Northwestern athletic director Derrick Gragg will leave his position to oversee the university's athletics strategy, focusing on name, image and likeness and other major initiatives.
Gragg, who has served as Northwestern's athletic director since June 2021, will become the school's vice president of athletic strategy after his permanent replacement is hired. He will remain athletic director until then and will advise university president Michael Schill and others in the search. The new athletic director and Gragg will work together in certain areas, while both will report to Schill.
Gragg told ESPN that he began discussing the role with the university in recent weeks, noting the massive changes in college athletics and the need to address areas such as NIL, possible unionization/employment of athletes, conference realignment and gambling . He said his priorities will be increasing revenue and NIL, and he praised TrueNU, Northwestern's NIL collective led by former football player and staff member Jacob Schmidt.
“I wanted to be able to help the university move forward in the new era of college athletics,” Gragg said. “These departments are going to have to expand a little bit and they're going to have to look to expand differently. I don't know if the traditional athletic director will be able to do all of these things. It's a good time for the institution to be on the front end of the changes.”
Gragg added that he will be available to the new AD, but that person will maintain the department, including coaching and personnel decisions.
Northwestern is still dealing with the fallout from the summer of 2023, which included allegations against its football and baseball programs, and criticism of both Gragg and Schill. Longtime football coach Pat Fitzgerald was fired in the wake of hazing allegations, after initially being suspended for only two weeks without pay. An investigation commissioned by the university largely corroborated the allegations but found no evidence that Fitzgerald knew about them. In October, Fitzgerald filed a $130 million wrongful termination lawsuit against Schill and the university. More than two dozen former athletes have also sued the university for hazing and mistreatment.
Three days after Fitzgerald's firing, Northwestern fired baseball coach Jim Foster amid allegations of bullying and abusive behavior. Foster coached the 2023 season despite a human resources investigation into his behavior toward players and staff members. Northwestern is expected to soon release the results of investigations into the athletic department's culture and its accountability mechanisms, led by former U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch.
In announcing Gragg's new position, Schill addressed the hazing investigation and said Gragg “helped us recover and set the stage for a new era of excellence.”
“We are delighted to have Derrick bring his vast experience and institutional knowledge to this new role,” Schill said in a statement. “Derrick will be instrumental in helping Northwestern navigate emerging opportunities in intercollegiate athletics and the rapid transformations underway.”
Gragg told ESPN that the past year has been one of the most challenging of his career, but that he is proud of the way Northwestern athletes, coaches and others have responded. Interim football coach David Braun led the team to eight wins and a Las Vegas Bowl victory over Utah, and he became permanent coach in November. Northwestern also made consecutive NCAA men's basketball tournament appearances for the first time and its teams won seven conference titles.
“I am very proud of our student-athletes,” Gragg said. “This could have gone in a totally different direction. It shows the resilience they have as a group.”
Gragg came to Northwestern from the NCAA, where he served as senior vice president of inclusion, education and community engagement. He had previously been athletic director at Tulsa and Eastern Michigan.
