James J. Phillips became Northwestern's 21st director of intercollegiate athletics and recreation on April 14, 2008, bringing with him a track record of success at the Division I level and a commitment to the values Northwestern always has maintained in collegiate athletics. Four years into his tenure, Northwestern President Morton Schapiro elevated Phillips to the position of Combe Family Vice President for Athletics & Recreation.
One of 10 children from a middle-class family and a native of the Portage Park neighborhood and Our Lady of Victory Parish on Chicago's northwest side, Phillips has proven to be the perfect fit to lead Northwestern's 19-sport program in the nation's No. 3 market. His deep Windy City roots and family orientation are an integral part of his core philosophy of providing student-athletes with a "world-class experience" that enables them to thrive academically, socially and athletically.
While successfully elevating the profile of Northwestern Athletics locally, Phillips is simultaneously one of the leading voices across the college sports landscape. He was elected as the inaugural chair of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I Council in February 2015. During a two-and-a-half year term, he served as the first-ever sitting athletic director on the NCAA Board of Directors and Board of Governors. In March of 2017, he was appointed to the NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Selection Committee, Northwestern's first representative in 50 years. In July of 2020 the NCAA announced that he had been selected as the vice chair for the committee during the 2020-21 season before chairing the committee in 2021-22. Phillips presently serves as a member of the NCAA Men's Basketball Oversight Committee. He also was appointed to the Fiesta Bowl Board of Directors in June of 2018. He also is the 1st Vice-Chair of the LEAD 1 Board of Directors, an organization that represents the athletics directors and programs of the 130 member universities of the Football Bowl Subdivision. Currently, Phillips is ninth longest-tenured FBS athletic director in the country at their current institution.
In May of 2018, Phillips was honored as the Sports Business Journal Athletic Director of the Year, in recognition of the department's ascension. He also was recognized as the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics (NACDA) Under Armour Athletic Director of the Year in FBS in both 2012 and 2016. During the summer of 2016, he and Northwestern hosted the Division 1A Athletic Directors' Association Institute, a development conference for aspiring athletic directors, the first campus to do so. During 2019, he was recognized by the NCAA as a Champion of Inclusion. The honor recognizes those who work to support ethnic minorities and other populations who are underrepresented among college athletics administrators. In 2020, Phillips announced the creation of a new senior leadership position, the Senior Associate A.D./Chief Diversity & Inclusion Officer, to lead the department's foundational commitment to a world-class experience for ALL Wildcats.
During the course of his Northwestern tenure, Phillips completed a two-year stint as the Athletic Director Chair of the Big Ten Conference, representing the league's ADs on the Executive Committee of the B1G Joint Group, while simultaneously working as a member of the Rose Bowl Management Committee. In 2018, he began his second stint as a member of the Rose Bowl Management Committee. He served as a member of the NCAA Awards, Benefits, Expenses and Financial Aid Cabinet, and is an athletic mentor in the NCAA Pathways Program. He also has served on the NCAA Champions Forum panel, a group of football coaches and athletic directors making an effort to increase the hiring and awareness of minority football coaches.
He served as the president of NACDA, the first Northwestern AD to be elected to the position. He also is a member of the NACDA Executive Committee, a mentor in the NCAA Fellows Leadership Development Program, and has been a member of the Association of Governing Boards of Colleges & Universities. He is an adjunct professor of management and organizations at Northwestern's world-renowned Kellogg School of Management, instructing a course in Comprehensive Perspectives for Leading a Sports Entity. He has previously lectured in the Northwestern School of Continuing Studies' Master's in Sports Administration program, and serves on the Board of Directors at Loyola Academy in nearby Wilmette.
Academically, Wildcats student-athletes have had banner years with Phillips at the helm. Northwestern has surpassed 200 Academic All-Big Ten honorees each of the last ten years, including a record 288 in 2019-20. The group of more than 500 student-athletes representing 19 varsity athletic programs combined to post a record GPA of 3.427 last year. Northwestern's young men and women also earned a record 106 prestigious Big Ten Distinguished Scholar honors in 2020. During Phillips' tenure, three Northwestern student-athletes have been honored with the Big Ten's Wayne Duke Postgraduate Scholarship, most recently two-time NCAA platform diving champion Olivia Rosendahl in February of 2019.
NU scored a 98% overall Graduation Success Rate (GSR) in the latest data released by the NCAA, a figure which led all FBS schools for the third consecutive year. The Wildcats have scored 96%-or-higher overall in every year that GSR data has been released, finishing in the Top-4 among FBS athletic departments all 16 years. Northwestern football's 100-percent GSR in 2019 marked the first time a Power-5 program has ever posted a perfect score and leads the Big Ten by nine points. Wildcats football has ranked first or second in the nation in GSR among FBS schools for 10 consecutive years.
Fourteen Wildcats programs posted perfect scores for the current cohort, NU's highest total since 2009. The list includes baseball, cross country, field hockey, men's golf, men's soccer, men's tennis, fencing, softball, women's basketball, women's golf, women's lacrosse, women's swimming and diving, women's tennis, and women's volleyball.
Northwestern led all Big Ten institutions with 13 varsity programs receiving Academic Progress Rate (APR) Public Recognition Awards, distributed by the NCAA to programs that place in the Top-10% of their respective sports. It was the ninth consecutive year that more than half of NU’s 19 varsity programs received the recognition. Twelve of those 13 programs earned perfect 1,000 multi-year rates. The Wildcats football family led the Big Ten by nine points, and has ranked in the top three among FBS institutions for nine consecutive years. The Wildcats have paced the Big Ten in APR every year since the award's inception in 2004-05. Wildcats women's golf and volleyball are among an elite group of teams from across the country that have received the Public Recognition Award in each of the 15 years of the program. In 2017, among the more than 470,000 student-athletes across the NCAA, Nandi Mehta was one of just two awarded the prestigious Walter Byers Postgraduate Scholarship.
