Staff Directory
- Title:
- Athletic Director
Rob Mullens, a highly respected leader in collegiate athletics, is entering his 16th academic year as the University of Oregon's athletic director. Under his guidance, Oregon Athletics has reached unprecedented heights, marked by 18 NCAA national championships during his tenure and the school's best-ever finishes in the NACDA Directors' Cup—9th in 2016-17 and 10th in 2015-16. These two top-10 finishes are the only ones in Oregon's history, with the Ducks finishing in the top 25 nationally for a school-record seven consecutive years from 2012 to 2018. Mullens' leadership has ensured consistent excellence, with Oregon being a top 30 program in 14 of the last 15 years. Oregon will also finish the 2024-25 academic year in the top 20 of the Directors’ Cup, the highest finish for the Ducks in eight years (2016-17).
Mullens' vision for Oregon Athletics is built on five core goals:
- Providing an exceptional student-athlete experience.
- Fostering a culture of excellence.
- Enhancing resources to meet expectations.
- Uniting and strengthening the Oregon community.
- Competing for championships in all sports.
These pillars have guided his leadership as he oversees more than 500 student-athletes and an athletics budget of $162 million.
One of Mullens' most significant achievements is leading the University of Oregon into the Big Ten Conference. On August 2, 2023, Oregon officially joined the Big Ten, positioning the Ducks for future success and ensuring that UO student-athletes continue competing at the highest levels. This move highlighted the strength of the Oregon brand and reflected the university's upward trajectory across academics and athletics.
In the first year in the Big Ten, Oregon won eight conference championships, the most in the Big Ten in 2024-25, and a school record for conference titles in any academic year. In the fall, the Oregon women's cross country won the school's first-ever Big Ten Championship. The Ducks' football program finished the regular season undefeated at 13-0, also winning the Big Ten Championship and earning the No. 1 seed in the College Football Playoff. The volleyball team advanced to the Sweet 16 for the third consecutive year.
The Ducks' 18th national championship under Mullens was won by the women's indoor track and field team in March, in addition to the Big Ten title. Also in the spring, the Ducks won conference championships in both men's indoor and outdoor track and field, as well as in women's golf, baseball, and softball. Women's golf advanced to the national semifinals for the third time in four seasons, while softball hosted and won both the regionals and super regionals, earning a spot in the Women's College World Series.
Also, in the 2024-25 academic year, Oregon joined Tennessee and Texas as the only three schools to make each of the following: the College Football Playoff, both the men's and women's NCAA basketball tournaments, and the softball postseason. Additionally, the Ducks are one of six programs to make the postseason in men's and women's basketball, football, volleyball, softball, and baseball: Oregon, Tennessee, Texas, Oklahoma, North Carolina, and Ole Miss. The preceding academic year (2023-24), Oregon was one of five Division I schools to reach the postseason in football, volleyball, men's basketball, softball, and baseball, and the previous year (2022-23), Oregon was the only university with an Elite Eight volleyball team, Super Regional appearances in both baseball and softball and a 10-win football season.
The Ducks were also a New Year's Six bowl team in football, won the final Pac-12 championship in men's basketball, were a final four team in women's golf and acrobatics and tumbling, advanced to the Elite Eight in Volleyball, finished fourth in the nation in both women's outdoor and indoor track and field, finished 10th in women's cross country, made the Super Regionals in baseball, and also appeared in the postseason in men's golf and softball.
Mullens was named Athletic Director of the Year by the National Association of College Directors of Athletics (NACDA) for 2020-21. Under his direction, Oregon has won national titles in women's and men's outdoor and indoor track and field, women's cross country, men's golf, and acrobatics and tumbling. The Ducks also became the only Pac-12 school to win conference championships in football, men's basketball, and women's basketball in the same year (2019-20).
Oregon's broad-based excellence included a school-record 11 Academic All-Americans in 2024-25, bringing the Ducks’ total to 16 in the last two academic years. Sixty percent of the Oregon student-athletes who have achieved that honor have done so during Mullens' tenure. Oregon had more than 200 All-Big Ten Academic honorees during the 2024-25 academic year, with the Ducks posting an 85% Graduation Success Rate during the previous cycle, including an 89% rate for those who exhaust their eligibility. Additionally, the Ducks have had two quarterbacks win the prestigious William V. Campbell Trophy as the nation's top football scholar-athlete in the last five-year stretch from 2019-23, Bo Nix (2023) and Justin Herbert (2019). Ducks quarterback Dillon Gabriel was also a Campbell finalist and NFF National Scholar-Athlete honoree in 2024.
