Staff Directory

Rob Mullens

Title:
Athletic Director

Rob Mullens, a highly respected leader in collegiate athletics, is entering his 17th academic year as the University of Oregon's athletic director. Under his guidance, Oregon Athletics has reached unprecedented levels of success, marked by 18 NCAA national championships during his tenure and the school's best-ever finishes in the NACDA Directors' Cup—9th in 2016-17 and 10th in 2015-16. These two top 10 finishes are the only ones in Oregon's history, with the Ducks finishing in the top 25 nationally for a school-record seven consecutive years from 2012 to 2018. Mullens' leadership has ensured consistent excellence, with Oregon a top 30 program in 15 of the last 16 years. Oregon finished the 2024-25 academic year in the top 20 of the Directors’ Cup, the highest finish for the Ducks in eight years (2016-17), and also finished in the top 25 (23^rd) in 2025-26.

Under Mullens, Oregon football is one of just three NCAA FCS programs to have won 10 games each of the last five seasons (Georgia, Ohio State). Mullens hired head football coach Dan Lanning in 2021, who has since led the Ducks to a 48-8 record in his first four years. The Ducks. won 13 games in 2024, including a Big Ten Championship Game victory over Penn State. Lanning posted three consecutive seasons of at least 12 wins in the last three seasons (2023-25), something done in only one previous three-year stretch in school history. The 2025 Ducks were a CFP Semifinalist after winning a first-round playoff game at home and then the Orange Bowl in a shutout over Texas Tech.

Oregon Football was 12-2 in 2025 and has won 26 games over the last two seasons. The Ducks participated in the College Football Playoff in consecutive years. Oregon also recently produced consecutive Heisman Trophy finalists in Bo Nix (2023) and Dillon Gabriel (2024) under Lanning, and the Ducks have won the Holiday, Fiesta, and Peach Bowls.

During Mullens' tenure, the Ducks have played in a combined 12 New Year's Six and College Football Playoff games, including the national championship games in 2010 and 2014, ranking fifth nationally with a .776 winning percentage and leading the nation with 39.7 points per game over the last 16 seasons from 2010 to 2025. Of the 16 seasons of 10 or more wins in Oregon football history, 11 have been with Mullens as athletic director, including all eight 12-win seasons in school history.

Mullens' vision for Oregon Athletics is built on five core goals:
· Providing an exceptional student-athlete experience.
· Fostering a culture of excellence.
· Enhancing resources to meet expectations.
· Uniting and strengthening the Oregon community.
· Competing for championships in all sports.

These pillars have guided his leadership as he oversees a department that includes more than 500 student-athletes and an athletics budget of $200 million. In 2025-26, three Oregon student-athletes received Academic All-America honors, and more than 60 percent of those earning that honor in Oregon Athletics history have done so during Mullens’ tenure. The most recent Graduation Success Rate for Duck student-athletes was 88 percent, including 90 percent for those exhausting eligibility. Nine teams posted a single-year Academic Progress Rate (APR) of 100 percent, with football setting the program record for APR for a second consecutive year.

Additionally, the Ducks had two quarterbacks win the prestigious William V. Campbell Trophy as the nation's top football scholar-athlete in the five-year stretch from 2019-23, Bo Nix (2023) and Justin Herbert (2019). Ducks quarterback Dillon Gabriel was also a Campbell finalist and NFF National Scholar-Athlete honoree in 2024.

One of Mullens' most significant achievements is leading the University of Oregon into the Big Ten Conference. On August 2, 2023, the Big Ten Conference announced Oregon would be joining the league, officially joining on Aug. 2, 2024, positioning the Ducks for future success and ensuring that UO student-athletes continue competing at the highest levels. This move highlighted the strength of the Oregon brand and reflected the university's upward trajectory across academics and athletics.

In the first year in the Big Ten, Oregon won eight conference championships, the most in the Big Ten in 2024-25, and a school record for conference titles in any academic year. In the fall, the Oregon women's cross country won the school's first-ever Big Ten Championship. The Ducks' 18th national championship under Mullens was won by the women's indoor track and field team in March 2025. In the 2024 football season, the Ducks finished the regular season undefeated at 13-0, won the Big Ten Championship, and earned the No. 1 seed in the College Football Playoff. The volleyball team advanced to the Sweet 16 for the third consecutive year.

In 2025-26, the second year in the league, the Ducks won the Triple Crown in both men’s and women’s track and field, sweeping the Big Ten Cross Country, Indoor, and Outdoor Track and Field Championships for a total of six conference titles to give Oregon a combined 14 conference championships in its first two Big Ten years. Men’s and women’s track and field both finished second at the NCAA Indoor Championships, with both programs also finishing in the top five in the outdoor championships. This included seven individual national championships across both indoor and outdoor events, along with the women’s distance medley relay.