Northwestern continues to be among the nation's leaders in community service under Phillips, who in 2011 oversaw the creation and hiring of NU's first assistant A.D. for community relations. All of Northwestern's more than 500 student-athletes participated in community service during the 2018-19 academic year, with the group as a whole totaling more than 5,500 hours in service of more than 100 community organizations, the ninth consecutive year Wildcats have accumulated more than 5,000 hours of service in Evanston and throughout Chicagoland. The emphasis on outreach also includes athletic department staff members who participate in the department’s annual service day every spring that began in June of 2012.
Further improving the student-athlete experience, not just while they are in school but for the remainder of their professional lives, Phillips facilitated the 2012 institution of the trailblazing 'NU For Life' program managed by a new associate A.D. for career enhancement and employer relations. The innovative four-year program is dedicated to guiding student-athletes toward their professional passion, connecting them with desirable internship and job opportunities, and preparing them for lifelong success after their playing careers are complete. In 2019, thanks to the generous support of Trustee and former men's tennis student-athlete David Kabiller, the department was endowed as the 'David G. Kabiller NU For Life Program', ensuring its ability to impact future generations of Wildcats.
Externally, Phillips launched the first wide-ranging marketing campaign in the history of the department. The "Chicago's Big Ten Team," campaign has produced dramatic gains in brand awareness and ticket sales over the last decade. The Wildcats presence across the city of Chicago has been a constant under Phillips, raising the awareness of Northwestern University throughout Chicagoland.
Perhaps no relationship in Chicago has been more visible than the one Phillips and the Wildcats have forged with the Chicago Cubs. In 2010, Northwestern faced Illinois at Wrigley Field in the first football game at the "Friendly Confines" since 1970 and the first college football game at the venue since 1938. After a profoundly successful event that included hosting ESPN's flagship College Gameday program, the 'Cats and Cubs in 2013 inked a marketing and event giving multiple Northwestern teams the opportunity to compete at one of the most iconic venues in sports. The series officially began on April 20, 2013, when Northwestern baseball defeated Big Ten rival Michigan at Wrigley Field and continued in 2014 when the seven-time NCAA champion women's lacrosse team hosted the first-ever college lacrosse game at the ballpark, defeating the University of Southern California.
In February of 2016, Northwestern Athletics agreed to a broadcast rights extension with WGN Radio AM-720 as the home of Wildcats football and men's basketball through the end of the 2019-20 basketball season. WGN has been the home of the Wildcats, with play-by-play voice Dave Eanet, since 1996.
No transformation has been more visible under Phillips' leadership than the stunning facility upgrades for all 19 varsity programs and more than 500 student-athletes. He launched the first master facility plan study in Northwestern Athletics & Recreation history in November of 2010 and, in 2012, announced approval by the Board of Trustees to build a major complex for athletic and recreational activities on the north end of the main Evanston campus.
The first steps in that plan were to address the needs of the campus community, and in 2012 the University opened a multi-million dollar sailing center on Lake Michigan, recognized as a leader in energy and environmental design and honored by the U.S. Green Building Council with USGBC LEED Gold Certification.
The department also unveiled a 30,000 square-foot expansion and renovation of Henry Crown Sports Pavilion, which included three new fitness studios, a 7,000-square foot strength and conditioning area, two massage therapy suites, classrooms and offices. Recreation facilities on campus welcomed more than 550,000 visits last year alone, while club sports programs had more than 1,400 participants and intramural participation exceeded 9,200. New flooring and branding was installed in Blomquist gym, refurbishing one of campus’ most used recreational facilities.
Northwestern opened the new $18 million Rocky and Berenice Miller Park, a rigorous two-year project built on the exact site of the former Rocky Miller Park without displacing Northwestern Baseball from its home. In 2016, the new $25 million Lanny & Sharon Martin Stadium, Chap & Ethel Hutcheson Field and Lakeside Field venues alongside Lake Michigan were officially unveiled.
In 2018, the department officially welcomed the Northwestern community to the central priority of the athletics facilities plan, a $270 million, 500,000 square-foot developmental home for all student-athletes on campus. The remarkable Ryan Fieldhouse, Wilson Field and Slotnick Family Atrium, a dramatic indoor practice and competition venue was dedicated in April of 2018. The architecturally-stunning 94,000 square-foot turf facility serves all 19 varsity teams, along with competitive and recreational sports. In August, the department opened the doors to the transformative Walter Athletics Center, the new daily hub of the world-class student-athlete experience at the core of the Northwestern Athletics mission. The facility includes locker rooms for seven varsity programs, the state-of-the-art Kaufman Family Athletic Clinic that houses NU's sports medicine and athletic training hub, Nona Jo's student-athlete dining and nutrition center, two sports performance rooms, as well as academic, professional development for all 19 programs and administrative support in the Querrey-Simpson Wing.
On Nov. 1, 2018, Northwestern unveiled an ambitious, complete, $120 million renovation of Welsh-Ryan Arena, the department's most used-and-versatile venue. The competitive home of men's and women's basketball, wrestling and volleyball, now has state-of-the-art fan amenities, like the Wilson Club, for fans and student-athletes alike, and is the most accessible arena in college sports, with ADA seating from every vantage point on every level and five new elevators. The new $30 million Trienens Performance Center, a world-class development facility constructed inside the existing Trienens Hall, opened in November 2019. This facility is now the day-to-day home for men's basketball, women's basketball, baseball, softball and wrestling.
