Villanova hires Oregon’s Eric Roedl, a 1997 graduate, as its athletic director
Roedl, the deputy athletic director at Oregon, also has ties to Temple. He will begin his new job in January.
A search firm tasked with finding the next athletic director at Villanova landed the university one of its own.
The school announced Tuesday that Eric Roedl, the University of Oregon’s deputy athletic director, will be its next AD.
Roedl will start in January, the school said in a press release. He succeeds Mark Jackson, who left Villanova in late August to become the AD at Northwestern University.
Roedl is a 1997 graduate of Villanova, where he cocaptained the tennis team. He has worked at Oregon since 2012 and has served as the deputy athletic director and chief operating officer since 2016. His duties at Oregon included assisting the AD with overseeing operations of the school’s 20-sport, $145 million athletic program. Roedl, according to his biography page on Oregon’s website, “has oversight responsibility for business/financial operations, strategic and financial planning, human resources, contracts, information technology, and equipment operations.”
Before Oregon, Roedl spent eight-plus years at Temple in various roles, including a stint as deputy AD and administrator for the football, men’s basketball, and baseball programs.
“When we began our search, we were looking for an individual who understands our Augustinian mission, who is able to successfully navigate the changing landscape of college athletics and who possesses the necessary skills to build on our legacy of success — athletically, academically, and administratively — well into the future,” the Rev. Peter M. Donohue, Villanova’s president, said in a statement. “Eric quickly stood out among a very talented group of candidates as a leader with a breadth of experience, vision, and deep commitment to student-athletes.”
Roedl in a press release said it was “an honor” to return to Villanova.
“My vision is to collaborate with university leadership, the Villanova community, our coaches, staff, and student-athletes to maintain a championship culture throughout the athletic department that places the highest value on student-athlete experience and success and strives to match and promote the excellence of Villanova in everything we do,” he said.
Before Temple, Roedl served as associate director of athletic business affairs at the College of William & Mary. After graduating from Villanova, he received a master’s degree in sports administration from the University of North Carolina and an MBA from William & Mary.
Roedl’s hire comes at a critical time when Villanova is still figuring out where it fits into the grand scheme of the ever-changing world of college athletics. Meanwhile, its flagship program, the men’s basketball team, has been trending in the wrong direction under Kyle Neptune in the two-plus seasons since he succeeded Jay Wright.
Roedl’s immediate focus likely will be evaluating the basketball program, considering its vitality to the health of the rest of the athletic department.
“There is not a more talented, capable or proven athletic administrator, at any level, than Eric Roedl,” former Temple AD Bill Bradshaw said in a press release.
Villanova’s athletic department will continue to be led by interim AD Lynn Tighe until Roedl begins in 2025.