Tim Curley Position: Director of Athletics

Well into his second decade as the architect of the Penn State's Intercollegiate Athletics program, Tim Curley's dynamic and passionate leadership has been the driving force behind the Nittany Lions' tremendous level of athletic and academic achievement.

Named Director of Athletics on December 30, 1993, Curley's leadership has lifted Penn State among the nation's premier athletic departments. During the Nittany Lions' 16 full years as members of the Big Ten Conference, Penn State has captured 17 NCAA Championships, almost double the next closest Big Ten school.

Curley has seen Nittany Lion squads win 56 Big Ten titles and numerous individual national and conference crowns during his 15-plus years directing Penn State's comprehensive and nationally-respected athletic program. The Lions have won six NCAA Championships since March, 2007.

During the 2008 fall semester, the women's volleyball team won an unprecedented sixth consecutive outright Big Ten Championship and captured its second consecutive NCAA Championship, earning a 38-0 record. The football team won its second conference title in the past four years and played in the 2009 Rose Bowl. The women's soccer team won its 10th consecutive Big Ten Championship, the second-longest string of Big Ten women's titles in any sport. The field hockey team also won the Big Ten title.

In the spring of 2009, the fencing team won its ninth NCAA Championship under Curley's watch and the women's track and field team captured its second consecutive Big Ten Outdoor title. The Nittany Lion Basketball team won its first National Invitation Tournament championship, posting a program record 27 victories.

The 2007-08 sports year included four Big Ten Championships and NCAA titles by the women's volleyball team in the fall and the men's volleyball squad in the spring. Penn State became just the second school in NCAA history to have both volleyball teams win the national championship in the same academic year. The women's track and field team continued its rise to national prominence, winning its first Big Ten outdoor title and finishing a program-best fourth at the NCAA Championships.

Seventeen squads were represented in their respective NCAA Championships in 2008-09. An impressive eight teams finished in the Top 5 in 2007-08.

Include the 56 All-Americans and 41 first team All-Big Ten selections (48 total first team all-conference honorees), a record student-athlete Graduation Success Rate of 89 percent and a record 11 Academic All-Americans and 2008-09 was as another tremendous year of Success With Honor for the Nittany Lions.

A 1976 Penn State graduate, Curley's dedicated and enthusiastic leadership has helped Penn State capture 19 Big Ten championships or tournament titles the past four years, the second-highest total in the conference.

During the fall 2005 semester, Penn State won an unprecedented five Big Ten Championships -- in field hockey, football, men's soccer, women's soccer and women's volleyball -- becoming the first institution to win more than three titles in the fall season in the 110-year history of the Big Ten Conference. Nittany Lions teams compiled an incredible 49-1 record against Big Ten competition in the fall.

In June, 2009, Curley was again recognized for his efforts in helping Penn State maintain its stature as one of the nation's premier athletic programs with his selection as the Northeast Athletic Director of the Year by NACDA. He was one of just four regional Division I-A honorees and previously earned the award in 2003. As he surveys the athletic program he has been instrumental in assembling over the past 33 years, Tim Curley can't help but be proud of the athletic and academic accomplishments of Penn State's 750 student-athletes in 29 varsity sports:
- During a visit to the University Park campus, late NCAA President Myles Brand stated, "Penn State is the poster child for doing it right in college sports."
- In the initial 15 years of the NACDA Directors' Cup all-sports survey, Penn State has finished in the top 25 every year, earning seven top 10 finishes and four top five placings. The Nittany Lions finished No. 9 in 2007-08 and were No. 19 this past year.
- In the most recent comprehensive look at the 117 colleges and universities participating in Division I football and men's basketball, U.S. News and World Report selected Penn State as one of 10 Division I-A institutions for its College Sports Honor Roll. Data on gender equity, number of varsity sports, graduation rates, sanctions, and wins and losses were analyzed to determine the listing.
- Penn State has captured 17 NCAA Championships in men's and women's volleyball; men's and women's fencing and men's gymnastics during Curley's tenure. Nittany and Lady Lion teams have made 29 NCAA "Final Four" appearances during his tenure.
- Penn State also has established itself as a force in the highly competitive Big Ten -- winning 60 regular-season or tournament titles in football, baseball, women's basketball, field hockey, men's gymnastics, men's soccer, women's soccer, men's and women's swimming and diving, women's indoor and outdoor track and field and women's volleyball. The Lions have won 29 Big Ten championships over the past seven years, including a school record six in 2005-06.

In October 2008, the NCAA reported that Penn State student-athletes earned a school record 89 percent Graduation Success Rate, 11 points higher than the national Division I-A average. Twenty-two of Penn State's 25 teams earned a GSR at or above the national average of 78 percent or higher (track and field and cross country count as one sport).

Twenty-one Penn State squads earned a Graduation Success Rate higher than the national average for their sport, according to the NCAA.

The NCAA also reported in 2008 that Penn State student-athletes earned a school record federal graduation rate of 84 percent for the entering class of 2001-02, significantly above the 64 percent national average. The four-year graduation rate average for University Park student-athletes was 82 percent, well above the national average of 63 percent for student-athletes. The 2001-02 freshman class, four-year averages and GSR were second highest in the Big Ten to Northwestern.
- The 2008 NCAA report also showed that Penn State's African-American student-athletes in the entering class of 2001-02 earned a record 76 percent graduation rate, substantially higher than the 53 percent Division I national average.

