Louisville Athletic Director Hot Board

Here are the eight individuals that Louisville Report believes should be candidates for the presumably soon-to-be vacant AD position at Louisville.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - It's not official yet, but the writing is on the wall.

On Wednesday, the the University of Louisville's Board of Trustees waived the non-complete and 30-day notice of termination clauses from the contract of athletic director Vince Tyra. This was done with the assumption that he will be taking the same position at Florida State, which he has been linked to since last Friday.

As of right now, there are no official statements from the university as to how we got to this point. All three meetings held this past week by the Board and ULAA regarding Tyra were conducted virtually, and no questions were taken afterwards.

That being said, it's safe to assume that Louisville will soon be looking for a new permanent athletic director. Signs point to deputy athletic director Josh Heird being named interim, but the university has a plethora of options for the permanent role.

Below, Louisville Report has gathered the named for eight individuals in which we believe should be considered candidates for athletic director at Louisville. They range from current and former athletic directors, to those with ties to the university.'

Here are the candidates in alphabetical order by last name:

Derek Cowherd

University of Louisville Associate Athletic Director for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion

It's only been about a month since Cowherd has been back with his alma mater, as he was a former linebacker for the Cardinals in the mid-1990's, but he is worthy of a look nonetheless.

In his current role, he is responsible for "developing, facilitating, and implementing DEI initiatives and programming for UofL Athletics. Hired in November, he had previously been with Third Eye Consulting Group as a senior consultant since April, which is a firm "with an emphasis on improving organizational and cultural understanding through equity-minded and culturally-responsive awareness and leadership competencies".

Prior to that, he had a three-year stint at Ohio State as their Senior Associate Athletics Director, and a six-year run at Ole Miss in the same role. Student-athletes achieved a record-high 3.36 cumulative GPA while he was at OSU, while UM student-athletes had four consecutive overall GPA's above 3.00 for the first in school history. 

Karlton Creech

University of Denver Vice Chancellor for Athletics

Creech might not be the one of the first people you think of when compiling a list of the top athletic directors in the country, but he belongs in the conversation. In his two-plus decades in sport administration, he has developed a reputation for "leading exceptional athletics programs, as well as fundraising and encouraging the academic success of student-athletes".

Named Denver's AD in May of 2018, Creech came over after a four-year stint at the AD at the University of Maine. There, he restructured the program's fundraising model and led projects that resulted in multiple endowments of more than $1 million.

Don't worry, Creech has "Power Five" experience. Prior to Maine, he spent a decade at North Carolina as their Senior Associate Director of Athletics, where he managed capital projects such as the coordination of the $88 million football stadium expansion. He also spent two years at UNC as their Chief of Staff.

John Hartwell

Utah State University Athletics Director

Between his current tenure at Utah State and three-year stint at Troy before, Hartwell has seen nothing but success.

Since being hired by Utah State in the summer of 2015, Aggies Athletics has seen a high level of success in both men's basketball and football. Hartwell hired Craig Smith to lead the basketball program, who then guided the Aggies to a 74-24 record and two Mountain West titles before leaving to take the Utah job. First year football head coach Blake Anderson also led Utah State to the 2021 Mountain West Championship.

Hartwell also had great success at Troy. He hired Neal Brown as head football coach in his final year with the University, who then went 35-16 with a conference championship.

At Utah State, he negotiated an apparel deal with Nike, and oversaw the completion of the $36 million, 85,000-square foot West Stadium Center. At Troy, he spearheaded several significant upgrades to its athletic facilities, such as the $25 million North End Zone Project for Veterans Memorial Stadium.

Josh Heird

University of Louisville Deputy Athletic Director

Could we see Louisville go in house yet again? It's very possible. Heird is extremely familiar with the inner workings of the Louisville athletic program, currently in his 11th year with the University between two stints.

Named UofL's deputy athletic director in April of 2019, he is the sport administrator for baseball, men’s basketball, and football. He also provides administrative oversight for championships, facilities/events, capital projects and equipment operations.

Prior to that, he spent two years at Villanova University as their Senior Associate Athletics Director/Chief Athletics Operating Officer. There, he provided leadership for all internal units of the athletic department and had administrative oversight with finance and budget, capital projects, ticket and equipment operation, food service, camps and overall project and event management.

