Mark Richard enters his 13th year as Director of Athletics at the University of Montevallo in 2026-27.
Richard was named the University's eighth full-time Director of Athletics on June 12, 2014, bringing more than three decades of collegiate athletics administration experience to Montevallo.
Since his arrival, Richard has overseen a period of unprecedented growth for Falcon Athletics. The department has expanded from 15 to 23 varsity sports, more than doubled its student-athlete population, and established itself as one of the premier NCAA Division II athletic departments in the Gulf South Conference.
Under Richard's leadership, Montevallo has maintained a strong commitment to academic excellence. More than 60 percent of Falcon student-athletes have earned a grade-point average of 3.0 or higher while the department has consistently recorded its highest semester and cumulative GPAs. Student-athletes have also graduated at a rate approximately 20 percent higher than the University's overall student population.
Richard has also fostered a department-wide commitment to community engagement while successfully leading Montevallo through its transition to the Gulf South Conference in 2017-18. The Falcons have enjoyed sustained competitive success, highlighted by fourth-place finishes in the GSC All-Sports Trophy standings in 2020-21, 2021-22 and 2022-23, the highest finishes in school history as an NCAA Division II member.
His tenure has also included the addition of several varsity sports, culminating with Montevallo's expansion to 23 programs.
Prior to arriving at Montevallo, Richard served five years as Director of Athletics at Gannon University, an NCAA Division II institution in Erie, Pennsylvania. Under his leadership, Gannon ranked among the nation's top 20 percent of NCAA Division II athletic departments in the 2012-13 Learfield Sports Directors' Cup standings. During his tenure, 10 programs earned regional rankings, seven achieved national rankings, and the university produced 10 Capital One Academic All-Americans, the most in Division II during that span. Individual academic honors included one PSAC Champion Scholar, three PSAC Top 10 Award recipients, 12 Capital One Academic All-District selections and 21 Academic All-Americans. Gannon student-athletes also completed nearly 3,000 hours of community service during his final academic year.
Before Gannon, Richard spent a decade at Auburn University, including his final four years as Senior Associate Director of Athletics for Team Support. As a member of Auburn's executive leadership team, he played a key role in strategic planning while overseeing compliance, budgeting, scheduling, selected sport programs, and policies for nearly 500 student-athletes.
Richard also held administrative positions at Vanderbilt University as Assistant Director of Athletics for Compliance (1997-99), the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) as Director of NCAA Compliance and Student Services (1995-97) and Coordinator of Game Operations (1993-95), North Carolina State University as Director of Student-Athlete Services (1990-93), and the University of Florida as an Operations and Facilities Advisor (1988-90).
A native of Meadville, Pennsylvania, Richard earned a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from Clarion University in 1983. A former two-sport student-athlete, he lettered four years in football (1979-82) and played one season of baseball for the Golden Eagles in 1980. He later received a Master of Exercise and Sport Sciences with an emphasis in sport management from the University of Florida in 1989.
Richard has three daughters: Mackenzie Margaret, Hope Elliott, and Nicole Rene.
Since the appointment of men's basketball head coach Dr. Leon Davis as the University's first Director of Athletics in 1971, the University of Montevallo has been led by eight athletic directors.
UNIVERSITY OF MONTEVALLO ATHLETIC DIRECTORS
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Dr. Leon Davis (1971-1991)
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Rob Spivery (1991-1995)
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Bob Riesener (1995-1999)
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Roy E. Culberson (1999-2001)
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Michael Cancilla (2001-2006)
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Dennis Toney (2006-2008)
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Jim Herlihy (2008-2014)
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Mark Richard (2014-Present)
