IU Director of Athletics Scott Dolson has been named winner of the 2026 NACDA Athletics Director of the Year Award.
The series of maneuvers made by Dolson, from hiring Curt Cignetti to retaining him, and corralling the resources necessary to operate an elite college football program, highlight his recent accomplishments.
Dolson was honored in the Division I FBS category and becomes the first IU athletic director to win the award, which was first presented in 1999. Dolson will be recognized alongside the other honorees at the NACDA Convention in Las Vegas on June 9.
Dolson is in his sixth year as Indiana University’s Vice President and Director of Intercollegiate Athletics, having previously served 11 years as the department’s Deputy Director of Athletics and Chief Operating Officer. Although his tenure has coincided with seismic shifts in the collegiate landscape—including the COVID-19 pandemic, the emergence of NIL, the evolution of the Transfer Portal, and the complexities of Revenue Sharing—Dolson has successfully navigated these challenges to lead the department through an era of unprecedented athletic and academic success.
The crown jewel of these achievements is the historic ascent of the IU Football program, which recently completed a perfect 16-0 season to capture the 2025 College Football Playoff National Championship. Dolson hired the architect of this resurgence, Curt Cignetti, following the 2023 season; since then, the program has posted a 27-2 record, including a dominant 17-1 mark in Big Ten play. After a 2024 campaign that saw the Hoosiers earn their first-ever Playoff berth, the 2025 season exceeded all expectations. In addition to the national title, IU captured its first Big Ten championship in 58 years, and quarterback Fernando Mendoza became the program’s first-ever Heisman Trophy winner.
Beyond the gridiron, Hoosier programs and student-athletes have thrived individually under Dolson’s leadership. During the 2024-25 academic year, six different student-athletes captured individual NCAA championships, marking the highest single-season total in school history. And during his five-plus years at the helm of the department, 13 of IU’s 24 programs have earned first- or second-place Big Ten finishes.
On a national level, Dolson continues to be a prominent voice in collegiate sports leadership. Earlier this month, he was one of four athletic directors selected to attend a White House roundtable discussion regarding the future of college athletics. He also recently concluded a two-year term as Chairperson of the Big Ten Athletic Directors Group and was appointed to the NCAA Division I Baseball Selection Committee in early 2024.
