CLEVELAND, Ohio – Drake University Director of Athletics
Brian Hardin has been named a winner of the 2026 NACDA Athletics Director of the Year Award, the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics announced today.
Hardin is just the second Drake Athletics Director to earn this award, which was first presented in 1999. Hardin joins Sandy Hatfield Clubb, who was a recipient in 2013-14, as Bulldog representatives among the 633 all-time winners in the award's history.
"I'm honored to have my name mentioned with the other recipients this year, but this award is not about athletics directors, it is about athletics departments," Hardin said. "We are blessed to have incredible people that serve Drake student-athletes as coaches and staff members. All that has been accomplished has been due to alignment we have with University leadership as well as a shared commitment to sustained excellence by all within our department. I'm proud Drake Athletics has earned this recognition."
Hardin has ushered in, as Drake University President Marty Martin describes, the "golden era" of Drake Athletics.
Bulldog teams have reached unprecedented highs during Hardin's tenure. Twelve programs have made a combined 37 appearances at NCAA Championship events over the past seven years with 17 regular season titles and 14 conference tournament championships during that stretch. Fourteen of the 18 Bulldog athletics programs have recorded at least one top three finish in their respective conference standings. This season, Drake's football, men's soccer, and women's soccer teams collected league titles.
Drake also became only the second private institution, and first in 63 years, to win the Missouri Valley Conference All-Sports Trophy during the 2023-24 year. The Bulldogs followed that with a third place finish in the 2024-25 campaign.
Hardin has been widely lauded for his ability to identify and hire top tier coaching talent to lead Drake teams. Twelve coaches, seven of which were hired by Hardin, have been awarded as their conference coach of the year a total of 19 times. Names like Todd Stepsis, Allison Pohlman, Pat Flinn, Darian DeVries, and Ben McCollum were all appointed to head coaching positions by Hardin and led their squads to notable success.
Specific highlights of Hardin's stint at Drake have included a pair of men's basketball NCAA Tournament victories in 2021 and 2025, both men's and women's basketball teams qualifying for the NCAA Tournament in the same season for the first time in school history, the Bulldog football team's first-ever trip to the FCS Playoffs, multiple MVC men's and women's soccer titles, an MVC cross country championships, the Drake tennis teams both reaching the national tournament in 2023, and several standout track and field performers including All-American Isaac Basten, plus Drake Relays champions Brooke Mullins and Emilie Meyer.
Drake student-athletes have also thrived academically since Hardin's arrival. In 2023, seven Bulldog programs posted perfect scores on the NCAA's Academic Progress Report, which measures eligibility, retention, and graduation rates. That mark was the most by Drake in the 19-year history of the APR. Drake followed that with six perfect scores in 2024, the most in the Missouri Valley Conference. In total, all Drake sports teams have recorded their all-time best collective grade point average for a semester since 2017, and more than 20 student-athletes have earned Academic All-America honors.
Under Hardin, significant strides have also been made in fundraising efforts for Drake Athletics to sustain the department's positive trajectory, to the Bulldogs' various facilities to ensure their high-level athletes compete and train in appropriate venues, and within the community to solidify the Drake Bulldogs as Des Moines' Hometown Team.
Hardin was born with a Bulldog spirit; his parents are Drake alumni. Bob and Jan Hardin graduated with bachelor's degrees from the School of Education in 1973. Brian is a 1998 graduate of Valley High School in West Des Moines, was a Drake Relays champion while in high school, and competed at the Relays at the university level all four years while attending Marquette University.
The entire list of 2026 NACDA Athletics Director of the Year Award winners is included below, in alphabetical order
