Jim Sterk

Jim Sterk was named Mizzou's 20th Director of Athletics on Aug., 9, 2016, following highly successful tenures leading programs at San Diego State, Washington State and Portland State. His Win It Right vision for Mizzou Athletics is built upon the core values of Respect, Integrity, Gratitude, Humility and Together, and his first four years have produced unprecedented academic and athletic achievements for the Tigers:

2020-21 Highlights:

• Despite the immense challenges of playing during the COVID-19 pandemic, Mizzou saw a school-record 18 teams represented in the 2020-21 postseason en route to a 48^th-place finish in the Learfield Director’s Cup standings, its highest since 2017-18.
• Six MU teams finished 2020-21 among the nation’s Top 25--Wrestling (T-7^th at 2021 NCAA Championships), Women’s Gymnastics (No. 14), Men’s Swimming & Diving (16^th at 2021 NCAA Championships), Softball (NCAA Super Regional), Women’s Swimming & Diving (18^th at 2021 NCAA Championships) and Volleyball (No. 25).
• All-told, 10 Mizzou teams earned 2020-21 Top 25 status at some point, including Football’s appearance at No. 25 in the Dec. 7 CFP Top 25, Men’s Indoor Track & Field at No. 24 (Jan. 25) and No. 25 (Feb. 8) in the USTFCCCA poll, Men’s Outdoor Track at No. 23 (March 30) in the USTFCCCA ranking and Men’s Basketball’s 11-straight weeks in the AP listing, reaching a high of No. 10.
• In the classroom, Mizzou student-athletes continued their streak of grade-point averages over 3.00 in both the fall and spring semesters. The Tigers have now eclipsed a 3.00 GPA for nine-consecutive semesters.

2019-20 Highlights:

• Mizzou student-athletes set grade-point average records for both the Fall 2019 (3.15) and Spring 2020 (3.44) semesters with the Spring mark ranking as a school-record for any one term. Mizzou also set new standards for Dean’s List honorees (207) and 4.0s (90) during the spring semester.
• Five Mizzou teams led the Southeastern Conference in 2019 Graduation Success Rate (GSR) scores—Baseball (95), Men’s Golf (100), Women’s Golf (100), Women’s Swimming & Diving (100) and Women’s Tennis (100).
• MU Women’s Basketball, Women’s Tennis and Women’s Cross Country received 2018-19 NCAA Public Recognition Awards for their Academic Progress Rates (APR), as 16 of Mizzou’s 18 programs in which APR is tracked either equaled or improved their multi-year score year over year.
• Eight Mizzou squads were ranked at one point during their respective season and five ended their year ranked among the nation’s Top 25 in Men’s Swimming & Diving (No. 7), Women’s Gymnastics (No. 14), Women’s Swimming & Diving (No. 20), Softball (No. 15/No. 25) and Wrestling (No. 23).
• Mizzou Wrestling claimed its ninth-straight conference tournament title and eighth-straight MAC Tournament championship. MU also won the MAC regular-season crown for the seventh time in eight years.
• Mizzou Football moved into the $98M South End Zone Facility ahead of the 2019 season.
• Eliah Drinkwitz was introduced as Mizzou’s 33^rd Head Football Coach on Dec. 10, 2019, and then-Interim Head Volleyball Coach Josh Taylor had the interim tag removed, Nov. 14, 2019.

2018-19 Highlights:

• Mizzou produced a school-record tying GSR score of 91 for the second-straight year; the SEC’s third-best mark behind Vanderbilt (97) and South Carolina (94), and the 12^th-straight year it equaled or improved its institutional GSR. MU produced SEC-leading marks of 100 in Baseball, Women’s Basketball, Women’s Golf, Women’s Tennis and Soccer.
• MU Women’s Basketball and Women’s Tennis garnered 2017-18 NCAA Public Recognition APR Awards.
• After finishing a school-record 33^rd in the Learfield IMG Directors’ Cup standings in each of Sterk’s first two years, Mizzou placed 51^st in 2018-19, a five-place improvement over its average finish of 56^th in the award’s first 25 years; 15 of 20 programs were represented in the postseason either as teams or individuals.
• Mizzou Football, which played in back-to-back bowl games for the first time since the 2013 and 2014 seasons, was one of six MU programs to finish among the nation’s Top 25 as it was 23^rd in the final College Football Playoff ranking to join Wrestling (sixth-place, NCAAs), Men’s Swimming & Diving (11^th-place, NCAAs), Women’s Gymnastics (17^th), Women’s Swimming & Diving (23^rd, NCAAs) and Volleyball (23^rd). Mizzou Wrestling also swept the MAC regular-season and tournament titles for the second-straight year.
• Ground was broken in March 2018 on the largest campus construction project in school history, Mizzou Football’s new den, the $98M South End Zone Facility.
• The Tiger Scholarship Fund (TSF) saw a $17M increase over the previous year’s productivity en route to its third-highest year ever in total cash and pledges of $40.7M, which included a second-straight record-setting year in student-athlete scholarship support of $11.4M. It marked the first time in the same year that TSF produced top three marks for annual fund dollars raised (No. 1), cash donations (No. 3) and productivity (No. 3). 
• After serving as interim head coach for the 2018-19 season, Andrew Grevers was named Head Coach of the Tigers’ Men’s and Women’s Swimming & Diving programs, May 24, 2019.

