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University of Oregon Athletics

Staff Directory

Rob  Mullens
Rob Mullens
  • Title:
    Athletic Director
A highly respected industry leader who has led University of Oregon athletics to unprecedented heights, Rob Mullens is entering his 14th academic year as the Ducks’ athletic director.
 
Under his leadership, Oregon student-athletes have produced one of the most successful eras of broad-based excellence in UO history, winning 17 NCAA national championships (UO has won 34 NCAA titles all-time) and recording all-time best finishes for the Ducks in the NACDA Directors’ Cup of ninth place in 2016-17 and 10th place in 2015-16. This marked the only two top-10 finishes in Oregon history and a record point total in 2016-17. The Ducks finished in the top 25 nationally in a school-record seven consecutive years from 2012-18 and were a top 30 school in each of Mullens’ first 11 years in his role and in 12 of the last 13 years overall.
 
The five core goals of Oregon athletics are as follows: provide an exceptional student-athlete experience, foster a culture of excellence, enhance resources to match expectations, compete for championships in all sports, and broaden, unite, and strengthen the Oregon family. Those pillars — student-athlete experience, academic excellence, and broad-based competitive excellence — comprise the foundation for Mullens as he oversees more than 500 student-athletes and a budget of $145 million.
 
During the most recent academic year (2022-23), Oregon was the only school in the country with an Elite Eight volleyball team, Super Regional appearances by both baseball and softball, and 10 wins in football. Additionally, the Ducks joined Alabama and Tennessee as the only athletic programs this academic year to reach 10 wins in football, 20 wins by both basketball programs as well as volleyball, and 30 wins in both baseball and softball, with Oregon the only school to do so the last two consecutive years. The women’s track and field program finished fourth at the NCAA Championships in addition to winning the Pac-12 title, with baseball winning its first Pac-12 Championship since 1957. The men’s golf program made the final cut at the NCAA Championships for the second consecutive year, while women’s golf extended its postseason streak to three years in a row, the longest streak for the program since 1993-95. The Duck acrobatics and tumbling program also finished second in the nation.
 
Also in 2021-22, the Oregon women’s golf program finished second overall at the NCAA Championships, while men’s golf made the final cut and finished 15th. Additionally, the UO baseball, women’s basketball, softball, volleyball, and women’s tennis programs all played in their respective NCAA tournaments, while Oregon won the Pac-12 championship in both men’s and women’s track and field.
 
In the 2020-21 academic year, Oregon was the only school to appear in a New Year’s Six Bowl while also reaching the Sweet 16 in both men’s and women’s basketball. Also, that year, the Ducks were one of only two athletic programs to play in a football bowl game and earn selection to all of the following postseason tournaments: baseball, men’s basketball, women’s basketball, softball, and volleyball. The Ducks also won their second Pac-12 football title in a row, marking only the second time in school history Oregon has won consecutive football conference championships and the first since winning three in a row from 2009-11.
 
In December 2021, Mullens hired Georgia defensive coordinator Dan Lanning as the new leader for the Oregon football, bringing one of college football’s brightest young coaches and top defensive minds and recruiters to Eugene. Lanning replaced Mario Cristobal, who went 35-13 with two Pac-12 titles and a Rose Bowl victory after the former Duck assistant coach was promoted by Mullens to the head coaching role in December 2017. Lanning was 10-3 in his first season, including a Holiday Bowl victory. Lanning has won 10 games each of his first two seasons.
 
In the 2019-20 academic year, Oregon became the first Pac-12 school and only the second Power 5 institution to win conference championships in football, men’s basketball, and women’s basketball in the same year, with the three programs combining to post a 39-0 home record. The Ducks won only the fourth Rose Bowl in their history during that year, while quarterback Justin Herbert won the William V. Campbell Trophy and was the No. 6 overall pick in the NFL Draft before subsequently earning NFL Rookie of the Year honors.
 
Mullens was named the University’s 12th director of intercollegiate athletics on July 15, 2010, after arriving from the University of Kentucky, where he served as deputy director of athletics and managed day-to-day operations for Kentucky’s 22-sport athletics department, with an annual operating budget of $79 million. Since Mullens’ arrival in Eugene, the Duck football team has claimed four conference championships and played in two national title games, including the inaugural College Football Playoff Championship Game. Oregon has also played in a total of seven New Year’s Six or national championship games during his tenure (three Rose Bowls, two Fiesta Bowls, two national title games).
 
The 2014-15 season saw the coronation of the University’s first Heisman Trophy winner, Marcus Mariota, as the Ducks won the Pac-12 title and then defeated previously undefeated Florida State in the Rose Bowl semifinal game. The 2016-17 year will go down as one of the finest in school history. Oregon became the first college in the country to win the “triple crown” in women’s track and field and cross country. The Women of Oregon captured the 2016 cross country title by a single point, scored a record number of points in winning the indoor track and field title, and then pulled off a stunning comeback to win the outdoor track and field title on the final event.
 
Duck student-athletes continue to achieve excellence in the classroom and in competition at historic rates. The academic standards have improved considerably during Mullens’ tenure, and the UO now averages more than 100 All-Pac-12 Academic selections annually. Of the 120 Academic All-American selections in Oregon history, more than one-third (43) were achieved during Mullens’ tenure at UO. Oregon has also increased its school record for highest graduate success rate by student-athletes multiple times. Additionally, more than 90% of student-athletes who have exhausted their eligibility earned at least a bachelor’s degree.
 