Also opened during the fall of 2019 was a $7.5 million renovation of the Gleacher Golf Center, and Patten Fencing Gymnasium. The complete transformation of the space on Sheridan Road ensures Northwestern golf and fencing have the finest developmental facilities in the country.
The physical transformation of the department under Phillips' leadership was made possible by unprecedented fundraising success. In collaboration with the Office of Alumni Relations & Development, Phillips completely overhauled and expanded the Athletics Development staff beginning in 2012 in preparation for 'We Will: The Campaign for Northwestern'. Since campaign launch, Athletics & Recreation has secured more than $450 million in gifts, surpassing the initial $285 million goal three years ahead of schedule. The department launched the elite Otto Graham Society which consists of more than 80 members who have committed over $15 million to The Wildcat Fund.
Northwestern and Under Armour began a historic multi-year partnership in 2012 that designates Under Armour as the official outfitter of the university's athletic program. The partnership represented Under Armour's first outfitter agreement with a Big Ten Conference athletic program. A leader in performance apparel, footwear and accessories, Under Armour outfits all of Northwestern's 19 men's and women's varsity athletic teams.
Along with the landmark Under Armour agreement, the department has signed major corporate sponsorship deals since partnering with Learfield Sports and re-branding the entity Northwestern Sports Properties (NSP). Northwestern’s total number of sponsors has nearly tripled, including prominent partners such as AT&T, BMO Harris, USG, Allstate, Northwestern Medicine, Gatorade, Nissan, State Farm, Coca-Cola & Athletico Physical Therapy. Corporate sponsorship revenues have increased more than 700% since the Learfield partnership began.
The Wildcats football season ticket base increased from 10,600 in 2009 to more than 25,000 in 2018, an all-time high. Attendance is up more than 15,000 fans per game at Ryan Field over the last 10 seasons, and NU established four football ticket revenue records in eight years. During the Wildcats 2018 Big Ten West championship campaign, attendance increased more than 22% year-over-year, the largest rise in FBS football. The basketball season ticket base nearly doubled over the last decade, and basketball ticket revenues hit record highs in ten consecutive seasons from 2010-11 to 2019-20.
In competition, Northwestern has achieved historic success. During Phillips' time in Evanston, lacrosse, softball, golf, fencing, soccer, tennis, field hockey, swimming, diving and wrestling all have won conference or national championships, with the football team clinching the Big Ten West Division crown twice in the last three years (2018, 2020). The Wildcats are one of only four programs in league history to make multiple appearances in the Big Ten Football Championship Game.
Ten of Northwestern’s 16 all-time bowl appearances have been earned since 2008. Five of the program’s six all-time bowl victories have captivated the Wildcats community in the last nine seasons, including four straight bowl wins from the 2016 Pinstripe Bowl through the 2021 Citrus Bowl. Fourof the team’s five 10-win seasons, including three in the last nine years, have happened with Dan & Susan Jones Head Football Coach Pat Fitzgerald on the field as a student-athlete or coach. The Orland Park native, and two-time National Defensive Player of the Year, has built a program that not only posts the best academic performance in major college football, but captured the 2018 and 2020 Big Ten West Division championships and produced a parade of NFL professionals.
In 2013, former Illinois Mr. Basketball, Chris Collins, was recruited away from his alma mater, Duke University, to lead the Wildcats men’s basketball program. Now endowed as the Sullivan-Ubben Head Men’s Basketball Coach. During the spring of 2017, the team took the entire Wildcats family on a joyous ride to the program’s first NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament in 78 years, as well as its first NCAA Tournament victory. In April of 2017, Phillips simultaneously announced long-term contract extensions for both Fitzgerald and Collins that secure their futures in Evanston through 2025.
Women’s soccer needed a transformational leader in 2011, and Michael Moynihan was identified as the perfect fit for Wildcats women's soccer. He took the program back to the NCAA tournament in 2015 for the first time since 1998, kicking off a run of four consecutive berths, and captured the 2016 Big Ten Championship. The Wildcats had three student-athletes selected in the 2019 National Women’s Soccer League draft, more than any other college program. Men’s soccer has earned three pieces of Big Ten hardware since 2011, and head coach Tim Lenahan and staff have produced professionals Tyler Miller, Cole Missimo and Joey Calistri.
An outside-the-box hire when made in 2008, Emily Fletcher has helmed Wildcats women’s golf to three Big Ten titles, a 2017 NCAA stroke play championship, and a runner-up finish in the NCAA Match Play Championship, and four top-10 results at the NCAA Championships in the last six years. Northwestern’s male and female golfers are the beneficiaries of a collaborative leadership structure put in place in 2014 that includes Fletcher, head men’s coach David Inglis and Director of Golf Pat Goss, one of the world’s top teachers.
Regarded as one of the most prolific players in the history of the sport, head coach Tracey Fuchs is a field hockey icon. She was recruited to Northwestern from Michigan and quickly turned the Wildcats into a national power with a pair of Big Ten titles in recent years. The Hall of Famer has coached four student-athletes since 2010 who have totaled eight All-America honors, and has also been actively involved with Team USA where she coached in the Pan-American Games and the Junior World Cup.
Northwestern’s powerhouse lacrosse team has won seven national championships since 2005. Head coach Kelly Amonte Hiller has guided the Wildcats to a winning record - and the postseason - in each of the past 15 seasons, while piling up Conference and national honors as one of the premier programs in the sport.
Phillips hired Katie Robinson as Northwestern's Director of Swimming & Diving, making her just the second female to hold the position overseeing both men's and women's programs in the Power-5 conferences. Wildcats swimming and diving has earned tremendous success during Phillips' time in Evanston. Three-time All-American Olivia Rosendahl won the NCAA Women's Platform Diving championship in both 2017 and 2018, and the Wildcats have been represented in each of the last three Summer Olympic Games, most recently by swimmers Valerie Gruest-Slowing and Jordan Wilimovsky in Rio in 2016. In the summer before his senior season, Wilimovsky became the first American to compete in both indoor and outdoor swimming events in the same Olympics.