The Ducks also hosted Regionals in baseball and softball, advancing to the Super Regionals in baseball, set a season wins record in beach volleyball, and advanced to NCAA postseason play in men’s golf, women’s golf, and women’s basketball while making yet another final four in acrobatics and tumbling.

In 2025-26, Oregon was one of five schools to play in the College Football Playoff and also make the postseason in baseball, softball, and women’s basketball (Alabama, Georgia, Ole Miss, Oklahoma) and was one of four to appear in the CFP while also hosting baseball and softball Regionals (Alabama, Georgia, Texas A&M).

Oregon Athletics maintains a student-athlete development program built around growth in college, career readiness, and service to the community. The programming covers leadership education, the transition to college, financial literacy, career preparation, and internships. Duck student-athletes log thousands of community service hours every year and have also taken part in Courts for Kids for 14 years, traveling to build sport courts in rural communities around the world.

Mullens' impact also includes substantial upgrades to Oregon's athletic facilities, highlighted by the completion of the Hayward Field renovation in 2020. Construction of the new, on-campus beach volleyball complex on campus is underway, including three outdoor courts for competition and practice (opening in September 2026) and a newly completed locker room. A new indoor football practice facility is also under construction, slated to open in spring 2027.

Other significant projects under his tenure include the Jane Sanders Stadium for softball, the Hatfield-Dowlin Complex for football, the Peter and Jan Jacobsen Oregon Golf Teaching Facility, and renovations to PK Park. Mullens has also prioritized student-athlete well-being by opening the Marcus Mariota Sports Performance Center, which integrates sports performance, science, medicine, and technology.

Mullens was named Athletic Director of the Year by the National Association of College Directors of Athletics (NACDA) for 2020-21. Under his direction, Oregon has won national titles in women's and men's outdoor and indoor track and field, women's cross country, men's golf, and acrobatics and tumbling. The Ducks also became the only Pac-12 school to win conference championships in football, men's basketball, and women's basketball in the same year (2019-20).

In December 2025, the National Football Foundation presented Mullens with the John L. Toner Award at its annual awards banquet. The Toner Award recognizes athletic directors who have demonstrated superior administrative abilities and shown outstanding dedication to college athletics, particularly college football.

Oregon has also achieved tremendous success on the hardwood, as the men's basketball team returned to the Final Four in 2017 under head coach Dana Altman for the first time since 1939. The program also made three Sweet 16 appearances in 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. In 2021, Chris Duarte became the first Oregon and Pac-12 player to win the Jerry West Shooting Guard of the Year Award. The Ducks won the final Pac-12 Tournament in 2024.

Under head coach Kelly Graves, the women's basketball team 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 Wade Trophy and Wooden Award twice each and the Naismith Award in 2020, 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. That same season, Wyndham Clark, now a two-time U.S. Open champion, became the Ducks’ first outright Pac-12 medalist in 33 years. The 2016 Ducks squad claimed the team championship just a couple of 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, including three trips to the final four in the last five seasons, conference titles in 2022 and 2025, and a second-place finish at the NCAA Championships in 2022. The entire starting five for the Oregon women's golf team was named All-Pac-12 in the 2021-22 season.

Hired in 2018, softball head coach Missy Lombardi has a .683 winning percentage (280-130) and has made six consecutive NCAA Regional appearances, Super Regional trips in two of the last four seasons, and played in the College World Series in 2025, the sixth trip for the Ducks since 2012. Additionally, Mullens hired Mark Wasikowski as Oregon's baseball coach in June 2019. After a pandemic-shortened 2020, the Ducks have made six consecutive NCAA Regional appearances, advancing to the Super Regionals in two of the last three seasons. Oregon baseball has won 40-plus games in each of the past four seasons.

During Mullens' tenure, Oregon volleyball appeared in the 2013 national championship game and advanced to the Elite Eight three times, including in 2018, 2022, and 2023.

In November 2023, Oregon Athletics announced a groundbreaking partnership with the University of Oregon’s Ballmer Institute for Children’s Behavioral Health, a collaboration developing programs to improve the mental health of student-athletes in K-12 schools across the state while offering additional resources to enhance care for UO student-athletes. This alignment with the Ballmer Institute’s academic and clinical expertise helps Oregon set a national standard for addressing student-athlete mental health needs and adding to the quality of their experience.

The Oregon Department of Athletics also earned the NCAA Minority Opportunities Athletic Association's 2020 Award for Diversity and Inclusion. This honor recognizes and celebrates the initiatives, policies, and practices of colleges and universities and/or athletics conferences that embrace diversity and inclusion across intercollegiate athletics and higher education.

His influence in the industry extends beyond Oregon. Mullens served as chairman of the College Football Playoff Committee from 2018-19, including two years as CFP Chairman, and currently sits on the United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee's Collegiate Advisory Council. He was also appointed to the Congressional Commission on the State of U.S. Olympics and Paralympics in 2020.

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.