Drake University Athletics

Des Moines native Brian Hardin joined the Drake Bulldogs staff on December 11, 2017, when he became the 17^th director of athletics in University history. Immediately, Hardin began to transform the athletics department. He has led the Bulldogs to unprecedented heights during his tenure while branding Drake as Des Moines’ Hometown Team.

Drake University President Marty Martin has routinely referred to the last five years as “the golden era of Drake Athletics.” The results of the last several years certainly support that claim.
 
The 2023-24 school year was arguably the best in the history of Drake Athletics. Drake became only the second private institution to win the Missouri Valley Conference All-Sports Trophy and the first in 63 years to top the MVC All-Sports Standings. Neither the football team’s Pioneer Football League championship nor the runner-up finish by men’s tennis in the Summit League factored into the winning margin in the MVC All-Sports Standings. Academically, the Bulldogs student-athletes who compete in the MVC recorded a cumulative grade-point average of 3.503. It marked the first time in MVC history an institution had claimed the All-Sports Trophy and had student-athletes record a cumulative GPA greater than 3.5. Adding to the success of the student-athletes in competition and the classroom were record-breaking results Drake enjoyed in ticket sales, licensing revenue, corporate sponsorships, and donations to the Bulldog Club.
 
The 2022-23 school year was a precursor of things to come for Drake Athletics. Drake was the only Missouri Valley Conference institution that ranked in the top-four of both the MVC all-academic standings and the all-sports standings. The 3.47 cumulative grade-point average of Drake athletes that compete in the MVC ranked fourth in the league. The Bulldogs finished third in the all-sports standings after posting an MVC-high three conference tournament championships. At that time, the third-place finish was the best finish by Drake since 1994-95 and marked only the second time in the last 49 years any MVC private school cracked the top-three of the final MVC all-sports standings.
 
From the beginning, Hardin has emphasized developing Drake as the model NCAA Division I athletics department defined by sustained excellence in the classroom, competition, and community. The results from the roughly 380 student-athletes representing 31 states and 26 countries have been overwhelmingly supportive of his efforts.

Drake student-athletes have thrived academically since Hardin’s arrival. Of note:

• The NCAA’s Academic Progress Report measures eligibility, retention, and graduation of student-athletes. Seven Drake athletic programs posted perfect scores in 2023 – the most by Drake in the 19-year history of the APR. The seven perfect scores were the second most of any Missouri Valley Conference school and one fewer than the combined total of the other three NCAA Division I schools in Iowa (UNI, 3; Iowa, 3; Iowa State, 2).
• In 2024, Drake’s six perfect APR scores tied for most in Missouri Valley Conference. Six additional Drake athletic programs recorded scores of at least 990. The Bulldogs’ 13 combined perfect scores in 2023 and 2024 are the most in any two-year stretch for Drake University since APR began being calculated.
• Over the last 11 consecutive semesters, Drake student-athletes have recorded a cumulative grade-point average of at least 3.30. Before 2017, only one such semester existed.
• All sports recorded their all-time best semester team GPA since 2017.
• More than 20 student-athletes have earned Academic All-America honors, placing Drake in the top-10 nationally.

Drake Athletics has experienced a renaissance in competition over the past six years:

• Twelve programs have combined to make 34 appearances at NCAA Championships.
• Twelve regular-season conference championships were earned.
• Thirteen conference tournament championships were won.
• Fourteen of the 18 athletics programs have recorded at least one top-three finish in their respective conference standings.
• Eleven coaches have been named their conference coach of the year a total of 15 times. Six of those head coaches were hired by Hardin and they won a combined eight coach of the year awards.
• The combined win-loss record by the men’s and women’s basketball programs, overall and in Missouri Valley Conference games, is the best in the MVC over the past six seasons.
• The men’s basketball program, under head coach Darian DeVries whom Hardin hired in his first year at Drake, won 150 games and more than 20 games per season from 2018-24, marking the most successful five-year stretch in school history. Highlighting this stretch was the 2019 MVC regular-season championship, the first at Drake since 2008, an at-large selection to the 2021 NCAA Tournament, the 2023 and 2024 MVC Tournament Championships and appearances in the 2023 and 2024 NCAA Tournaments. In the 2021 NCAA Tournament, Drake defeated Wichita State in the opening round, securing the first NCAA Tournament victory by the Bulldogs in 50 years.
• The women’s basketball team won the 2018, 2019, and 2024 MVC regular season championships, won the 2018, 2023, and 2024 MVC Tournament Championships, and played in the 2018, 2019, 2023, and 2024 NCAA Tournaments. Over the last five seasons, during which Hardin hired head women’s basketball coach Allison Pohlman (2021), the Bulldogs are 81-11 in MVC games. In addition, the women’s teams have defeated opponents from the Big Ten, Big 12, Big East, and SEC in non-conference games over the past six seasons.
• In 2023, for the first time in school history, the Drake men’s and women’s basketball teams advanced to the NCAA Tournament in the same season. Both teams won their respective conference tournaments, marking only the seventh time in Missouri Valley Conference history that a single school claimed both the men’s and women’s conference tournament titles.
• In 2024, the Bulldogs repeated as MVC Tournament champions for men’s and women’s basketball, becoming the first athletics department in Missouri Valley Conference history to sweep both basketball tournaments in consecutive seasons.
• The football team won the Pioneer Football League title in 2023. The PFL championship was the first for the Bulldogs since 2012. Drake also played in the FCS Playoffs for the first time in school history in 2023. Todd Stepsis was named PFL Coach of the Year, Finn Claypool was Defensive Player of the Year, and Shane Dunning received Special Teams Player of the Year honors. 
• The volleyball team has steadily improved during Hardin’s tenure, finishing as runner-up in the MVC regular season in 2020, 2022, and 2023. The 2022 team advanced to the championship match of the NIVC postseason tournament.
• The women’s soccer team won the MVC regular-season title in 2023 and hosted the semifinals and championship of the MVC Tournament. Lindsey Horner was named Coach of the Year, Emma Nagel earned Player of the Year honors, and Angela Gutierrez was named Freshman of the Year. 
• The men’s soccer team had a resurgence in 2022 after Hardin hired head coach Pat Flinn. The Bulldogs were runners-up in the MVC regular season, and Flinn earned MVC Coach of the Year honors.
• In 2021, the men’s cross country team won the MVC title for the first time since 1999. The Bulldogs claimed the conference title again in 2023. Isaac Basten claimed the individual title in both 2021 and 2022.
• The women’s cross country team finished third at the MVC Championships in 2022, marking its best finish at the MVC meet since 2000. In 2023, Brooke Mullins became the first Drake women’s cross country runner to win the MVC individual title since 2006 and she qualified for the NCAA Championships, the first time Drake sent a women’s cross country runner to nationals since 2005..
• Women’s tennis qualified for the NCAA Tournament in 2021 and 2023 marking only the third and fourth appearances in program history and the first since 2000.
• Men’s tennis advanced to the NCAA Tournament in 2018, 2019, 2022 and 2023.
• Drake’s softball team won the 2018 and 2019 MVC Tournaments and played both years in the NCAA Tournament.
• The men’s track and field team had 10 total All-Americans from 2021-24 including three in 2021, the most in any year by Drake since 1965. In 2022, Hardin promoted Jay Koloseus as the Track & Field and Cross Country Head Coach who is continuing the success of the program.
• The women’s track and field team has experienced a resurgence in the past few years. Among the many highlights is Brooke Mullins, the 2023 Most Outstanding Performer at the MVC Outdoor Track and Field Championships, who became the first Drake women’s track and field athlete to win an event at the Drake Relays since 1995 when she won the 3000 meter steeplechase at the 2023 Drake Relays.
• After Hardin hired first-year head coach Steve Smith, the women’s golf team completed its most successful season in 2022 since 2010. The team finished third at MVC Championships, and Kristen Giles became only the second Bulldog women’s golfer to earn medalist honors.
• Since 2018, the men’s golf team has won seven events and placed in the top-three in 14 different tournaments. In the five years prior to 2018, the men’s golf team only had four top-three finishes and won one competition.
• The rowing team enjoyed a third-place finish at the 2019 Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Championship, the best finish by the program since 2016.

The Greater Des Moines community has also benefited from Hardin’s leadership within the Drake athletics department during his tenure:

• Drake student-athletes have registered more than 10,000 hours of community service.
• Hardin created “515 Day” in 2018 as a day of service performed by all Drake coaches and athletics staff to the Des Moines community every May 15 (515 is Des Moines’ area code). Area groups that have benefited from 515 Day have included: Habitat for Humanity, Des Moines Public Schools, Des Moines Parks and Recreation, Des Moines Area Religious Council, YMCA, and Food Pantry of Iowa.
• Following the murder of George Floyd, Drake Athletics formed a working group of athletics department employees entitled “All One” to address and bring awareness to prejudice, implicit bias, racial and other forms of discrimination. To date, All One facilitated department-wide meetings and small group sessions on social justice, privilege, and religion.
• Like the All One employee group, Drake Athletics formed a student-athlete All One group to facilitate intentional discussions within each of Drake’s 18 athletic programs. In 2020, the student-athlete All One group successfully registered every eligible student-athlete to vote in the 2020 federal election. 