The bulk of his time at Louisville came before Villanova, when he an Assistant Athletic Director from 2007 to 2016. Like at 'Nova, he had oversight of capital projects approved by the UofL Athletic Association, and also assisted with the day-to-day management of facility operations.

Blake James

Former University of Miami Athletic Director

This name might not be the most popular one on the list considering his firing from the University of Miami last month - and the fact that he is tied to now-fired Canes football coach Manny Diaz - but this could be a selection to look at.

James took over as the AD in February of 2013 following the fallout from the Nevin Shapiro NCAA case, and he lead the Hurricanes through some tough times. Miami was able to overcome the penalties, and James led the way for "significant enhancements in all aspects of the department", including an indoor practice facility for football, a baseball player development center and more.

In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, Miami was able to raise close to $9 million for the 2020-21 academic year. James' best coaching hire is that of football coach Mark Richt, who lead the Canes to a 26-13 record and peaked as high as No. 2 in the AP Poll.

Craig Pintens

Loyola Marymount University Athletic Director

In just four years at the AD at Loyola Marymount, Pintens has hired an astounding *eight* head coaches, all across different programs at LMU. Head. Stan Johnson, who was brought in to lead the men's basketball program in 2020, led the Lions to a 13-9 record in his first year - only their fifth winning season since 1997.

Despite the pandemic, Pintens did an incredible job fundraising, helping raise $4.74 million in 2020-21 alone. He also oversaw renovations of Gersten Pavillion, which included a new floor design, lighting, seating, new lobby entrance, spirit shop, and comprehensive rebranding.

Prior to Loyola Marymount, Pintens had stops at Oregon, LSU and Marquette. He was the senior associate athletic director at Oregon for seven years, helping transform the fan experience, strategic planning processes, athletics operations, promotions, and fundraising while overseeing the marketing and communications departments.

Todd Stewart

Western Kentucky University Director of Athletics

Since Stewarts's hiring as Western Kentucky's permanent athletic director in May of 2012, the Hilltoppers have seen unprecedented success across their entire athletic department. Stewart was an instrumental figure in not only in WKU's transition from the Sun Belt to Conference USA in 2014, but their apparel deal with Nike in 2017.

In football, three of Stewart's four hires posted winning records in their tenures at Western Kentucky - Bobby Petrino (8-4), Jeff Brohm (30-10) and current head coach Tyson Helton (22-16). Stewart hired Rick Stansbury in 2016 to guide the men's basketball program, who has led the Hilltoppers to a 103-60 record in his first five years with the program.

Since taking the position, Stewart has raised over $8 million for various capital projects, and made 13 head coaching hires across WKU's 14 sanctioned sports. Prior to joining WKU's senior staff in 2008, he had a 40-month stint as the Associate Commissioner for Communications for the Sun Belt, where he and his staff were responsible for internal and external communications for all Sun Belt publicity.

Devon Thomas

Gonzaga University Senior Associate Athletic Director

Like Cowherd, Thomas also has a background in diversity, equity and inclusion while also having played football at the University of Louisville, but also comes with a little more experience on the athletics side of things.

Hired by Gonzaga in October, he previously spent three-plus years at Eastern Washington as their Deputy Athletic Director, where he oversaw annual development, marketing, communications and ticket operations. He was also EWU's liaison to Eagles Sports Properties - a Learfield Sports Property - and also functioned as the department's diversity and inclusion designee.

Fundraising is also a strong suit of Thomas'. Prior to his time at EWU, he was the Assistant Athletic Director at Washington State, where he led the engagement efforts of over 900 donors and $1.47 million in annual contributions. Before that, he also spent five combined years at Gonzaga and Louisville in Director of Annual Giving roles.

(Photo of Devon Thomas: Gonzaga University Athletics, John Hartwell: Deseret News)

You can follow Louisville Report for future coverage by liking us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram:

Facebook - @LouisvilleOnSI
Twitter - @LouisvilleOnSI
Instagram - @louisville_report

You can also follow Deputy Editor Matthew McGavic at @Matt_McGavic on Twitter