Northwestern is seeking a new athletic director after announcing Thursday that Derrick Gragg will take over a newly created position overseeing the department’s “strategy and approach to the new era of collegiate athletics.”
Gragg will remain the AD until his replacement begins work.
As vice president of athletic strategy, Gragg will help the department “navigat(e) a dynamic environment and historic moment that will fundamentally change what it means to be a student-athlete,” according to a university news release.
“What began with Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL) rights and conference realignment has accelerated with the House v. NCAA settlement, which for the first time creates a pathway for direct revenue sharing with collegiate student-athletes,” the release said. “In his new role, Dr. Gragg will focus on advising the president and athletic director about how Northwestern can be a leader in how it approaches this new landscape while addressing the new challenges it presents.”
Gragg took over as AD in July 2021 after a contentious hiring process. He had turned down an interview with the university earlier that spring to focus on his job as the NCAA’s vice president for inclusion, education and community engagement, a position he had held only since August 2020.
Northwestern went on to hire Mike Polisky in May 2021, but Polisky was pressured into resignation 10 days later because of his role in a lawsuit regarding sexual harassment of NU cheerleaders.
When Northwestern reached out to Gragg a second time, he accepted the offer and became the first Black AD in the university’s history.
Gragg’s tenure has seen its share of turmoil, too, most notably scandals in the football and baseball programs.
The university fired longtime football coach Pat Fitzgerald in July 2023 after an internal investigation and reports by The Daily Northwestern exposed an entrenched culture of hazing and harassment within the program.
The baseball team faced similar upheaval when coach Jim Foster was fired three days after Fitzgerald. Several players, coaches and alumni spoke to the Tribune about the belligerence of Foster, whose first season ended with a 10-40 record, the departure of three assistant coaches and the entrance of 16 players into the transfer portal.
Gragg was directly implicated in reports about the baseball team, in which multiple sources told the Tribune that Gragg ignored complaints about Foster’s abusive and destructive behavior. Gragg also drew ire from football players on social media after delivering the news of Fitzgerald’s firing via Zoom rather than in person.
Northwestern coach Pat Fitzgerald reacts to a Michigan State touchdown on Sept. 3, 2021, at Ryan Field in Evanston. (Chris Sweda/Chicago Tribune)
Though Gragg is a named defendant in several of the lawsuits that 25 former football players have brought against the university, Northwestern President Michael Schill said in a statement Thursday that “after an investigation found hazing in our football program, Derrick helped us recover and set the stage for a new era of excellence.”
Gragg also received scrutiny in the wake of the Fitzgerald and Foster firings for his 2015 book, “40 Days of Direction: Life Lessons from the Talented Ten,” in which he called women “man’s greatest distraction,” criticized the portrayal of women in music videos as “booty-shaking sex-kittens” and gave his take on serious crimes such as rape and sexual assault. The book’s target audience was boys who want to become college athletes.
Northwestern has seen significant on-field success during Gragg’s tenure, including national championships in field hockey and women’s lacrosse in 2023. The softball team won the last three Big Ten championships, the men’s basketball team advanced to the second round of the NCAA Tournament the last two years and the football team, under new coach David Braun, finished a surprising 8-5 last fall.
The Wildcats won a school-record seven conference titles in the 2023-24 academic year, according to a university release.
Perhaps most important is the school’s commitment to — and Evanston’s approval of — an $800 million rebuild of Ryan Field. The new football stadium is expected to be completed in time for the 2026 season.
“I am proud of what we have accomplished together, with incredible staff and coaches working hard each and every day to provide a world-class experience for our student-athletes,” Gragg said in a statement. “I am looking forward to my new role amid this new era for college athletics, and I am committed to ensuring that Northwestern’s tradition of excellence, on and off the field, continues.”
