Kevin White, one of the most progressive and talented administrators in the intercollegiate athletics ranks, has quickly attached his signature as director of athletics at the University of Notre Dame.

In fact, his initial four years in that position qualified as the most successful across-the-board years in the history of athletics at Notre Dame.

A career educator and one of the most respected athletic administrators in the nation, White previously had been athletic director at Arizona State University, Tulane University, the University of Maine, and Loras College. He brought a combined 18 years (1982-83 to 1999-2000) of experience in those positions with him to his assignment at Notre Dame.

Appointed by Rev. Edward A. Malloy, C.S.C., Notre Dame's president, on March 13, 2000, White became the first Notre Dame athletic director to report directly to the University's president -- under the realignment of athletic administrative responsibilities announced in February 2000 by Father Malloy. After agreeing to an original five-year contract as well as a five-year extension, White in December 2002 saw his commitment extended an additional two years to 2012.

White's first four years at Notre Dame in 2000-01, 2001-02, 2002-03 and so far in 2003-04 saw unprecedented across-the-board achievement on Irish fields of play:
• Notre Dame finished 11th, 13th and 13th, respectively, in the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics (NACDA) Directors' Cup (formerly sponsored by Sears) all-sports ratings in the first three of those four years, matching its best-ever back-to-back-to-back rankings in that competition.
• Four different teams earned number-one rankings in 2000-01 (women's soccer, women's basketball, men's fencing and baseball were number one at some point, and men's lacrosse ranked second) - men's fencing repeated the honor in '02 and again in '03, and women's fencing attained that standing in '04.
• The Irish claimed the '01 national championship in women's basketball, the '03 NCAA title in fencing (a men's and women's combined championship), third-place finishes in fencing in '01, '02 and '04 and in women's cross country in '03, national semifinal appearances in women's soccer in '00 and men's lacrosse in '01, and a College World Series appearance in baseball in 2002. A record 37 Notre Dame athletes earned All-America honors in 2001-02 - and 33 more All-America performances were achieved by 27 different Irish athletes in 2002-03.
• Sixteen of a possible 22 teams earned national rankings in 2000-01, including 10 that achieved the highest rating in the history of the program. Then in 2001-02, 20 of 26 teams qualified for NCAA competition. In 2002-03, 13 sports managed top 25 national finishes - and 17 advanced to postseason competition. The 2003-04 season already has seen top-five national rankings in women's cross country, men's and women's soccer, men's and women's fencing, baseball, and men's and women's lacrosse.
• Notre Dame in 2002 was the only school in the country to qualify all six of its teams - men's and women's soccer, men's and women's cross country, volleyball and football - for NCAA tournament competition (or, in the case of football, a bowl game). Notre Dame and Texas were the only schools in 2002-03 to play in football bowl games and have both their men's and women's basketball squads advance to the NCAA Sweet 16 round.
• Notre Dame won the BIG EAST Conference Commissioner's Trophy for overall athletic success in league play in 2001, '02 and '03 for both men and women. The Irish won a record nine league titles in 2002-03 -- after setting a record with eight in 2001-02.

His initial years on the job at Notre Dame also featured a handful of other noteworthy accomplishments:
• He helped the Irish athletic program toward its goal of becoming a top five program in the NACDA Directors' Cup all-sports competition by championing the University's plan to add 64 grants-in-aid over a four-year span (that goal was announced in December 2000), in order to give all 26 varsity sports the full NCAA complement of scholarships.
• He emphasized the need to remain competitive on the facilities front by commissioning a facilities master plan that now provides a long-term plan for upgrading Notre Dame's athletic physical plant.
• On the academic front, Irish student-athletes enjoyed one of the most productive years ever in the classroom in 2000-01 -- with the football team recording its two highest-ever semester grade-point averages, the men's and women's basketball squads posting their best-ever fall GPAs and six other teams posting their highest-ever semester averages during the fall. Then four teams during the '01 spring semester achieved their highest in-season averages ever. In 2001-02, 25 teams achieved GPAs of 3.0 or higher, including eight Academic All-Americans. In 2002-03, three Irish student-athletes earned recognition as both All-Americans on the field and Academic All-Americans in the classroom.
• The American Football Coaches Association awarded its Academic Achievement Award for 2001 to Notre Dame based on its 100 percent graduation for entering freshmen from 1995. The University received a 2002 USA Today/NCAA Academic Achievement Award for graduating 90 percent of its student-athletes who enrolled in 1995 - and it also received the 2003 award for highest overall student-athlete graduation rate (92 percent of those who enrolled in 1996).
• The NCAA Division I-A Athletic Directors' Association gave one of its four 2000 awards of excellence to Notre Dame's CHAMPS/Life Skills Program
• He assured long-term consistency in the Irish coaching ranks by signing Notre Dame head coaches to multi-year contracts - with all assistant coaches and administrators signing contracts for the first time starting in 2001-02.
• He renewed Notre Dame's NBC Sports contract for televising of home football games for five more years (2006-10 for this renewal, extending the relationship to 20 years) and its Westwood One contract for football radio broadcasts for five more years beginning in 2003.

