National Football Foundation

The leader behind one of the nation's most successful athletics programs, DeLoss Dodds begins his 25th year as men's athletics director at The University of Texas.

Dodds has guided Texas through some of the school's most successful times since assuming the position as UT's ninth athletics director in the fall of 1981.

"This award affirms what we at The University of Texas, and Longhorn fans throughout the nation, have felt about DeLoss Dodds for many years," said William Powers, Jr., President of The University of Texas at Austin. "He is simply the best Director of Men¹s Athletics in the country. And even more, he is a man of enormous integrity, and he's built a championship program that reflects that integrity. We are blessed to have DeLoss here at UT."

During his tenure at Texas, the Longhorns have claimed 12 National Championships and 82 conference (Southwest and Big 12) titles in nine different sports. UT has earned 18 bowl berths, received an NCAA basketball tourney bid 15 times and won three NCAA baseball titles while advancing to the College World Series 12 times under Dodds' watch. The Horns also have claimed eight NCAA titles and 25 conference swimming & diving crowns, made 13 consecutive trips to the NCAA Tournament in tennis (seven league titles) and been a regular among the nation's best in golf (10 conference crowns and 13 Top 10 NCAA finishes) and track & field (15 conference indoor/outdoor titles).

The beginning of the 2005-06 season saw football win its first National Championship since 1970 with a thrilling 41-38 victory over No. 1 USC in the Rose Bowl on January 4, 2006. The win wrapped up a school record-setting 13-0 season and gave the Longhorns the longest winning streak in the nation at 20.

Baseball's run to the NCAA Championship during the 2004-05 season capped arguably the most successful four-year stretch in UT Athletics history. Football has posted four straight 10-win seasons and ranked among the nation's top six three times, among the top 12 all four years, and won three bowl games, including a 38-37 thriller against Michigan in the 2005 Rose Bowl. Men's Basketball had advanced to three "Sweet 16s" in this span, including a trip to the 2003 Final Four. Baseball has won a pair of NCAA titles and advanced to the College World Series all four years. Swimming and diving won the 2002 National Championship and finished among the top-three three times. Golf has registered three top 10 showings at nationals, while the outdoor track and field program has registered two top nine finishes at the NCAA Championships. Indoor track and field has placed among the top 10 at nationals three times, and cross country has made three NCAA Championship appearances.

Dodds, who manages an $83 million athletics budget at UT, has helped the Longhorns renovate or build $150 million in facilities during the last seven years with plans for further expansion. He set the stage for a $90 million project at Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium/Jamail Field, which nearly doubled the size of the Moncrief-Neuhaus Athletic Center. Dodds followed that project with a $52 million renovation of the Frank Erwin Center, which included the construction of the two story, 44,000-square foot basketball training facility, the Denton A. Cooley Pavilion.

While overseeing the athletics department at Texas, Dodds also has been a pivotal force in some of the most significant events in college athletics. He played a major role in the development of the Big 12 Conference, is a past president of the NCAA Division I-A Directors of Athletics, served as a member of the prestigious NCAA Basketball Committee and was an original member of the NCAA Postseason Football Committee.

After completing his tenure on the NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Committee in spring 1997, Dodds is now a leader in the future planning for college football, concentrating on the issue of a playoff for NCAA Division I-A football. Dodds has chaired the College Football Association Television Committee, was appointed to head a subcommittee to study the possibility of a NCAA football playoff to determine a National Champion and served on the NCAA Governance Committee (dealt with critical issues of women's athletics and NCAA restructuring).

Prior to coming to Texas in 1981, Dodds served for three years as director of athletics at Kansas State and as assistant commissioner of the Big Eight Conference for two years.

A native of Riley, Kan., Dodds and his wife, Mary Ann, have three children (Doug, Deidre and Debra).