Penn State to hire Sandy Barbour as athletic director

Dec 7, 2013; Berkeley, CA, USA; California Golden Bears head coach Lindsay Gottlieb. on left, is congratulated by California Golden Bears Athletic Director Sandy Barbour after the game at Haas Pavilion. California won 68-66. Mandatory Credit: Bob Stanton-USA TODAY Sports /

Sandy Barbour, the former athletic director at Cal, will be named to the same position at Penn State, according to Brett McMurphy and Josh Moyer of ESPN.com. Barbour resigned from her position at Cal in late June after roughly 10 years at the school, and this appears to be her next move.

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Barbour, 54, replaces former Penn State AD Dave Joyner, who announced his retirement in June, set to officially begin Aug. 1. Joyner was originally brought in two-plus years ago following the sexual abuse scandal involving former assistant coach Jerry Sandusky, and he was involved in hiring the school’s past two football coaches, Bill O’Brien and James Franklin.

In the past, Penn State president Eric Barron has said he was looking for a “business-oriented athletic director.”

Barbour was one of the longest tenured athletic directors in the Pac-12 conference before her departure, which came as a result of the school’s desire for a “change in leadership.” While many of Cal’s teams thrived during Barbour’s time in Berkeley, things weren’t all good:

"However, the newspaper reported poor budget management under Barbour nearly led to the elimination of several sports. It also reported that Barbour was criticized after an NCAA report showed Cal’s football team had the worst graduation rate in major conferences at 44 percent."

It’s interesting that Penn State wanted a “business-oriented” person but ended up hiring someone whose career includes poor budget management. However, Barbour clearly has a strong reputation around the college sports world as a result of her overall résumé, and now she’s taking over one of the top programs in the Big Ten.

Prior to working at Cal, Barbour was the deputy AD and assistant AD at Notre Dame from 2000-04. She was also the AD for Tulane in 1996.

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