In addition to the varsity athletic component, White's assignment at Note Dame also includes administration of a comprehensive intramural, club sport and campus recreation program, with 94 percent of the student body participating.

With a Ph.D. in education, White has taught graduate-level classes beginning in 1982-83 with his tenure at Loras, including currently as a concurrent associate professor in the management department of the Mendoza College of Business as part of Notre Dame's MBA program during spring semesters (he teaches a sports business course).

White has served on numerous NCAA committees, including the NCAA Council, formerly the association's highest governing body, as well as currently serving as second vice president of the Division I-A Athletic Directors' Association. In addition to his current role with the BCS (Bowl Championship Series), he previously was a member of the Rose Bowl Management Committee while at Arizona State, was an ex-officio member of the Sugar Bowl Committee during his tenure at Tulane and also worked closely with the Fiesta Bowl during his stay in Tempe.

White has served as mentor for an impressive list of senior level athletic administrators who have worked for him, then gone on to become directors of athletics - including Jim Sterk of Washington State, Tom Boeh of Ohio University, Ian McCaw of Northeastern, Massachusetts and Baylor, Bruce Van De Velde of Iowa State, Herman Frazier of Hawaii, Scott Devine of St. Mary's College (Md.), Greg Capell of Loras, Tim Van Alstine of Western Illinois, Bubba Cunningham at Ball State, as well as current Notre Dame deputy athletic director Sandy Barbour, who followed him at Tulane.

White also has his own weekly, half-hour radio show on ESPN Radio 1000 in Chicago - and has a pre-game segment on Westwood One's radio broadcasts of Notre Dame football games.

During his coaching career, White served as head track and field coach at Southeast Missouri State (1981-82) and assistant cross country and track and field coach at Central Michigan (1976-80). He began his coaching career at Gulf High School in New Port Richey, Fla., coaching cross country and track and assisting in football and wrestling. White also spent a year (1980-81) as district administrator for athletics and special projects for the Mt. Morris Consolidated School District in Mt. Morris, Mich. During his tenure at Loras, he originated the National Catholic Basketball Tournament.

Born Sept. 25, 1950, in Amityville, N.Y., White earned his Ph.D. from Southern Illinois University in 1983 with an emphasis on higher education administration (his dissertation title was An Appraisal of the Women's Intercollegiate Athletic Programs, and the Relationship to Men's Athletics at the Big Ten Conference Institutions Before and After Title IX Implementation). In 1985 he completed postdoctoral work at Harvard University's Institute for Educational Management. He earned his master's degree in athletics administration from Central Michigan University in 1976 and his bachelor's degree in business administration in 1972 from St. Joseph's College in Rensselaer, Ind., where he also competed as a sprinter in track and field. He was awarded St. Joseph's Alumni Achievement Award in 1997, and he's currently a member of the Loras College Board of Regents.

White also attended the University of South Florida and St. Leo College in Tampa, Fla., between 1972 and '76 -- and he took 60 hours of advanced graduate courses in higher education administration at Michigan State University between 1977 and '80.

White's wife, Jane, earned a bachelor's degree from St. Joseph's in 1973 and a master's degree in physical education from Central Michigan in 1977. She also served as head track and field coach at Central Michigan. White and his wife both received honorary degrees from St. Joseph's in 2001.

The couple has five children -- Maureen, who completed a master of fine arts degree at Arizona State in 2000 and currently teaches at Immaculate Conception Academy in San Francisco; Michael, a University of Mississippi graduate and four-year starter at point guard for the Ole Miss basketball team and now an assistant basketball coach at Jacksonville (Ala.) State University; Daniel, a University of Notre Dame graduate and member of the '01 Irish basketball squad who now is a graduate assistant basketball coach at Ohio University while pursuing an MBA in sports administration; Brian, a sophomore at the University of Notre Dame; and Mariah, a seventh-grader who is a standout in swimming.

The Kevin White Administrative File

Last updated 4-16-04