Men’s tennis has posted 20-win seasons in five of the last eight campaigns, and played in six NCAA tournaments under head coach Arvid Swan. His squad has boasted multiple All-Big Ten honorees in six of the last nine seasons.
Women’s tennis has been a model of consistent excellence, earning a Big Ten championship trophy in eight of the last 12 seasons with Claire Pollard at the helm. Since 2008, Pollard has coached five All-Americans and twice been recognized as Big Ten Coach of the Year. Pollard has guided NU to 21 consecutive NCAA tournaments, the fifth-longest streak by an active head coach at the same program.
The softball program under head coach Kate Drohan, has had significant success in the past decade, winning 30-or-more games five times and advancing to seven NCAA tournaments. Led by National Freshman of the Year Danielle Williams in 2019, the team won 20 consecutive Big Ten contests, hosted an NCAA Regional and was one of just 16 teams to advance to Super Regional competition. Four Wildcats have earned a total of six All-America nods under Drohan, while four have been recognized as Academic All-Americans.
An opening atop the volleyball program in 2015 lured Shane Davis, the head coach of the two-time defending national champions in the men’s college game. A similar opportunity to lead Northwestern baseball brought Spencer Allen to Evanston, the first African-American head baseball coach in the Big Ten Conference history. In his second season Allen took the Wildcats to the Big Ten championship game for only the second time in history.
Three wrestlers have won national championships going back to 2008, including freshman Jason Tsirtsis in 2014. Under head coach Matt Storniolo, the Wildcats captured a pair of Big Ten titles in 2020, including the champion at 157lbs, Ryan Deakin, who also was the No. 1 seed for the NCAA Championships canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Northwestern fencing has been a model of consistency with 15 consecutive 30-plus win seasons, but head coach Zach Moss has taken the Wildcats to a new level. Ranked as high as No. 2 in the nation in recent years, Moss led the squad to back-to-back Midwest Fencing Conference championships in 2018 and 2019, the most recent of which included the 'Cats sweeping all three weapons for the first time in program history.
Individually, student-athletes have won the Tewaaraton Trophy in women's lacrosse (Hannah Nielsen, Shannon Smith), the Big Ten's Wayne Duke Postgraduate Award (Olivia Rosendahl, Mark Ison, Drew Ratner), the Hodge Trophy in wrestling (Jake Herbert) and the Big Ten Conference awards for male and female athletes of the year (Jake Herbert in 2009 and Shannon Smith in 2011, respectively).
Prior to arriving in Evanston, Phillips served as Northern Illinois' athletic director for four years beginning in 2004. During that time, the Huskies had unprecedented athletic success and consistent academic achievements. On July 1, 2006, Phillips was promoted to associate vice president, in addition to his director of athletics title, after already being recognized by his peers in the Mid-American Conference with his selection to serve as chairman of the MAC Athletic Directors' Council. He was honored with the 2007 General Robert R. Neyland Outstanding Athletic Director of the Year award while at NIU, and was a member of the NCAA Women's Basketball committee during his time in the MAC.
Phillips was extraordinarily successful in fundraising and marketing at Northern Illinois. He spearheaded the fundraising and construction of the $14-million Yordon Academic and Athletic Performance Center at NIU, the largest capital project in the athletic department's history, and led several successful fundraising campaigns for athletics. In addition, the Huskies opened an indoor practice facility for baseball, softball and men's and women's golf, and began construction in the spring of 2008 on a new soccer/track and field complex.
During Phillips' tenure in DeKalb, he was instrumental in scheduling high-profile football games against Michigan and Ohio State that resulted in national television appearances for NIU. He also negotiated playing the University of Iowa in 2007 at Soldier Field in Chicago as a home game for NIU, a game that sold out in less than a week. In addition, Phillips negotiated a multi-year radio rights agreement for WSCR-AM (The Score) in Chicago to carry football, men's basketball and a weekly NIU live radio show discussing all Huskie athletic programs. Phillips also negotiated a television deal with Comcast SportsNet Chicago to carry football games and a weekly show called Inside Huskie Sports.
A 1990 graduate of the University of Illinois, Phillips started his career as a manager and student assistant in Illinois' athletic department. He earned a master's degree in education at Arizona State University in 1992 while serving as a graduate assistant coach. He later became a restricted earnings basketball coach during a period in which the Sun Devils reached the postseason in five-straight years. He transitioned out of coaching into athletics administration work at ASU in 1997.
Phillips holds a Ph.D. in educational administration from Tennessee, which he completed in the summer of 2007. Phillips served as an assistant athletics director with the Volunteers until 2000. He directed a $12.4 million annual athletics giving program, and was directly responsible for identifying, cultivating and soliciting all major gifts and donations for the Volunteer athletic program. He helped originate the first-ever capital campaign for athletics at UT that raised more than $50 million for endowments, facilities and programs. In addition, he supervised several athletic programs and a variety of other areas.
Phillips then moved to the University of Notre Dame in 2000, where he served as associate director of athletics and senior associate director of athletics for external affairs. During 2002-03, he helped launch the Rockne Heritage Fund, which became the first athletics annual fund that directly benefited student-athlete grant-in-aid scholarships. In addition, he managed the ticket office, various corporate sponsorships, athletic programs and a weekly Irish radio show. At the same time, Phillips played an integral part in the funding of a new $24-million, 96,000-square foot athletics facility. At Notre Dame, Phillips directed all phases of the athletics community relations program and helped develop new institutional and departmental advancement programs.
