IU athletic director Scott Dolson named 2026 NACDA Athletics Director of the Year

Written from press release

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — March 16, 2026

Indiana University Vice President and Director of Athletics Scott Dolson has been named a 2026 Athletics Director of the Year by the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics, becoming the first IU athletic director to receive the honor.

Dolson was recognized in the Division I FBS category, according to an announcement Monday from IU Athletics. He is set to be honored June 9 at the NACDA Convention in Las Vegas.

The award comes during a historic stretch for Indiana athletics, highlighted by IU football’s 16-0 season and 2025 College Football Playoff national championship. The Hoosiers also won their first Big Ten football title in 58 years, and quarterback Fernando Mendoza became the first player in program history to win the Heisman Trophy.

Dolson, now in his sixth year as IU’s athletic director, hired football coach Curt Cignetti after the 2023 season. Since then, the football program has gone 27-2 overall and 17-1 in Big Ten play, helping fuel one of the most successful periods in school history.

IU said success under Dolson has extended beyond football. During the 2024-25 academic year, six Hoosier student-athletes won individual NCAA championships, the highest single-season total in school history. Over Dolson’s tenure, 13 of IU’s 24 varsity programs have posted first- or second-place finishes in the Big Ten.

Dolson has also taken on a higher-profile role nationally in college athletics. Earlier this month, he was one of four athletic directors invited to a White House roundtable on the future of college sports. He also recently finished a two-year term as chair of the Big Ten Athletic Directors Group and was appointed to the NCAA Division I Baseball Selection Committee in 2024.

A native of Michigan City, Indiana, Dolson is a longtime IU figure. He previously served 11 years as the department’s deputy athletic director and chief operating officer, and before that was a student manager for the IU men’s basketball team.

He earned his degree in management from what is now the Paul H. O’Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs and was named the school’s 2025 Distinguished Alumni Award winner.

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