Oregon’s philosophy of fiscal efficiency during Mullens’ tenure has also been recognized nationwide. Oregon athletics is one of only a handful of Division I athletic departments that is self-sufficient as the Ducks’ brand continues to grow. This is a direct reflection of UO Athletics’ dedicated fundraising efforts and the generous donors who keep the Ducks on the cutting edge of facilities and other important initiatives. These projects include the construction of Jane Sanders Stadium, the premier softball stadium in the nation; the Hatfield-Dowlin Complex utilized by the Oregon football program; Papé Field for the Oregon lacrosse and soccer programs; and improvements to Autzen Stadium for football and PK Park for baseball. The Peter and Jan Jacobsen Teaching Facility, a new state-of-the-art golf center, has begun construction as well, and this year, the Women in Flight “Go Do Anything” Title IX campaign raised more than $15 million to benefit female student-athletes at Oregon both now and in the future.
 
Most notably, in 2020, Oregon completed the Hayward Field renovation project, and the finest track and field facility the world has ever seen now resides on the UO campus.
 
The paramount priority placed on student-athlete success has also resulted in a significant enhancement of resources toward student-athlete welfare, including mental health services and programming, and the opening of the Marcus Mariota Sports Performance Center, a facility that combines sports performance, sports science, sports medicine and technology in one efficiently designed place.
 
Mullens was named Athletic Director of the Year by the National Association of College Directors of Athletics (NACDA) in 2021. He served as the chairman of the College Football Playoff Committee from 2018-19 and served on the committee overall for four years from 2016-19. Mullens currently serves on the United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee’s Collegiate Advisory Council, a first-of-its-kind group established to strengthen Olympic and Paralympic sports in the American collegiate system while facilitating the student-athlete pathway to national team representation and enhancing the narrative around collegiate Olympic and Paralympic sport programming on campus.
 
In December 2020, Mullens was appointed to the Commission on the State of U.S. Olympics and Paralympics, a Congressional commission tasked with assessing the state of U.S. participation in the Olympic and Paralympic games.
 
Oregon has also achieved tremendous success on the hardwood, as the men’s basketball team returned to the Final Four in 2017 for the first time since 1939 and has made three Sweet 16 appearances in the four seasons from 2016-19. Payton Pritchard was the first men’s basketball Consensus First-Team All-American at Oregon in 80 years and won the Bob Cousy Award as the nation’s top point guard, while in 2021, Chris Duarte became the first Oregon and Pac-12 player to win the Jerry West Shooting Guard of the Year Award.
 
One of the most remarkable turnarounds in college athletics during the decade happened with Oregon women’s basketball, as Mullens’ hire of head coach Kelly Graves has carried the program to new heights. The Ducks made three consecutive Elite Eight appearances, including the school’s first-ever Women’s Final Four appearance in March 2019. Ducks women’s basketball won 30 or more games in three consecutive seasons from 2017-18 through 2019-20. Sabrina Ionescu was a three-time All-American and won the Naismith Award and Wade trophies twice each as well as the Wooden Award while setting the NCAA all-time career record for triple-doubles. Ionescu and Satou Sabally were the top two picks in the 2020 WNBA Draft.
 
A year after winning the 2016 national championship under head coach Casey Martin, the men’s golf team had a thrilling run to the championship match in 2017 after winning the Pac-12 crown for the first time since 1959. The 2016 Ducks squad claimed the team championship just a couple days after Aaron Wise won the individual national championship.
 
The Oregon women’s golf program has experienced a meteoric rise since Mullens hired Derek Radley in July 2018, culminating in 2022 with a Pac-12 Championship and a second-place finish at the NCAA Championships, where they lost a 3-2 match to Stanford for the national championship. The entire starting five for the Oregon women’s golf program were named All-Pac-12 in 2021-22.
 
Additionally, Mullens hired Mark Wasikowski as Oregon’s baseball coach in June 2019, and after a pandemic-shortened 2020, the Ducks have made three consecutive NCAA Regional appearances while advancing to the Super Regionals this year. Oregon baseball has won a combined 116 games the past two seasons. Hired in 2018, softball head coach Missy Lombardi has a .646 winning percentage (155-85) and has made three consecutive NCAA Regional appearances as well, including a Super Regional trip in 2023.
 
During Mullens’ tenure, Oregon volleyball has appeared in the 2013 national championship game and advanced to the Elite Eight twice under current head coach Matt Ulmer (promoted by Mullens to the head coaching role in 2017), both this year and in 2018, while Oregon softball has made six trips to the Women’s College World Series. There have also been top-10 national finishes from acrobatics and tumbling, men’s cross country and men’s indoor and outdoor track and field, and NCAA Tournament appearances by men’s and women’s tennis.
 
Aided by an Elite Eight appearance by the men’s basketball team and NCAA quarterfinals finish for women’s golf, the Ducks’ three team championships helped carry them to a 10th-place Directors’ Cup finish in 2015-16, the then-highest in program history and the first top-10 finish. Oregon and Oklahoma were the only programs in Division I athletics to win three or more NCAA team titles in the 2015-16 and 2016-17 academic years, and Oregon was the only athletics department in the nation to win multiple NCAA team titles in five consecutive academic years from 2013-17.
 
The 53-year-old Mullens earned a bachelor’s degree in business administration and a master’s in sport management from West Virginia University in 1991 and 1993, respectively. He and his wife, Jane, have two sons — Cooper and Tanner.