Of the Penn State student-athletes in the NCAA studies from 1992-93 through 2001-02 who exhausted their eligibility, 96 percent left with their diplomas.
- During the 2009 fall semester, a record 204 Penn State student-athletes earned a 3.50 grade point average or higher to gain Dean's List recognition (minimum of 12 credits). A total of 426 student-athletes earned a GPA of 3.0 or above. The 426 total represented 58 percent of active student-athletes during the fall semester.
- During the 2008-09 academic year, 253 Penn State student-athletes earned Academic All-Big Ten honors, tied for the second-highest in program history. Over the past 15 years, Penn State leads all Big Ten institutions with 3,312 academic all-conference honorees. There were a school record 261 honorees in 2007-08.
- A school record 11 student-athletes earned ESPN The Magazine/CoSIDA Academic All-America accolades in 2008-09, giving Penn State 146 such selections all-time, with 102 in the last 15-plus years under Curley's leadership.

To continue to give the coaching staff and student-athletes the resources to succeed academically and athletically, Curley is guiding the most ambitious fund-raising and athletics facilities campaigns in the department's history. More than $120 million was raised for Intercollegiate Athletics by June, 2008 to surpass the Success With Honor Campaign goal of $100 million.

The Athletics physical plant has improved substantially under Curley's watch. A new softball facility, golf clubhouse, soccer practice fields and men's and women's basketball offices are among projects recently completed or set for construction.

Penn State's baseball stadium -- the 5,406-seat Medlar Field at Lubrano Park - opened to rave reviews in June 2006. The Penn State baseball team shares the state-of-the-art facility with a short season minor league team - the State College Spikes. Curley played a significant role in developing the unique partnership for the construction of the facility.

Also in 2006, a new student fitness center and expanded and renovated wrestling practice, locker room and strength training facilities opened in Rec Hall.

The 12,500-seat expansion and renovation of Beaver Stadium was completed in 2001, raising the capacity to 107,282. The project included private suite and club level seating previously unavailable and the construction of the magnificent Penn State All-Sports Museum to house Penn State's impressive collection of sports memorabilia.

Other facility projects completed in the past decade include the construction of the Lasch Football Building, Ashenfelter Indoor Multi-Sport Facility and Sarni Tennis Center and renovations to the White Building, East Area Locker Room, Jeffrey Field and a new field hockey facility.

Curley also oversees the expansive intramural/club sport programs -- which included a fourth consecutive national championship in men's ice hockey in 2003 and women's rugby national titles in 2004 and 2009 -- on the University Park campus, as well as general recreational activities. He's charged as well with responsibility for the athletic and recreational programs at Penn State's Commonwealth Campuses.

It is a dizzying pace for Curley, who is a regular presence at athletic events, team banquets, alumni meetings and regional and national meetings of athletic administrators.

Curley is a member of the NCAA Committee on Academic Performance (CAP) and on the Board of Directors of the Honda Collegiate Women Sports Awards. He also is on the Boards of Visitors for Penn State's John Curley Center for Sports Journalism and the advisory board for the Center for Sports Business and Research in The Smeal College of Business.

Curley served as president of the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics (NACDA) in 2005-06. He was the first Penn State Athletic Director to serve as president of NACDA, which is a professional and educational association for more than 6,100 athletic administrators at more than 1,600 institutions in the United States, Canada and Mexico. He was elected a NACDA officer in 2002.

In 2004, Curley was appointed to a special NCAA task force that reviewed Division I recruiting bylaws and to the NCAA Division I Football Issues Committee, a group which he chaired. He previously was a member of the NCAA Division I Championships/ Competition Cabinet and served as chair of the NCAA Postseason Bowl Certification Sub-Committee.

It is no exaggeration to say Tim Curley is someone who knows the Penn State athletic program from the ground up. A State College product, he grew up across the street from Old Beaver Field where some of his most memorable days as a youngster were spent there and in Rec Hall. He parked cars, sold game programs and served as a baseball batboy.

The top assistant to Athletic Director Jim Tarman, Curley was named Director of Athletics on December 30, 1993, when Tarman retired after 35 years as a Penn State athletic administrator.

Curley, 55, has been a full-time member of the athletic staff since he joined the department as a graduate assistant football coach. A product of State College Area High School where he played basketball and football for Jim Williams' undefeated 1971 team, Curley walked on as a football player only to have his career cut short by injuries. After earning his Bachelor's degree in health and physical education in 1976, he served a year as a graduate assistant coach while pursuing his Master's degree in counselor education.

Curley was named the Lions' first full-time football recruiting coordinator in 1978 and was instrumental in identifying and recruiting a number of members of the 1982 national championship team. In 1981, he was named assistant to the athletic director where he was involved with the day-to-day operations of the department.

Curley was active in the development of the Academic Support Center for Student-Athletes; the Penn State Sports Medicine Center; the Varsity "S" Club and the Football Letterman's Club during his tenure as assistant to the athletic director. He also was instrumental in putting in place Penn State's first NCAA compliance program and acted as the department's compliance coordinator for five years before surrendering those responsibilities when he was named Associate Athletic Director in 1992.

He is married to the former Melinda Harr of Washington, Pa., who earned degrees from Penn State in 1977 and 1986. The Curleys have two children -- a daughter, Devon, and a son, Tanner. Curley was born on April 28, 1954.