one of the nation's more well-rounded athletic programs, one that has garnered 10 team NCAA Championships under his direction.

Notably, the UA continues to thrive on all fronts including championship competition, facility improvements, compliance and equity issues, student-athlete welfare and the necessary financial strategies required to operate an annual business of $43 million. He has developed strong continuity in UA athletics, using his and the institution's reputation to maintain effectiveness on local, regional and national fronts.

Notable, too, were his national searches that landed the University head football coach Mike Stoops and head basketball coaches Sean Miller and Niya Butts, among other key hires during his tenure. The transition in football that he directed helped Arizona return to a postseason bowl after a rugged nine-year hiatus.

His fiscal leadership has helped the University of Arizona remain one of the lone black-ink athletics programs among a small handful of institutions that rely exclusively on generated funds and do not receive state-appropriated monies. Arizona's solvency has set a standard for the past two-plus decades, more than half of that under his direction. He keeps Arizona well positioned to compete at the top level as a standard bearer for intercollegiate athletics in the tradition-rich and highly competitive Pac-10. His program turns a profit and as one who serves under the president of a public institution of higher education, that success alone puts Jim Livengood in select company.

Livengood's focus on the welfare of student athletes and the primary objective of a college education, most exemplifies his tenure. The UA pays more attention to this aspect of intercollegiate athletics than any other, with most major decisions related to the ongoing improvement of the atmosphere for success among his 500 student charges.

That's only the local manifestation of his work. He's been Pacific-10 Conference president, chair of the Pac-10 Athletic Directors Revenue Sharing Committee, and a member of the conference's Bowl Committee and Basketball Tournament Subcommittee. He's also been a member of the Rose Bowl Management Committee, the NCAA Fellows program, NACDA President, and chair of the NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Committee, on which he served five years.

In the Tucson community, Livengood and wife Linda have been involved in many civic organizations including the Tucson Boys' Chorus, Rotary Club, Humane Society, the Southern Arizona Community Bank, Big Brothers Big Sisters, United Way and Toys for Tots.

Moreover, Livengood has worked to develop a close working relationship with the most key of university leaders - its president. He follows the direction of UA President Robert Shelton - the third president during Livengood's tenure. That tenure ranks second-longest in the prestigious Pac-10 Conference, a year behind the appointment of his contemporary at USC, Mike Garrett.

Tucson's 2004 Man of the Year by the Chamber of Commerce, Livengood has been considered for administrative roles at several major universities, but the Washington native has found a home and a life's challenge in directing University of Arizona athletics.

His work at the UA and its extension on the national level earned him an Athletic Director of the Year Award from the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics in 2006 for Division I-A.

Livengood initiated Campaign Arizona which has raised more than $130 million for athletic facility improvements and endowments. The Richard Jefferson Gymnasium, a practice facility, opened last fall, along with extensive renovations and improvements to the gymnastics facility and aquatic complex adjacent to McKale Center. He helped spearhead the development of the $36 million Eddie Lynch Pavilion that added a world-class strength and condition center, expansive medical treatment complex and a spacious Hall of Champions. On the horizon are substantial upgrades to Arizona Stadium and football operations. He also led other steps forward with the opening of the Albert & David Cohn Academic Center and the renovation of the women's student-athlete locker room, as well as continued improvements in McKale Memorial Center where all athletic department offices are situated.

During Livengood's tenure, UA has maintained a top-25 competitive record in the NACDA Directors' Cup (formerly Sears Cup) including high rankings of sixth in 1993-94, fourth in 1994-95, seventh in 1995-96, sixth in both 1996-97 and 1997-98 and ninth in 2001-02. The program headed into the final weeks of the 2008-09 season with solid chances for another Top 25 rating.

That record reflects success throughout Arizona's broad-based program, highlighted by participation in the 1994 and 2001 NCAA Men's Final Four and champions of the 1997 NCAA Men's National Basketball Tournament. Arizona also won the 1994, 1996, 1997, 2001, 2006 and 2007 NCAA Women's Softball College World Series, along with the 1996 and 2000 NCAA Women's Golf titles and 2008 men's and women's NCAA Swimming Championships. Again in 2008-09, a football bowl appearance, men's basketball Sweet 16 appearance, men's swimming and diving 6th place finish, women's swimming and diving 3rd place finish in the NCAA Championships underscore UA's competitive status.

UA's student-athlete graduation rate continues to be historically higher than that of the general student body rate. Nearly 100 student-athletes earned conference or regional all-academic honors, and twenty percent of UA student-athletes attained honors level cumulative grade point averages. The program graduated some 60 student-athletes this past May and two were named winners of the University's renowned Freeman and Robie Medals, with one earning the prestigious NCAA Walter Byers Scholarship, a top national honor.

In addition to focusing the University of Arizona Athletic Department's emphasis on the student-athlete, he has maintained a positive fund balance each year, and fostered a cooperative relationship with the university administration.

Livengood is a member of the NCAA Fellows Program to mentor new athletic directors, has served as a member of the NCAA Peer Review Team 1994-99, the NCAA Gender Equity Task Force, and the Women's Committee on Athletics. He is currently a member of the NACDA Preseason Football Games Committee, 2000-present, and was a member of the NACDA Strategic Planning Committee from 1999-2001. He served as NACDA president in 1998-1999, and in June 1999 was named Division I-A Athletic Director of the Year. Jim is also a member of the Division 1-A Athletic Directors Association, having served as president of that association in 1998.

On a conference level, Livengood continues as the chair of the Revenue Sharing Subcommittee. Livengood previously served as the Pac-10 liaison to the men's basketball coaches from 2000-04, vice president of the Pac-10 Budget and Finance Committee from 2000-02, and chair of the Television Subcommittee in 2001-02. He also was appointed to the Fiesta Bowl Board of Directors in December of 2003.

Livengood spent six years as the Athletics Director at Washington State University from 1988-93 where he developed what is still widely regarded as a model gender-equity program. In addition he laid the groundwork for a student-athlete wellness center that is regarded as one of the finest in the nation.

Livengood began his administrative career in 1980-1985 as the Associate Director for Development and Public Relations at Washington State before becoming the Athletics Director at Southern Illinois from 1985-87.

Born March 28, 1945, in Walla Walla, Wash., Jim received his bachelor's degree from Brigham Young University in 1968 and completed his fifth-year education requirement for teaching certification at Central Washington University in 1972. He taught and served as an assistant football coach and track coach at Moses Lake High School in Washington in 1968-69, and as head football and basketball coach and counselor at Ephrata High School in Washington from 1972-80 before moving into athletics administration.

Jim and his wife, Linda, have two grown children, Michelle, a lawyer in Tucson, and Jeremy, who resides in Phoenix. Both children are University of Arizona graduates. Michelle earned her law degree in May 2000 and Jeremy graduated in December 1999. The Livengoods are the proud grandparents of twin daughters, Emma and Isabella, born to Michelle and husband, Jack Murphy, in March 2009.