Biography
Steven J. Hatchell has spent more than five decades as one of the most influential administrators in college football, including more than two decades leading the transformation of the National Football Foundation & College Hall of Fame into a stronger, more nationally prominent organization.
Hatchell became NFF president & CEO on Jan. 1, 2005, bringing more than 35 years of leadership experience in collegiate athletics and sports administration. Since then, he has expanded the Foundation's national reach and strengthened its ability to recognize academic achievement, provide scholarships and develop future leaders through football, touching virtually every facet of its operations.
Early in his tenure, Hatchell spearheaded the relocation of the NFF's national headquarters from the New York-New Jersey area, its home for 60 years, to Irving, Texas. He also reshaped the NFF Board of Directors, expanding its geographic reach and bringing together CEOs, conference commissioners, athletics directors, professional sports executives, NFF College Football Hall of Famers and national civic leaders. His early efforts also included recruiting Archie Manning to succeed Ron Johnson as NFF Chairman, establishing an 18-year partnership that continues to this day.
One of Hatchell's most significant accomplishments was helping secure a permanent home for the NFF College Football Hall of Fame, partnering with Chick-fil-A and the Peach Bowl to relocate it in 2014 to a state-of-the-art, $68.5 million, 94,246-square-foot facility in downtown Atlanta. Since taking the NFF's helm in 2005, Hatchell has overseen the induction of 31% of all Hall of Fame members since the first class in 1951.
Hatchell has strengthened the NFF's founding mission of promoting academic excellence and developing leaders through football. In 2007, the NFF established the Hampshire Honor Society to recognize college football players excelling in the classroom. From 345 inaugural members, the program grew to a record 2,633 honorees in 2026, recognizing 23,605 student-athletes from 692 institutions since its inception. Under Hatchell, the NFF also established 10 new national scholar-athlete endowments between 2005 and 2024. Since 1959, the National Scholar-Athlete program has distributed $13.5 million in postgraduate scholarships, with 34% of all honorees selected during Hatchell's tenure.
Under Hatchell, the NFF significantly elevated the profile of its premier scholar-athlete honor, renaming it the William V. Campbell Trophy® in 2009 to honor the legendary business leader, former Columbia player and coach, and 2004 NFF Gold Medal recipient. Hatchell also helped establish a permanent home for the trophy at the New York Athletic Club and secured national recognition for its recipient at the College Football Playoff National Championship.
In 2011, under Hatchell's leadership, the NFF launched Faculty Salutes to recognize the vital role of faculty athletics representatives, with Fidelity Investments donating more than $1 million to support student-athlete academic services at recipients' schools. The NFF also created the Team of Distinction to honor outstanding high school scholar-athletes and established the National High School Academic Excellence Awards Presented by the Rose Bowl Legacy Foundation. The program's top honor was later named the Hatchell Cup Presented by Bob's Steak and Chop House in recognition of his leadership.
Under Hatchell, the NFF has expanded efforts to highlight football's benefits to players, families and communities. Future For Football, launched in 2018, shares stories of the game's positive impact. The "I Played" campaign features former players explaining how football shaped their lives, while the "Good in the Game" podcast and newsletter bring those stories and perspectives to a broader audience.
Hatchell has strengthened the NFF's relationships throughout football, cultivating partnerships with the NCAA, collegiate conferences, American Football Coaches Association, National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics, Football Writers Association of America, Bowl Season and other key organizations.
Hatchell brought an extraordinary résumé to the NFF. A 1970 journalism graduate of the University of Colorado, he began his career in sports information at Colorado and Colorado State before becoming an associate commissioner of the Big Eight Conference.
At 33, he became commissioner of the Metropolitan Collegiate Athletic Conference and later executive director of the Orange Bowl, where he secured FedEx as the title sponsor and oversaw four national championship games during his six-year tenure. While at the Orange Bowl, he chaired the Football Bowl Association, now known as Bowl Season, for five years.
He served as the final commissioner of the Southwest Conference before becoming the first commissioner of the Big 12, which he helped establish in the mid-1990s. Hatchell helped negotiate the Big 12's television contracts and bowl arrangements.
Before joining the NFF, he spent six years as commissioner of the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association. He also served on multiple U.S. Olympic Committee boards and the staffs of three Olympic Games, led organizing committees for two Super Bowls and directed 10 NCAA basketball tournaments. Hatchell has served on the boards of Catholic Campus Ministries and Texas Special Olympics.
Hatchell's contributions have earned widespread recognition, including the Pop Warner Little Scholars' Warner Award (2014), the Football Writers Association of America's Bert McGrane Award (2015), NACDA's Golden Anniversary Award (2015), Dallas Father of the Year honors (2022) and the Maxwell Football Club's Francis "Reds" Bagnell Award for contributions to football (2024). He has also been inducted into the University of Colorado Athletics Hall of Fame (2017), the College Sports Communicators Hall of Fame (2018) and the Bowl Season Leadership Hall of Fame (2023).