Phillips and his wife, Laura, have five children: Luke, Madeline, Meredith, John and James.
One of 10 children from a middle-class family and a native of the Portage Park neighborhood and Our Lady of Victory Parish on Chicago's northwest side, Phillips has proven to be the perfect fit to lead Northwestern's 19-sport program in the nation's No. 3 market. His deep Windy City roots and family orientation are an integral part of his core philosophy of providing student-athletes with a "world-class experience" that enables them to thrive academically, socially and athletically.
While successfully elevating the profile of Northwestern Athletics locally, Phillips is simultaneously one of the leading voices across the college sports landscape. He was elected as the inaugural chair of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I Council in February 2015. During a two-and-a-half year term, he served as the first-ever sitting athletic director on the NCAA Board of Directors and Board of Governors. In March of 2017, he was appointed to the NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Selection Committee, Northwestern's first representative in 50 years. In July of 2020 the NCAA announced that he had been selected as the vice chair for the committee during the 2020-21 season before chairing the committee in 2021-22. Phillips presently serves as a member of the NCAA Men's Basketball Oversight Committee. He also was appointed to the Fiesta Bowl Board of Directors in June of 2018. He also is the 1st Vice-Chair of the LEAD 1 Board of Directors, an organization that represents the athletics directors and programs of the 130 member universities of the Football Bowl Subdivision. Currently, Phillips is ninth longest-tenured FBS athletic director in the country at their current institution.
In May of 2018, Phillips was honored as the Sports Business Journal Athletic Director of the Year, in recognition of the department's ascension. He also was recognized as the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics (NACDA) Under Armour Athletic Director of the Year in FBS in both 2012 and 2016. During the summer of 2016, he and Northwestern hosted the Division 1A Athletic Directors' Association Institute, a development conference for aspiring athletic directors, the first campus to do so. During 2019, he was recognized by the NCAA as a Champion of Inclusion. The honor recognizes those who work to support ethnic minorities and other populations who are underrepresented among college athletics administrators. In 2020, Phillips announced the creation of a new senior leadership position, the Senior Associate A.D./Chief Diversity & Inclusion Officer, to lead the department's foundational commitment to a world-class experience for ALL Wildcats.
During the course of his Northwestern tenure, Phillips completed a two-year stint as the Athletic Director Chair of the Big Ten Conference, representing the league's ADs on the Executive Committee of the B1G Joint Group, while simultaneously working as a member of the Rose Bowl Management Committee. In 2018, he began his second stint as a member of the Rose Bowl Management Committee. He served as a member of the NCAA Awards, Benefits, Expenses and Financial Aid Cabinet, and is an athletic mentor in the NCAA Pathways Program. He also has served on the NCAA Champions Forum panel, a group of football coaches and athletic directors making an effort to increase the hiring and awareness of minority football coaches.
He served as the president of NACDA, the first Northwestern AD to be elected to the position. He also is a member of the NACDA Executive Committee, a mentor in the NCAA Fellows Leadership Development Program, and has been a member of the Association of Governing Boards of Colleges & Universities. He is an adjunct professor of management and organizations at Northwestern's world-renowned Kellogg School of Management, instructing a course in Comprehensive Perspectives for Leading a Sports Entity. He has previously lectured in the Northwestern School of Continuing Studies' Master's in Sports Administration program, and serves on the Board of Directors at Loyola Academy in nearby Wilmette.
Academically, Wildcats student-athletes have had banner years with Phillips at the helm. Northwestern has surpassed 200 Academic All-Big Ten honorees each of the last ten years, including a record 288 in 2019-20. The group of more than 500 student-athletes representing 19 varsity athletic programs combined to post a record GPA of 3.427 last year. Northwestern's young men and women also earned a record 106 prestigious Big Ten Distinguished Scholar honors in 2020. During Phillips' tenure, three Northwestern student-athletes have been honored with the Big Ten's Wayne Duke Postgraduate Scholarship, most recently two-time NCAA platform diving champion Olivia Rosendahl in February of 2019.
NU scored a 98% overall Graduation Success Rate (GSR) in the latest data released by the NCAA, a figure which led all FBS schools for the third consecutive year. The Wildcats have scored 96%-or-higher overall in every year that GSR data has been released, finishing in the Top-4 among FBS athletic departments all 16 years. Northwestern football's 100-percent GSR in 2019 marked the first time a Power-5 program has ever posted a perfect score and leads the Big Ten by nine points. Wildcats football has ranked first or second in the nation in GSR among FBS schools for 10 consecutive years.
Fourteen Wildcats programs posted perfect scores for the current cohort, NU's highest total since 2009. The list includes baseball, cross country, field hockey, men's golf, men's soccer, men's tennis, fencing, softball, women's basketball, women's golf, women's lacrosse, women's swimming and diving, women's tennis, and women's volleyball.
Northwestern led all Big Ten institutions with 13 varsity programs receiving Academic Progress Rate (APR) Public Recognition Awards, distributed by the NCAA to programs that place in the Top-10% of their respective sports. It was the ninth consecutive year that more than half of NU’s 19 varsity programs received the recognition. Twelve of those 13 programs earned perfect 1,000 multi-year rates. The Wildcats football family led the Big Ten by nine points, and has ranked in the top three among FBS institutions for nine consecutive years. The Wildcats have paced the Big Ten in APR every year since the award's inception in 2004-05. Wildcats women's golf and volleyball are among an elite group of teams from across the country that have received the Public Recognition Award in each of the 15 years of the program. In 2017, among the more than 470,000 student-athletes across the NCAA, Nandi Mehta was one of just two awarded the prestigious Walter Byers Postgraduate Scholarship.
