Originally Posted by
basedog
Title Director of Athletics
Phone (337) 482-5393
A new era in Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns Athletics began on Feb. 1, 2017, when Dr. Bryan Maggard was introduced as Director of Athletics. In his more than two years leading the Ragin? Cajuns, Maggard has brought new excitement to the Louisiana fan base while continuing to build on one of college athletics? most unique brands.
The fan and family environment created at Louisiana?s home events has received constant emphasis under Maggard?s watch. In partnership with Sodexo, the department?s concessions provider, Louisiana Athletics unveiled a fan-friendly concessions pricing model ahead of the 2019-20 season that not only brought wide acclaim locally from Cajun Nation, but also drew national attention in the process.
Aesthetic improvements, both big and small, have come to the Ragin? Cajuns? sports park through Louisiana?s 10-year multimedia rights partnership with Learfield, a first-of-its-kind deal inked in March 2018 by Maggard and the university?s administration. Learfield, and its local extension, Ragin? Cajuns Sports Properties, have worked tirelessly to expand the brand of the Ragin? Cajuns both locally, regionally and nationally.
Putting excellent leadership in charge of Louisiana?s teams has been one of Maggard?s clear objectives during his early tenure, with an emphasis on the student-athlete experience and the culture surrounding the program of the utmost importance.
One of the Ragin? Cajuns? premiere sport programs, Louisiana Softball, needed a new leader in late fall of 2017. Maggard tabbed one of the top assistant coaches in all of collegiate softball, Gerry Glasco, as head coach on Nov. 20, 2017, and the extraordinary results have followed.
Louisiana Softball went undefeated in Sun Belt Conference play in 2019, winning a school-record 29-straight games in the process. Glasco?s group went to a second-straight NCAA Regional, extending the proud program?s streak to 21-straight seasons in NCAA postseason play.
Ragin? Cajuns Football has long been an exciting part of any athletic year at Louisiana, and the new head coach of the program Maggard installed for the 2018 season provided just that. First-year head coach Billy Napier, a former pupil of preeminent football leaders Nick Saban and Dabo Swinney, guided the squad to the Sun Belt Conference West Division Championship in Year One, playing in the inaugural conference championship game and advancing to a bowl for the first time in three seasons.
Napier?s emphasis on program culture immediately permeated outward into the rest of the athletics department, university and local community. The organized, deliberate approach to team building enacted by Napier draws on his past experiences as a rising assistant coach at programs such as Alabama, Clemson and Arizona State. The Ragin? Cajuns head into the 2019 campaign as preseason favorites to repeat as West Division champions.
Supporting the life blood of any program, the recruitment of talented student-athletes, has been a matter of importance to Maggard during his time with the Ragin? Cajuns. That point of emphasis paid dividends with Louisiana Football for the 2019 signing class, as the group was rated as the No. 1 recruiting class in the Sun Belt Conference by 247Sports.com.
Maggard?s next head coaching maneuver to make was with Louisiana Soccer, as the Ragin? Cajuns? Director of Athletics sought a fresh start for the program. He zeroed in on an exciting new leader in Lance Key, a former Major League Soccer defender who built a powerhouse at Trinity University in San Antonio, Texas, winning 83.3 percent of his games over 13 seasons as the program?s head coach.
Key helped Trinity advance to 11 NCAA Division III Women's Soccer Championship Tournaments and coached 21 All-America student-athletes on the pitch.
Through the tragedy of longtime Louisiana Baseball head coach Tony Robichaux passing away due to complications following a July 2019 heart attack, Maggard was tasked with guiding the athletics department and as a whole, Cajun Nation, through a stunning and difficult time.
Replacing an iconic leader was no easy proposition, but Maggard found the right leader at the right time in Matt Deggs, a former top assistant of Robichaux?s who went on to turn Sam Houston State into a consistent national contender. Deggs went 187-118 in five seasons leading the Bearkats, including getting the program to an NCAA Super Regional in 2017.
Maggard, a native of Dexter, Kan., joined the Ragin' Cajuns after spending 21 years at the University of Missouri where he most recently served as the Tigers' Executive Associate Athletic Director.
In his role as Executive Associate Athletic Director, Maggard assisted the Director of Athletics in sport oversight of football, scheduling, facility design and construction, administrative and personnel management and holds leadership positions on the executive and senior management teams.
During his tenure at Missouri, Maggard provided leadership for numerous areas within the Department of Athletics to include academic services, athletic dining, athletic performance, equipment operations, sport and counseling psychological services, sports medicine, student-athlete development as well as the revenue-generating units of development, marketing, ticketing and multi-media rights. Additionally, Maggard was very involved in assisting the athletic department with its transition into the Southeastern Conference.
In 2012, Maggard began to assist with the design and construction of $100 million in facility projects that greatly enhanced the stadiums of the Tiger Football, Baseball, and Softball programs as well as the facilities for the Tiger Tennis and Golf teams.
Maggard taught Sport Management courses at Mizzou, as an adjunct professor, where he assisted campus leaders in establishing a Sport Management degree program. Maggard was also a member of the University of Missouri Graduate Faculty and served on doctoral examination and dissertation committees.
Prior to his stint at Missouri, Maggard had stops at Florida State University and Kansas State University, overseeing the academic support services for the Seminole and Wildcat football programs respectively.
Maggard has served his profession and community over the past several years. He is a certified APR consultant with the NCAA/N4A and has served has a facilitator for various student-athlete leadership summits. In 2005, Maggard was invited to serve on a NFL Continuing Education Program Advisory Committee and did so through 2009. He has served as an accreditation consultant in the for-profit education industry and provides program certification consulting for athletic academic support programs through the N4A. Maggard is a Past Board President for the Boys and Girls Club of Columbia.
Maggard received a bachelor's degree in journalism and a master's degree in health and physical education, both from Kansas State University. He received a Ph.D. in Educational and Counseling Psychology from the University of Missouri. He and his wife, Kerry, are proud parents of three children, Dalton, Aubrey, and Kaylin.