Penn State Sports Magazine
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1462941
1 0 A P R I L 2 0 2 2 W W W . B L U E W H I T E O N L I N E . C O M I t's hard to get the timing right in college sports. Some people stick around too long. Other people don't stick around long enough. Whether you're a coach, administrator or athlete, finding just the right moment to make your move is a challenge in a nomadic business. Sandy Barbour believes she's found that moment. On March 16, Penn State announced that Barbour would be stepping down after nearly eight years as athletics di- rector at the university. Barbour had led Penn State Intercol- legiate Athletics through some treach- erous years, arriving in 2014 when it was still recovering from the Sandusky scandal and later helping it weather the many hardships brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic. Last fall, she took on two challenges of an altogether different sort, heading up the efforts to re-sign football coach James Franklin to a long-term contract and later leading the search to replace one of Penn State's most irreplaceable figures, Hall of Fame women's volleyball coach Russ Rose. With those items checked off her to- do list, and with the university looking forward to the arrival of new president Neeli Bendapudi this spring, Barbour said she began to feel as though the time was right for her to step down. "I really started reflecting and think- ing about all of this, thinking about where I was from a health and well- being standpoint and where my mind was," she said. "I didn't get an oppor- tunity to see my family over the holiday because of the Outback Bowl and the volleyball search. "I went and spent some time with my family late in January, and that really started me thinking. As I assessed where I was and started thinking about it in terms of the intersection with where Penn State was, in particular our presi- dential transition, I really determined that not only was it the best decision for me, but it was probably a pretty good time for Penn State. And so that's where my decision came from." Barbour doesn't know yet when exactly she will step down. She said Bendapudi will choose her successor, Sandy Barbour's Impending Retirement Prompts Search For New AD MATT HERB | MATT@BLUEWHITEONLINE.COM NEWS & NOTES Barbour has presided over Penn State's athletics department for nearly eight years. During her tenure, Penn State has won seven national championships in three sports and 39 con- ference crowns. PHOTO COURTESY PENN STATE ATHLETICS