Northwestern continues to be among the nation's leaders in community service under Phillips, who in 2011 oversaw the creation and hiring of NU's first assistant A.D. for community relations. All of Northwestern's more than 500 student-athletes participated in community service during the 2018-19 academic year, with the group as a whole totaling more than 5,500 hours in service of more than 100 community organizations, the ninth consecutive year Wildcats have accumulated more than 5,000 hours of service in Evanston and throughout Chicagoland. The emphasis on outreach also includes athletic department staff members who participate in the department’s annual service day every spring that began in June of 2012.
Further improving the student-athlete experience, not just while they are in school but for the remainder of their professional lives, Phillips facilitated the 2012 institution of the trailblazing 'NU For Life' program managed by a new associate A.D. for career enhancement and employer relations. The innovative four-year program is dedicated to guiding student-athletes toward their professional passion, connecting them with desirable internship and job opportunities, and preparing them for lifelong success after their playing careers are complete. In 2019, thanks to the generous support of Trustee and former men's tennis student-athlete David Kabiller, the department was endowed as the 'David G. Kabiller NU For Life Program', ensuring its ability to impact future generations of Wildcats.
Externally, Phillips launched the first wide-ranging marketing campaign in the history of the department. The "Chicago's Big Ten Team," campaign has produced dramatic gains in brand awareness and ticket sales over the last decade. The Wildcats presence across the city of Chicago has been a constant under Phillips, raising the awareness of Northwestern University throughout Chicagoland.
Perhaps no relationship in Chicago has been more visible than the one Phillips and the Wildcats have forged with the Chicago Cubs. In 2010, Northwestern faced Illinois at Wrigley Field in the first football game at the "Friendly Confines" since 1970 and the first college football game at the venue since 1938. After a profoundly successful event that included hosting ESPN's flagship College Gameday program, the 'Cats and Cubs in 2013 inked a marketing and event giving multiple Northwestern teams the opportunity to compete at one of the most iconic venues in sports. The series officially began on April 20, 2013, when Northwestern baseball defeated Big Ten rival Michigan at Wrigley Field and continued in 2014 when the seven-time NCAA champion women's lacrosse team hosted the first-ever college lacrosse game at the ballpark, defeating the University of Southern California.
In February of 2016, Northwestern Athletics agreed to a broadcast rights extension with WGN Radio AM-720 as the home of Wildcats football and men's basketball through the end of the 2019-20 basketball season. WGN has been the home of the Wildcats, with play-by-play voice Dave Eanet, since 1996.
No transformation has been more visible under Phillips' leadership than the stunning facility upgrades for all 19 varsity programs and more than 500 student-athletes. He launched the first master facility plan study in Northwestern Athletics & Recreation history in November of 2010 and, in 2012, announced approval by the Board of Trustees to build a major complex for athletic and recreational activities on the north end of the main Evanston campus.
The first steps in that plan were to address the needs of the campus community, and in 2012 the University opened a multi-million dollar sailing center on Lake Michigan, recognized as a leader in energy and environmental design and honored by the U.S. Green Building Council with USGBC LEED Gold Certification.
The department also unveiled a 30,000 square-foot expansion and renovation of Henry Crown Sports Pavilion, which included three new fitness studios, a 7,000-square foot strength and conditioning area, two massage therapy suites, classrooms and offices. Recreation facilities on campus welcomed more than 550,000 visits last year alone, while club sports programs had more than 1,400 participants and intramural participation exceeded 9,200. New flooring and branding was installed in Blomquist gym, refurbishing one of campus’ most used recreational facilities.
Northwestern opened the new $18 million Rocky and Berenice Miller Park, a rigorous two-year project built on the exact site of the former Rocky Miller Park without displacing Northwestern Baseball from its home. In 2016, the new $25 million Lanny & Sharon Martin Stadium, Chap & Ethel Hutcheson Field and Lakeside Field venues alongside Lake Michigan were officially unveiled.
In 2018, the department officially welcomed the Northwestern community to the central priority of the athletics facilities plan, a $270 million, 500,000 square-foot developmental home for all student-athletes on campus. The remarkable Ryan Fieldhouse, Wilson Field and Slotnick Family Atrium, a dramatic indoor practice and competition venue was dedicated in April of 2018. The architecturally-stunning 94,000 square-foot turf facility serves all 19 varsity teams, along with competitive and recreational sports. In August, the department opened the doors to the transformative Walter Athletics Center, the new daily hub of the world-class student-athlete experience at the core of the Northwestern Athletics mission. The facility includes locker rooms for seven varsity programs, the state-of-the-art Kaufman Family Athletic Clinic that houses NU's sports medicine and athletic training hub, Nona Jo's student-athlete dining and nutrition center, two sports performance rooms, as well as academic, professional development for all 19 programs and administrative support in the Querrey-Simpson Wing.
On Nov. 1, 2018, Northwestern unveiled an ambitious, complete, $120 million renovation of Welsh-Ryan Arena, the department's most used-and-versatile venue. The competitive home of men's and women's basketball, wrestling and volleyball, now has state-of-the-art fan amenities, like the Wilson Club, for fans and student-athletes alike, and is the most accessible arena in college sports, with ADA seating from every vantage point on every level and five new elevators. The new $30 million Trienens Performance Center, a world-class development facility constructed inside the existing Trienens Hall, opened in November 2019. This facility is now the day-to-day home for men's basketball, women's basketball, baseball, softball and wrestling.
Also opened during the fall of 2019 was a $7.5 million renovation of the Gleacher Golf Center, and Patten Fencing Gymnasium. The complete transformation of the space on Sheridan Road ensures Northwestern golf and fencing have the finest developmental facilities in the country.
