Richard begins his fifth year as Gannon’s Director of Athletics in 2013-14. The Meadville, Pa., native and former Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) student-athlete came to Gannon after spending the previous 10 years at NCAA Division I Auburn University of the Southeastern Conference (SEC), including the final four years as the Senior Associate Director of Athletics for Team Support. He was an integral part of the leadership and strategic planning group.
Gannon Athletics has excelled under Richard's leadership, finishing among the top 20 percent of the nation's NCAA Division II athletics programs in the final 2012-13 NCAA Division II Learfield Sports Directors' Cup Standings. The Golden Knights placed 60th out of 315 NCAA Division II programs in the final tabulations, improving 90 spots from last year's 150th-place finish. The 2012-13 showing also represented the highest finish since the Learfield Sports Directors' Cup began in 1995-96. Gannon's previous high mark came with a 79th-place finish during Richard's first year at Gannon in 2009-10
The department produced the PSAC's top women's program in 2012-13 according to the final Dixon Trophy standings. Ten Gannon programs were regionally-ranked at some point with seven being nationally-ranked. Gannon teams won 63.1 percent (209-122-2) of their overall match-ups and 67.2 percent (109-53-1) of their conference contests in 2012-13. The year included 50 conference player of the week awards, 63 all-conference postseason selections, 30 all-region honors and 11 All-Americans
Academically, Gannon student-athletes have blossomed during the last four years. Gannon's 372 student-athletes ended the 2012-13 academic year with a combined 3.19 cumulative grade point average. The nine women's programs owned a combined 3.33 cumulative GPA while the nine men's programs have a 3.06 cumulative GPA.
Ten Gannon student-athletes were named Capital One Academic All-Americans, representing the highest total in NCAA Division II. Individual academic awards included a PSAC Champion Scholar, three PSAC Top 10 Award winners, 12 Capital One Academic All-District selections and 21 overall Academic All-Americans. The entire student-athlete population also combined to work almost 3,000 hours of community service during the last academic year.
Six Gannon athletic programs affiliated with the PSAC posted the highest team grade point average in the conference. The 2012-13 results bring Gannon's total of PSAC Top Team GPA awards since the conference created the award last year to a league-best 13. A school-record 182 Gannon student-athletes were named 2012-13 PSAC Scholar-Athletes. As a result, Gannon produced the highest percentage of student-athletes named PSAC scholar-athletes among the league's 16 schools for the fourth time in the last five years.
Richard has over 24 years of collegiate sports administration experience. He started his Auburn tenure as the Associate Director of Athletics in 1999 and served in that capacity until 2004, when he was promoted to Senior Associate Director of Athletics for Team Support. His experience and duties at Auburn included compliance, budgets, scheduling, strategic planning, direct supervision of selected sports, and drug-testing policies for an institution with approximately 500 student-athletes.
Former Gannon University President Antoine M. Garibaldi, Ph.D., introduced Mark Richard as Director of Athletics May 7, 2009. “Gannon is very excited to welcome Mark Richard as Gannon’s Director of Athletics,” said Garibaldi upon his hiring. “With his two decades of experience at five Division I universities, his four years as a student-athlete in two sports at a PSAC member university and his appreciation of Gannon’s Mission, Mark has the ideal qualities to raise Gannon’s record of academic and athletic success even higher in all of its 18 NCAA Division II sports.”
Richard has administration experience at five NCAA Division I institutions. Prior to his time at Auburn, Richard served as the Assistant Director of Athletics for Compliance at Vanderbilt University (1997-99) and the Director of NCAA Compliance and Student Services at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (1995-97), where he implemented a continuing NCAA Compliance Education Program and the CHAMPS program. He began his stay at UNLV as the Coordinator of Game Operations (1993-95), where he also served as the Director of Bowl Game Operations for the Las Vegas Bowl.
“I am extremely excited to become the next Director of Athletics at Gannon University,” noted Richard at his press conference. “Being from western Pennsylvania, I fully understand Gannon’s tradition and impact on the Erie community. I am also excited about returning to the PSAC and helping our coaches and student-athletes compete for PSAC championships. Gannon is a unique institution with great student-athletes and I hope to facilitate their excellence in the classroom and in the field of competition.”
The 52-year-old began his administrative career as an Operations/Facilities Advisor at the University of Florida (1988-90), before moving to North Carolina State University to become the Director of Student-Athlete Services (1990-93).
Richard graduated from PSAC member Clarion University in 1983 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration. He was a two-sport athlete at Clarion, lettering four times in football (1979-82) and playing one season (1980) for the baseball team. Richard earned his Master’s of Exercise and Sport Sciences with a sports management emphasis from the University of Florida in 1989. He has three daughters, Mackenzie Margaret (13), Hope Elliott (6) and Nicole Rene (6).
Mark Richard Resume
Professional Experience
Auburn University (1999-09)
• Senior Associate Director of Athletics for Team Support (2005-09)
• Associate Director of Athletics (1999-04)
Vanderbilt University (1997-99)
• Assistant Director of Athletics for Compliance
University of Nevada, Las Vegas (1993-97)
• Director of NCAA Compliance & Student Services (1995-97)
• Coordinator of Game Operations (1993-95)
North Carolina State University (1990-93)
• Director of Student-Athlete Services
University of Florida (1988-90)
• Operations/Facilities & Resident Advisor
Education
University of Florida
• Master’s of Exercise and Sport Sciences (1989)
Clarion University
• Bachelor’s of Science in Business Administration (1983)
