Louisville President Dr. Neeli Bendapudi Leaves for Penn State

She had served as president of the university since 2018.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Not only is the University of Louisville on the precipice of losing their athletic director, they have officially lost their president as well.

Dr. Neeli Bendapudi, who has been with Louisville as the university’s president since April of 2018, has been named the next president at Penn State University, the PSU Board of Trustees announced Thursday.

"Through my discussions with Dr. Bendapudi, it was clear that she is an authentic person of the highest integrity," board member David Kleppinger said. "She has strong academic values, she is deeply committed to students, faculty and staff."

Dr. Bendapudi will replace Eric Barron, who announced last February that he would be retiring from Penn State following the end of the 2021-22 academic year. She will remain in her current position with Louisville through the end of the year, per UofL spokesman John Karman.

Coming over from the University of Kansas where she had served as Provost and Executive Vice Chancellor, Dr. Bendapudi had drawn criticism in recent months — particularly in the last week — concerning her rumored handling/involvement of matters in the Louisville athletic department.

When it was announced in August that head men's basketball coach Chris Mack would be suspended for the first six games of the 2021-22 season, athletic director Vince Tyra took full responsibility for the decision. But, according to WDRB’s Eric Crawford, the decision to suspend Mack "was driven from the president's office, not the athletic department" and that there was "strong debate over proceeding with it".

Last Saturday, Dr. Bendapudi released a statement giving a vote of confidence to Tyra, saying that she has "faith in Vince Tyra's leadership of the department,” and that "decisions about personnel matters within the athletic department are made by the Athletic Director".

This was a direct response to widespread rumors that she sat in with Tyra during the previous day’s meeting with head football coach Scott Satterfield, and that she influenced Tyra's decision to retain him for the 2022 season.

Later that day, Sports Illustrated’s Pat Forde reported that not only that the interest between Tyra and Florida State regarding FSU’s soon-to-be vacant athletic director position is "mutual and serious", but that relations between Tyra and Dr. Bendapudi were "strained enough that a potential parting could be considered mutual".

After three consecutive days of special meetings held in executive session, the UofL Board of Trustees announced Wednesday that they had waived the non-complete and 30-day notice of termination clauses from Tyra's contract. Dr. Bendapudi, nor anyone else from the Board, was made available for questions regarding the move.

This paved the way for Tyra to take the FSU job, although he has yet to officially jump ship, and officially is still the AD at Louisville.

(Photo of Neeli Bendapudi: Michael Clevinger - Courier Journal via Imagn Content Services, LLC)

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