July 21, 2000

NOTRE DAME, Ind. — Sandy Barbour, Bernard Muir and Jim Phillips have joined the University of Notre Dame athletic staff as associate athletic directors, as University director of athletics Kevin White completes his senior administrative staff which also includes associate athletic directors Missy Conboy, Bubba Cunningham and Tom Kelly.

Barbour, formerly athletic director at Tulane, will serve as associate athletic director for compliance and administration. She will oversee the areas of eligibility, interpretations, compliance education and NCAA certification. She also will be the athletic liaison with the athletic trainers, the strength and conditioning staff, the registrar’s office and financial aid.

Muir, formerly NCAA director of operations for the Division I men’s basketball championship, takes on the role of associate athletic director for student welfare. He will oversee the Life Skills Program as well as the Student-Athlete Advisory Council. His office will serve as the liaison with First Year of Studies, student affairs, admissions and special/talented students. He also will deal with off-campus issues as well as student-athlete conduct.

Phillips, formerly, assistant athletic director for development at the University of Tennessee, will serve as Notre Dame’s associate athletic director for community relations. He will work with the University’s development department on athletic-related projects, as well as be a liaison with University Relations and the Monogram Club.

Meanwhile, Conboy takes on the role of associate athletic director for business and legal affairs. She will oversee the business office, handle human resources for athletics and oversee the areas of equipment, medical, transportation and student managers. She also will be the liaison with the Faculty Board on Athletics — and work with the University’s General Counsel on contract, legal and Office of Civil Rights (OCR) issues

Cunningham will serve as associate athletic director for external affairs. He will oversee the areas of ticketing, promotions, media relations and sports information, camps, corporate sponsors and technology.

Kelly will be the associate athletic director for facilities and game management. He will continue to oversee the RecSports program, while also working with all varsity sports in the game management area. In addition, he will create a master plan for facilities as well as a renewal fund.

In terms of sport administration assignments, White will handle football and men’s and women’s basketball, while Barbour will be responsible for men’s and women’s cross country and track, Muir for men’s and women’s fencing, Phillips for women’s rowing and men’s soccer,

Conboy for volleyball, hockey and men’s and women’s tennis, Cunningham for baseball, men’s and women’s golf and men’s and women’s lacrosse — and Kelly for women’s soccer, softball and men’s and women’s swimming.

Barbour served as athletic director at Tulane from 1996-1999 (Tulane won 12 conference titles during that period), taking over after White left to become director of athletics at Arizona State University. She previously had served from 1991-96 as senior associate athletic director at Tulane under White in the areas of internal operations and compliance.

At Northwestern from 1982 through 1989, the Annapolis, Md. native began as assistant field hockey and lacrosse coach and director of athletic recruiting services, then in ’84 became assistant athletic director for intercollegiate programs, overseeing 15 Olympic sports.

She began her career as assistant field hockey and lacrosse coach at the University of Massachusetts.

Barbour is a 1981 graduate of Wake Forest University with a degree in physical education — and she captained the field hockey team there as well as playing basketball. She earned a master’s degree in sports management from Massachusetts in 1983 and received a master’s in management from Northwestern in 1991. She has been a member of a long list of NCAA and conference committees.

Muir has been with the NCAA since 1992, administering a variety of policies and procedures relative to the Division I men’s basketball championship. From 1992 to ’98 he served as assistant director of the men’s basketball championship. He briefly worked as event director for Streetball Partners International in 1992 as well as an academic affairs and compliance assistant at Auburn University that same year. Muir also gained administrative experience at Brown, Butler and Ohio University as well as with the Atlanta Falcons.

He’s a 1990 graduate of Brown University — and he went on to earn a master’s in sports administration from Ohio University in 1992.

Phillips has been assistant athletic director at Tennessee for the last two years, overseeing a $12.8 million annual giving program there. Phillips also was directly responsible for identifying, cultivating and soliciting the major gifts and donations for the Tennessee Athletic Department. Prior to that, he spent a year with White at Arizona State as an athletic development officer in 1997-98.

He previously was an assistant basketball coach at Arizona State (1992-97), a graduate assistant with the Sun Devils for two years prior to that and served as an athletic department administrative assistant at the University of Illinois from 1988-90. The Chicago, Ill., native is a 1990 graduate of Illinois, received a master’s in administration from Arizona State in 1992 and currently is pursuing a doctorate in higher education at Tennessee.

Conboy is starting her ninth year as associate athletic director after five years as an assistant director. She’s a 1982 Notre Dame graduate who earned her law degree from the University of Kansas in 1985 and spent two years as an NCAA enforcement representative.

Cunningham is an ’84 Notre Dame graduate who begins his sixth year as associate athletic director. He previously spent three years as assistant director and business manager — and five years as ticket manager. He earned his MBA from Notre Dame in 1988.

Kelly is in his sixth year as associate athletic director and had been an assistant director since 1983. Notre Dame’s head baseball coach from 1976 through ’80, he came to Notre Dame in ’65 as an assistant baseball coach, became assistant director of non-varsity athletics and eventually director of non-varsity programs in 1979. He’s a graduate of Western Michigan, with master’s degrees from Penn State and Notre Dame and a doctorate from Notre Dame.

“We are extremely pleased to be welcoming Sandy, Bernard and Jim to the Notre Dame family,” White says. “I am most confident that they, along with the current senior staff members, will provide the vision, energy and execution necessary to continue the high level of athletic and academic excellence that has been the hallmark of Irish athletic tradition. The fresh perspective and impressive credentials of our new staff members, coupled with the dedication and seasoned experience of our current associates, will afford us the opportunity to provide the absolute best student-athlete environment in the country.”