Many of the athletics facilities received updates over the past five years, including:

• In 2023, a Daktronics video ring display was installed in the Knapp Center and the arena’s sound system was replaced in 2024.
• The Knapp Center had its entire lower level renovated in 2023, resulting in all-new seating featuring improved amenities for season ticket holders and new seating options.
• Drake Athletics added the Cathy and Steve Lacy Sports Medicine Suite in 2023, featuring the Lisa and Mark Kilian Hydrotherapy Room during the Knapp Center renovation. The new space alleviates the strain to the primary athletic training room while providing a large hot tub and cold tub that previously did not exist.
• In partnership with the Des Moines Public Schools, Drake Athletics opened a new 4,000-seat stadium on Drake’s campus (Mediacom Stadium) in October 2023. The stadium is home to 46 local teams, the Bulldogs men’s and women’s soccer programs, and 44 football and soccer teams from the middle and high schools of DMPS.
• The Bright-Beckwith Boathouse opened on the banks of the Des Moines River for the Drake rowing program.
• The men’s basketball and volleyball teams had their locker rooms redesigned in 2022 and 2024, respectively.
• The softball team had its locker room renovated, and the field at its stadium laser leveled.
• The Roger Knapp Tennis Center added new signage and decoration, benefiting both the men’s and women’s tennis teams.
• The women’s basketball locker rooms received graphic enhancements.
• The Fieldhouse added protective netting to allow men’s and women’s throwers from the track and field team to practice safely indoors all-year-round.
• The volleyball coaches moved into a newly created office suite.
• Aesthetic improvements were made to the academic services suite in the Fieldhouse.

Fundraising for Drake Athletics under Hardin has also significantly improved. The $5 million gift from Suzie Glazer Burt to the Drake women’s basketball program resulted in the endowment of the head coach position. It was, at the time, the largest single gift ever made to an NCAA women’s basketball program. Paul and Claudia Schickler donated $4 million to Drake Athletics during Hardin’s tenure, with $3 million allocated for the Knapp Center renovation project and $1 million for the men’s basketball excellence fund. Three seven-figure gifts from Mediacom, Dennis Albaugh, and Casey’s General Stores combined with an eight-figure contribution from Des Moines Public Schools aided in the construction of Mediacom Stadium.
 
The Bulldog Club – Drake’s annual fund for its athletics department – has grown almost 50% since 2021 and enjoyed its best two years of financial support in 2022-23 and 2023-24. Sport excellence funds were created for all athletic programs plus the Drake Relays and helped bolster the operating budgets of each. The 24-hour giving campaign, Drake All In, eclipsed previous giving records in each of the past four years.
 
Hardin is part of numerous boards and organizations. He sits on the Iowa Sports Foundation Board of Directors and the Catch Des Moines Board of Directors. Catch Des Moines, the local convention and visitor’s bureau, also has Hardin serve as a member of its Sports Advisory Committee. In 2022, Hardin began a three-year term as one of 11 members NCAA FCS Selection Committee members, where he helped select the field and determine the bracket for the NCAA Division I Football Championship. Within the Missouri Valley Conference, Hardin served as the inaugural chair of the MVC Women’s Basketball Improvement Group and currently is the chair of the MVC Men’s Basketball Committee and the Media and Marketing Committee.
 
Hardin took the reins at Drake after serving as deputy director of athletics at Marquette University, with prior experience at Ball State University, the University of Notre Dame, the Chicago Bears, and Loyola University Chicago.
 
As deputy director and part of the athletic department's executive team at Marquette, Hardin helped oversee the university's 16 varsity sports, more than 300 student-athletes, and nearly 100 full-time employees. In addition, his work in the department's business development and external engagement areas generated more than $11 million annually. Hardin was part of five BIG EAST championship programs, the first BIG EAST championships won by these respective programs in school history.

At Marquette, Hardin served as sport administrator for men's soccer, men's tennis, and men's and women's cross country and track and field, as well as advised the athletic director on matters pertaining to men's and women's basketball. He oversaw marketing and fan engagement, ticket sales and strategy, ticket operations and service, merchandising, licensing, corporate partnerships, and was the liaison with the affinity group for student-athlete alumni.

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. Bob, returned to earn his master's in education in 1987. Brian is a 1998 graduate of Valley High School, was a Drake Relays champion while in high school and competed at the Relays at the university level all four years while attending Marquette.
 
While a student at Marquette, Hardin worked as a student assistant in the sports marketing and sports information departments. Hardin ran on the university's track team and was a letter winner all four years, serving as a team captain his senior year. Immediately after graduation, he interned for the sports information department at Loyola University of Chicago before joining the media relations team for the Chicago Bears. Returning to collegiate athletics, Brian joined Notre Dame as their director of football media relations in 2006, moving on to Ball State University where he eventually rose to interim director of athletics.

Brian and his wife, Cara, have three sons—Noah, and twins Elliot and Bennett.