The physical transformation of the department under Phillips' leadership was made possible by unprecedented fundraising success. In collaboration with the Office of Alumni Relations & Development, Phillips completely overhauled and expanded the Athletics Development staff beginning in 2012 in preparation for 'We Will: The Campaign for Northwestern'. Since campaign launch, Athletics & Recreation has secured more than $450 million in gifts, surpassing the initial $285 million goal three years ahead of schedule. The department launched the elite Otto Graham Society which consists of more than 80 members who have committed over $15 million to The Wildcat Fund.
Northwestern and Under Armour began a historic multi-year partnership in 2012 that designates Under Armour as the official outfitter of the university's athletic program. The partnership represented Under Armour's first outfitter agreement with a Big Ten Conference athletic program. A leader in performance apparel, footwear and accessories, Under Armour outfits all of Northwestern's 19 men's and women's varsity athletic teams.
Along with the landmark Under Armour agreement, the department has signed major corporate sponsorship deals since partnering with Learfield Sports and re-branding the entity Northwestern Sports Properties (NSP). Northwestern’s total number of sponsors has nearly tripled, including prominent partners such as AT&T, BMO Harris, USG, Allstate, Northwestern Medicine, Gatorade, Nissan, State Farm, Coca-Cola & Athletico Physical Therapy. Corporate sponsorship revenues have increased more than 700% since the Learfield partnership began.
The Wildcats football season ticket base increased from 10,600 in 2009 to more than 25,000 in 2018, an all-time high. Attendance is up more than 15,000 fans per game at Ryan Field over the last 10 seasons, and NU established four football ticket revenue records in eight years. During the Wildcats 2018 Big Ten West championship campaign, attendance increased more than 22% year-over-year, the largest rise in FBS football. The basketball season ticket base nearly doubled over the last decade, and basketball ticket revenues hit record highs in ten consecutive seasons from 2010-11 to 2019-20.
In competition, Northwestern has achieved historic success. During Phillips' time in Evanston, lacrosse, softball, golf, fencing, soccer, tennis, field hockey, swimming, diving and wrestling all have won conference or national championships, with the football team clinching the Big Ten West Division crown twice in the last three years (2018, 2020). The Wildcats are one of only four programs in league history to make multiple appearances in the Big Ten Football Championship Game.
Ten of Northwestern’s 16 all-time bowl appearances have been earned since 2008. Five of the program’s six all-time bowl victories have captivated the Wildcats community in the last nine seasons, including four straight bowl wins from the 2016 Pinstripe Bowl through the 2021 Citrus Bowl. Fourof the team’s five 10-win seasons, including three in the last nine years, have happened with Dan & Susan Jones Head Football Coach Pat Fitzgerald on the field as a student-athlete or coach. The Orland Park native, and two-time National Defensive Player of the Year, has built a program that not only posts the best academic performance in major college football, but captured the 2018 and 2020 Big Ten West Division championships and produced a parade of NFL professionals.
In 2013, former Illinois Mr. Basketball, Chris Collins, was recruited away from his alma mater, Duke University, to lead the Wildcats men’s basketball program. Now endowed as the Sullivan-Ubben Head Men’s Basketball Coach. During the spring of 2017, the team took the entire Wildcats family on a joyous ride to the program’s first NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament in 78 years, as well as its first NCAA Tournament victory. In April of 2017, Phillips simultaneously announced long-term contract extensions for both Fitzgerald and Collins that secure their futures in Evanston through 2025.
Women’s soccer needed a transformational leader in 2011, and Michael Moynihan was identified as the perfect fit for Wildcats women's soccer. He took the program back to the NCAA tournament in 2015 for the first time since 1998, kicking off a run of four consecutive berths, and captured the 2016 Big Ten Championship. The Wildcats had three student-athletes selected in the 2019 National Women’s Soccer League draft, more than any other college program. Men’s soccer has earned three pieces of Big Ten hardware since 2011, and head coach Tim Lenahan and staff have produced professionals Tyler Miller, Cole Missimo and Joey Calistri.
An outside-the-box hire when made in 2008, Emily Fletcher has helmed Wildcats women’s golf to three Big Ten titles, a 2017 NCAA stroke play championship, and a runner-up finish in the NCAA Match Play Championship, and four top-10 results at the NCAA Championships in the last six years. Northwestern’s male and female golfers are the beneficiaries of a collaborative leadership structure put in place in 2014 that includes Fletcher, head men’s coach David Inglis and Director of Golf Pat Goss, one of the world’s top teachers.
Regarded as one of the most prolific players in the history of the sport, head coach Tracey Fuchs is a field hockey icon. She was recruited to Northwestern from Michigan and quickly turned the Wildcats into a national power with a pair of Big Ten titles in recent years. The Hall of Famer has coached four student-athletes since 2010 who have totaled eight All-America honors, and has also been actively involved with Team USA where she coached in the Pan-American Games and the Junior World Cup.
Northwestern’s powerhouse lacrosse team has won seven national championships since 2005. Head coach Kelly Amonte Hiller has guided the Wildcats to a winning record - and the postseason - in each of the past 15 seasons, while piling up Conference and national honors as one of the premier programs in the sport.
Phillips hired Katie Robinson as Northwestern's Director of Swimming & Diving, making her just the second female to hold the position overseeing both men's and women's programs in the Power-5 conferences. Wildcats swimming and diving has earned tremendous success during Phillips' time in Evanston. Three-time All-American Olivia Rosendahl won the NCAA Women's Platform Diving championship in both 2017 and 2018, and the Wildcats have been represented in each of the last three Summer Olympic Games, most recently by swimmers Valerie Gruest-Slowing and Jordan Wilimovsky in Rio in 2016. In the summer before his senior season, Wilimovsky became the first American to compete in both indoor and outdoor swimming events in the same Olympics.
