Athletic Staff Administrators Named
Barbour, Muir, Phillips join athletic department.

July 21, 2000

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

Barbour, formerly athletic director at Tulane, will serve asassociate athletic director for compliance and administration. She willoversee the areas of eligibility, interpretations, compliance educationand NCAA certification. She also will be the athletic liaison with theathletic trainers, the strength and conditioning staff, the registrar’soffice and financial aid.

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

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

Meanwhile, Conboy takes on the role of associate athleticdirector for business and legal affairs. She will oversee the businessoffice, handle human resources for athletics and oversee the areas ofequipment, medical, transportation and student managers. She also willbe the liaison with the Faculty Board on Athletics — and work with theUniversity’s General Counsel on contract, legal and Office of CivilRights (OCR) issues

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

Kelly will be the associate athletic director for facilities andgame 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 arenewal fund.

In terms of sport administration assignments, White will handlefootball and men’s and women’s basketball, while Barbour will beresponsible for men’s and women’s cross country and track, Muir formen’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, Cunninghamfor 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 afterWhite left to become director of athletics at Arizona State University.She previously had served from 1991-96 as senior associate athleticdirector at Tulane under White in the areas of internal operations andcompliance.

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

Shebegan her career as assistant field hockey and lacrosse coach at theUniversity of Massachusetts.

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

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

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

Phillips has been assistant athletic director at Tennessee forthe last two years, overseeing a $12.8 million annual giving programthere. Phillips also was directly responsible for identifying,cultivating and soliciting the major gifts and donations for theTennessee Athletic Department. Prior to that, he spent a year withWhite 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 priorto that and served as an athletic department administrative assistant atthe University of Illinois from 1988-90. The Chicago, Ill., native is a1990 graduate of Illinois, received a master’s in administration fromArizona State in 1992 and currently is pursuing a doctorate in highereducation at Tennessee.

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

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

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

“We are extremely pleased to be welcoming Sandy, Bernard and Jimto 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 athleticand academic excellence that has been the hallmark of Irish athletictradition. The fresh perspective and impressive credentials of our newstaff members, coupled with the dedication and seasoned experience ofour current associates, will afford us the opportunity to provide theabsolute best student-athlete environment in the country.”