Mullens hired head football coach Dan Lanning in 2021, who has since led the Ducks to a 35-5 record in his first three seasons, including three consecutive 10-win seasons. The 13 wins this season, including the Big Ten Championship game victory over Penn State, marks only the seventh season of 12 or more wins in program history, with Lanning posting two of those in consecutive seasons (2023-24).
Oregon has produced consecutive Heisman Trophy finalists in Nix (2023), and Gabriel (2024), and the Ducks won consecutive bowl appearances under Lanning (2023 Fiesta, 2022 Holiday). During Mullens' tenure, the Ducks played in seven New Year's Six games and two national championship games, ranking eighth nationally with a .773 winning percentage and first in points scored per game at 39.98 from 2010 to 2024.
Oregon has also achieved tremendous success on the hardwood, as the men's basketball team returned to the Final Four in 2017 under head coach Dana Altman for the first time since 1939. The program also made three Sweet 16 appearances in four seasons from 2016-19. Payton Pritchard was the first men's basketball Consensus First-Team All-American at Oregon in 80 years and won the Bob Cousy Award as the nation's top point guard, while in 2021, Chris Duarte became the first Oregon and Pac-12 player to win the Jerry West Shooting Guard of the Year Award. The Ducks won the final Pac-12 Tournament in 2024.
Under head coach Kelly Graves, the women's basketball team made three consecutive Elite Eight appearances, including the school's first-ever Women's Final Four appearance in March 2019. Ducks women's basketball won 30 or more games in three consecutive seasons from 2017-18 through 2019-20. Sabrina Ionescu was a three-time All-American and won the Naismith Award, the Wade Trophy, and the Wooden Award twice each while setting the NCAA all-time career record for triple-doubles. Ionescu and Satou Sabally were the top two picks in the 2020 WNBA Draft.
A year after winning the 2016 national championship under head coach Casey Martin, the men's golf team had a thrilling run to the championship match in 2017 after winning the Pac-12 crown for the first time since 1959. The 2016 Ducks squad claimed the team championship just a couple of days after Aaron Wise won the individual national championship.
The Oregon women's golf program has experienced a meteoric rise since Mullens hired Derek Radley in July 2018, including three trips to the final four in the last four seasons, conference titles in 2022 and 2025, and a second-place finish at the NCAA Championships in 2022.. The entire starting five for the Oregon women's golf team was named All-Pac-12 in the 2021-22 season.
Hired in 2018, softball head coach Missy Lombardi has a .637 winning percentage (186-106) and has made six consecutive NCAA Regional appearances, Super Regional trips in two of the last three seasons, and played in the College World Series, the sixth trip for the Ducks since 2012. Additionally, Mullens hired Mark Wasikowski as Oregon's baseball coach in June 2019. After a pandemic-shortened 2020, the Ducks have made five consecutive NCAA Regional appearances, advancing to the Super Regionals in the last two seasons. Oregon baseball has won a combined 198 games in the past four seasons.
During Mullens' tenure, Oregon volleyball appeared in the 2013 national championship game and advanced to the Elite Eight three times, including two of the last three seasons and in 2018.
Mullens' impact also includes substantial upgrades to Oregon's athletic facilities, highlighted by the completion of the world-renowned Hayward Field renovation in 2020. Other significant projects under his tenure include the Jane Sanders Stadium for softball, the Hatfield-Dowlin Complex for football, The Peter and Jan Jacobsen Oregon Golf Teaching Facility, and renovations to PK Park. A new indoor practice facility for the Oregon football program is currently under construction. Mullens has also prioritized student-athlete well-being with the opening of the Marcus Mariota Sports Performance Center, which integrates sports performance, science, medicine, and technology.
In November 2023, Oregon Athletics announced a groundbreaking partnership with the University of Oregon’s Ballmer Institute for Children’s Behavioral Health, a new collaboration that is developing programs to improve the mental health of student-athletes at K-12 schools across the state while offering additional resources to enhance care for UO student-athletes. This alignment with the Ballmer Institute’s academic and clinical expertise helps Oregon set a national standard for addressing student-athlete mental health needs and adding to the quality of their experience.
The Oregon Department of Athletics also earned the NCAA Minority Opportunities Athletic Association's 2020 Award for Diversity and Inclusion. This honor recognizes and celebrates the initiatives, policies, and practices of colleges and universities and/or athletics conferences that embrace diversity and inclusion across intercollegiate athletics and higher education.
His influence in the industry extends beyond Oregon. Mullens served as chairman of the College Football Playoff Committee from 2018-19 and currently sits on the United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee's Collegiate Advisory Council. He was also appointed to the Congressional Commission on the State of U.S. Olympics and Paralympics in 2020.
Mullens earned a bachelor's degree in business administration and a master's in sport management from West Virginia University in 1991 and 1993, respectively. He and his wife, Jane, have two sons — Cooper and Tanner.