Men’s tennis has posted 20-win seasons in five of the last eight campaigns, and played in six NCAA tournaments under head coach Arvid Swan. His squad has boasted multiple All-Big Ten honorees in six of the last nine seasons.
Women’s tennis has been a model of consistent excellence, earning a Big Ten championship trophy in eight of the last 12 seasons with Claire Pollard at the helm. Since 2008, Pollard has coached five All-Americans and twice been recognized as Big Ten Coach of the Year. Pollard has guided NU to 21 consecutive NCAA tournaments, the fifth-longest streak by an active head coach at the same program.
The softball program under head coach Kate Drohan, has had significant success in the past decade, winning 30-or-more games five times and advancing to seven NCAA tournaments. Led by National Freshman of the Year Danielle Williams in 2019, the team won 20 consecutive Big Ten contests, hosted an NCAA Regional and was one of just 16 teams to advance to Super Regional competition. Four Wildcats have earned a total of six All-America nods under Drohan, while four have been recognized as Academic All-Americans.
An opening atop the volleyball program in 2015 lured Shane Davis, the head coach of the two-time defending national champions in the men’s college game. A similar opportunity to lead Northwestern baseball brought Spencer Allen to Evanston, the first African-American head baseball coach in the Big Ten Conference history. In his second season Allen took the Wildcats to the Big Ten championship game for only the second time in history.
Three wrestlers have won national championships going back to 2008, including freshman Jason Tsirtsis in 2014. Under head coach Matt Storniolo, the Wildcats captured a pair of Big Ten titles in 2020, including the champion at 157lbs, Ryan Deakin, who also was the No. 1 seed for the NCAA Championships canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Northwestern fencing has been a model of consistency with 15 consecutive 30-plus win seasons, but head coach Zach Moss has taken the Wildcats to a new level. Ranked as high as No. 2 in the nation in recent years, Moss led the squad to back-to-back Midwest Fencing Conference championships in 2018 and 2019, the most recent of which included the 'Cats sweeping all three weapons for the first time in program history.
Individually, student-athletes have won the Tewaaraton Trophy in women's lacrosse (Hannah Nielsen, Shannon Smith), the Big Ten's Wayne Duke Postgraduate Award (Olivia Rosendahl, Mark Ison, Drew Ratner), the Hodge Trophy in wrestling (Jake Herbert) and the Big Ten Conference awards for male and female athletes of the year (Jake Herbert in 2009 and Shannon Smith in 2011, respectively).
Prior to arriving in Evanston, Phillips served as Northern Illinois' athletic director for four years beginning in 2004. During that time, the Huskies had unprecedented athletic success and consistent academic achievements. On July 1, 2006, Phillips was promoted to associate vice president, in addition to his director of athletics title, after already being recognized by his peers in the Mid-American Conference with his selection to serve as chairman of the MAC Athletic Directors' Council. He was honored with the 2007 General Robert R. Neyland Outstanding Athletic Director of the Year award while at NIU, and was a member of the NCAA Women's Basketball committee during his time in the MAC.
Phillips was extraordinarily successful in fundraising and marketing at Northern Illinois. He spearheaded the fundraising and construction of the $14-million Yordon Academic and Athletic Performance Center at NIU, the largest capital project in the athletic department's history, and led several successful fundraising campaigns for athletics. In addition, the Huskies opened an indoor practice facility for baseball, softball and men's and women's golf, and began construction in the spring of 2008 on a new soccer/track and field complex.
During Phillips' tenure in DeKalb, he was instrumental in scheduling high-profile football games against Michigan and Ohio State that resulted in national television appearances for NIU. He also negotiated playing the University of Iowa in 2007 at Soldier Field in Chicago as a home game for NIU, a game that sold out in less than a week. In addition, Phillips negotiated a multi-year radio rights agreement for WSCR-AM (The Score) in Chicago to carry football, men's basketball and a weekly NIU live radio show discussing all Huskie athletic programs. Phillips also negotiated a television deal with Comcast SportsNet Chicago to carry football games and a weekly show called Inside Huskie Sports.
A 1990 graduate of the University of Illinois, Phillips started his career as a manager and student assistant in Illinois' athletic department. He earned a master's degree in education at Arizona State University in 1992 while serving as a graduate assistant coach. He later became a restricted earnings basketball coach during a period in which the Sun Devils reached the postseason in five-straight years. He transitioned out of coaching into athletics administration work at ASU in 1997.
Phillips holds a Ph.D. in educational administration from Tennessee, which he completed in the summer of 2007. Phillips served as an assistant athletics director with the Volunteers until 2000. He directed a $12.4 million annual athletics giving program, and was directly responsible for identifying, cultivating and soliciting all major gifts and donations for the Volunteer athletic program. He helped originate the first-ever capital campaign for athletics at UT that raised more than $50 million for endowments, facilities and programs. In addition, he supervised several athletic programs and a variety of other areas.
Phillips then moved to the University of Notre Dame in 2000, where he served as associate director of athletics and senior associate director of athletics for external affairs. During 2002-03, he helped launch the Rockne Heritage Fund, which became the first athletics annual fund that directly benefited student-athlete grant-in-aid scholarships. In addition, he managed the ticket office, various corporate sponsorships, athletic programs and a weekly Irish radio show. At the same time, Phillips played an integral part in the funding of a new $24-million, 96,000-square foot athletics facility. At Notre Dame, Phillips directed all phases of the athletics community relations program and helped develop new institutional and departmental advancement programs.
Phillips and his wife, Laura, have five children: Luke, Madeline, Meredith, John and James.