Bucknell University Athletics
Bucknell AD John Hardt Named to NCAA Division I Leadership Council
6/29/2012 8:00:00 AM | General
June 29, 2012
LEWISBURG, Pa. - Bucknell director of athletics and recreation John Hardt has a lengthy portfolio of NCAA leadership and committee service, and that list will grow later this summer when he begins a four-year appointment on the Division I Leadership Council. Comprised of representatives from every Division I conference, the Leadership Council supports the NCAA Board of Directors in identifying issues critical to the future of the NCAA, and it helps set the legislative agenda for the coming year.
The Leadership Council also oversees a number of other NCAA committees, including the Minority Opportunites and Interests Committee, the Sportsmanship and Ethical Conduct Committee, the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee, the Committee on Women's Athletics and all NCAA cabinets.
Hardt is completing his 12th year as athletics director at Bucknell and his 26th in college athletics administration. He worked at the NCAA's national office as a compliance representative from 1988-92, and since arriving at Bucknell he has served on numerous NCAA committees. Most notably, he spent four years on the NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision Committee and served as chair of that group in 2007. In addition, Hardt just completed a four-year term on the Division I Baseball Committee.
From 2000-06 Hardt served on the NCAA Division I Committee on Athletics Certification, and from 2003-07 he was a member of the NCAA Division I Football Issues Committee. Hardt has also been appointed to the NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship Committee (2003-05) and the Walter Byers Scholarship Committee (1994-98), serving as chair of the latter committee in 1998 while an associate AD at Michigan State.
At Bucknell, Hardt presides over a successful 27-sport Division I athletics program. Bucknell has captured the Patriot League Presidents' Cup 17 times since the league's inception in 1990. Hardt received the Gen. Robert R. Neyland Outstanding Athletic Director Award at the 2008 All-American Football Foundation Banquet of Champions. He has overseen a major facilities overhaul during his 12 years at Bucknell and has managed 11 consecutive years of growth in athletics fundraising support through the Bison Club.
Bucknell is a highly-selective, privately endowed liberal arts institution with an enrollment of 3,583 undergraduate students. Bucknell competes in NCAA Division I as a member of the Patriot League and has full membership along with American, Army, Colgate, Holy Cross, Lafayette, Lehigh and Navy. Bucknell annually ranks among the national leaders in graduation rates and is fifth in Division I in the total number of CoSIDA Academic All-America selections, with 121 national Academic All-Americans since 1970.
