Posted
2/27/08

 




Jim Phillips to Be Named A.D.


The Dekalb Daily Chronicle on Wednesday morning reported that Dr. Jim Phillips had been offered the Northwestern athletic director position, and that he would accept the position in the coming days.  NU has been looking for a permanent replacement for former A.D. Mark Murphy, who left Evanston to take over the Green Bay Packers at the beginning of the year.

If the report is correct, Northwestern will have landed a new director who many people believe was the school's first choice for the job.  In fact, Phillips might have been a close second for the job back in 2003, when he was Assistant A.D. at Notre Dame, and when NU gave the nod to Murphy instead. 

Phillips would definitely seem to be a great fit for NU.  He has raised the level of NIU marketing in the Chicago area to a point competing with (and some would argue, surpassing) Northwestern and the Big Ten. He made academic excellence his most important goal at NIU, and according to NIU's Website, his teams have achieved the highest average GPA in the school's history.  And he has shown leadership potential among his colleagues, serving as the chairman of the MAC Athletic Directors Council.

Phillips has been a powerful force for fundraising and investment, responsible for a $14 million new facility on the NIU campus.  "Prior to Phillips' arrival [to NIU], only one six-figure gift was made to intercollegiate athletics, and under his tenure that tally has risen to 27," his official bio states.  When he took the NIU job he gave fundraising a new visibility, stating, "Building the program means building our budget. . . We have to give our coaches and staff additional support for travel, recruiting, scholarships and academic services. It means we have to increase private fundraising, but it also means we have to increase corporate sponsorships, television sponsorships, ticket sales, apparel and shoe contracts — every aspect of the revenue picture."  And he succeeded, landing contracts with Adidas and increasing every other aspect of the program's financial picture.

Before coming to NIU, Phillips had been assistant in charge of fundraising at Arizona State, Assistant A.D. at Tennessee, and Associate A.D. at Notre Dame.