Stanford announces hiring of John Donahoe as athletic director

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Stanford has officially announced the hiring of former Nike CEO and Stanford Graduate School of Business alum ('86) John Donahoe as their new athletic director (Jaquish & Kenninger Director and Chair of Athletics), replacing Bernard Muir, who stepped down in the spring.

READ: Stanford hires John Donahoe as athletic director

In article linked above, I shared some of my thoughts on what Donahoe will bring to The Farm. In this piece, I want to focus more on what Stanford has been saying publicly about the hire. Below are some quotes from the press release that Stanford put out and thoughts that I have.

"Stanford occupies a unique place in the national athletics landscape. We needed a distinctive leader - someone with the vision, judgment, and strategic acumen for a new era of college athletics, and with a deep appreciation for Stanford's model of scholar-athlete excellence. John embodies these characteristics. We're grateful he has agreed to lead Stanford Athletics through this critical period in college sports."-Stanford University President Jonathan Levin

"Two academic institutions have played an outsized role in Nike's birth and its culture: the University of Oregon athletic department with hall of fame coach Bill Bowerman, and the Stanford Graduate School of Business under the legendary Ernie Arbuckle. Stanford has made an excellent choice for its new athletic director in John Donahoe. They will not find anyone smarter or with more integrity and dedication. Given the importance that Stanford continues to place on the academic development of its student athletes, it couldn't have picked a better person than John, and under his leadership, Stanford Athletics has both a very bright future and an opportunity to serve as a role model in the rapidly evolving world of college athletics."-Phil Knight, Nike co-founder and Stanford GSB alum ('62)

"This hire is a slam-dunk. John's experience and skills will immediately benefit our athletics department and I am excited to see what he will accomplish on The Farm. This is a great day for Stanford and for Stanford Athletics."-Former Stanford women's basketball head coach Tara VanDerveer

"I am absolutely thrilled John Donahoe is joining as our next athletic director. He brings unparalleled experience and elite leadership to our athletic department in a time of opportunity and change. I could not be more excited to partner with and learn from him."-Stanford football general manager Andrew Luck

One important note from the press release that I didn't mention previously is that Andrew Luck will report to Donahoe after previously reporting directly to university president Jonathan Levin. With Muir on his way out, it made sense for Luck to just report to Levin, but now that Donahoe is on board as athletic director, it makes sense for the two of them to be working closely together.

Secondly, the major theme from all these quotes is that Stanford feels Donahoe is uniquely qualified to lead their athletics program during a period of college athletics that involves NIL and the transfer portal. Two things that didn't exist previously. In theory, given his extensive business background that includes time at Nike along with his days at Stanford and Dartmouth, Donahoe should have the resources and tools to navigate this era of college athletics.

Having said that, he's never held a position in a collegiate athletics department before. While his background should be a strength to him as he jumps into this role, there's going to be a lot of learning that he's going to have to undergo as this is his first time working in a collegiate athletics department. To lead a type of organization that you've never been in, even if you have extensive experience in similar fields and environments, will have a learning curve to it.

The biggest task ahead for Donahoe is definitely the football side of things. That's the sport that is in the most need of help, having gone 3-9 four seasons in a row. Having Andrew Luck as general manager gives the program some life and hope, but Donahoe is going to have to make sure Luck is held accountable and is on the right track to getting the football program back to the level they feel it should be at.

Overall, it'll be interesting to see how Donahoe does in his role as Stanford athletics director. It's clear that Stanford is fired up about him and when you have people like Andrew Luck and Tara VanDerveer in your corner, that's huge. He certainly will get a ton of support and that's something that should help him a ton as he takes on this new challenge.

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