2017-18 Highlights:

• In the 2017 Federal Graduation Rates survey, Mizzou ranked second in the SEC at 72 percent to match the highest mark in program history (2014-15).
• MU registered a school-record GSR score of 91 to rank third in the SEC behind Vanderbilt (96) and South Carolina (93), and produced SEC-leading marks in Baseball (97), Women’s Basketball (100), Women’s Golf (100), Women’s Gymnastics (100), Women’s Tennis (100) and Volleyball (100).
• Women’s Tennis and Volleyball earned 2016-17 NCAA APR Public Recognition Awards.
• Mizzou equaled best-ever Learfield Directors’ Cup finish, as it totaled 660.75 points to place 33^rd for the second-straight year. A record 17 of the Tigers’ 20 programs were represented in the postseason with a school-record 15 scoring Directors’ Cup points.
• Mizzou captured two conference titles (Mizzou Wrestling won the MAC regular-season and tournament crowns) and 11 teams ranked in the nation’s Top 25 at some point during the year.
• The Tigers produced Top 25 2017-18 NCAA Championship finishes in Wrestling (sixth), Women’s Indoor Track & Field (ninth), Women’s Outdoor Track & Field (11^th), Women’s Swimming & Diving (15^th), Volleyball (Sweet 16) and Men’s Swimming & Diving (23^rd). It also marked the first time since 1981-82 that Mizzou Football played in a bowl game and both Tiger Basketball teams reached the NCAA Tournament in the same academic year.
• Karissa Schweizer (3,000m and 5,000m at the NCAA Indoor Championships; 5,000m at NCAA Outdoor Championships) won three NCAA individual titles as a senior to cap her fabulous collegiate career with six national championships.
• A new era in Mizzou Softball began with the introduction of Larissa Anderson as the 10th head coach to lead the tradition-rich Tiger program on May 26, 2018.
• Mizzou Arena was sold-out on a season ticket basis during Cuonzo Martin’s first year on the Tigers’ sideline, and MU responded with its first NCAA Tournament appearance since 2012-13.

2016-17 Highlights:

• Four Mizzou teams recorded perfect APR marks of 1,000—Women’s Golf, Women’s Tennis, Soccer and Volleyball, and earned NCAA Public Recognition Awards for their classroom performances.
• Fueled by Top 16 NCAA Championship finishes in Wrestling (fifth), Women’s Indoor Track & Field (eighth), Men’s Swimming & Diving (ninth), Women’s Swimming & Diving (13^th), Women’s Cross Country (16^th) and Volleyball (Sweet 16), Mizzou ranked a program-best 33^rd in the 2016-17 Learfield Directors’ Cup standings with a school-record 662.75 points. The Tigers had not finished better than 36th prior to 2016-17.
• Sixteen Mizzou teams were represented in postseason play, two won conference titles (Volleyball and Wrestling) and 10 ranked among the nation’s Top 25 at season’s end. In addition, two Tigers combined to win four NCAA individual titles as wrestler J’den Cox won his third national title and Schweizer became just the fourth runner in NCAA history to win the women’s distance triple crown (cross country, indoor 5,000m and outdoor 5,000m national titles), and first since 2008.
• The generosity of more than 7,000 donors allowed the Tiger Scholarship Fund (TSF) to raise a school-record $50.4 million during the 2016-17 fiscal year, shattering the previous record by more than $4.7 million. TSF’s record-breaking total, which included new pledges and cash gifts, was aided by a school-record 11 gifts of $1 million or more.
• Cuonzo Martin was named Mizzou’s 19^th Head Men’s Basketball Coach, March 20, 2017.

Sterk joined the Mizzou family from San Diego State, where he enjoyed a highly-successful six-year tenure that included arguably the most successful five-year run in Aztec history with 32 team conference championships from 2011-12 thru 2015-16, including a Mountain West Conference-leading 28 titles in that span, and the nation’s fourth-highest combined winning percentage in football and men’s basketball. In addition, SDSU was one of only four schools nationally to have appeared in six-consecutive NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournaments and have its football team play in five-straight bowl games over that stretch.

“Jim elevated SDSU to a respectable level both athletically and academically,” said Marshall Faulk, a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame and former St. Louis Ram and SDSU Aztec. “His leadership was instrumental in the rise of SDSU success. How we cared for our student-athletes was his No. 1 concern. While I’m sad to see him go, I am equally happy for Jim and his family, and I told him he is going to love the people of Missouri. Mizzou, you hired a man with impeccable integrity.”

Selected as a 2015-16 Under Armour Athletic Director of the Year by NACDA, Sterk was appointed to the NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Committee as the Mountain West Conference’s representative, however, he had to relinquish that prestigious position when he left for Mizzou.

Sterk went to SDSU from Washington State, where he served as athletics director from 2000-10. Prior to his hiring at WSU, he was athletics director at Portland State from 1995 to 2000, where he led the Vikings transition from NCAA Division II to the Division I level.

The NCAA recognized WSU and Sterk in 2006 as the Division IA Athletic Directors' "Program of Excellence." He oversaw a period of unparalleled success at WSU with historic academic and athletic accomplishments during his time in Pullman.

In his last three years at WSU, 13 Cougar teams competed in NCAA Tournaments, including back-to-back trips by the Men's Basketball team (2007 and 2008), while Women's Rowing earned five NCAA bids, including a fourth-place finish in 2006, the highest finish ever by a WSU women's team in NCAA competition.

A 1980 graduate of Western Washington University, Sterk earned four letters for the Vikings in football and one in basketball. He was credited with a school-record 164 tackles during the 1977 season, garnering first-team NAIA District I all-star accolades. He was named team captain and MVP, helping the Vikings to the district championship game. In 2010, Sterk was inducted into Western Washington's Athletics Hall of Fame. 

He received his master's degree in sports administration from Ohio University. In addition to SDSU, Washington State and Portland State, he has served in athletic administrative positions at North Carolina, Maine, Seattle Pacific and Tulane.

Sterk and his wife Debi have three daughters: Ashley, Amy and Abby, and a granddaughter Kinsley Jane.