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Women AD set precedent (Florida Today, July 13, 2008)
ASU athletics experiencing more than just wins (East Valley Tribune, April 8, 2008)
Lisa Love, Vice President for University Athletics Lisa Love was named Arizona State's Vice President for University Athletics on April 23, 2005. At ASU, Love serves as the senior administrative officer of the university's athletic program, which features 12 women's and nine men's sports, including men's and women's basketball, men's and women's golf, swimming and diving, women's tennis, track/field and cross country; women's gymnastics, soccer, softball, volleyball, and water polo; baseball, wrestling and football. On the strength of three national championships and eight total Top 10 national finishes this year, the ASU athletics department finished fourth in the 2007-08 U.S. Sports Academy Director's Cup standings, a national ranking of all Division IA institutions. Love is responsible for the management and development of one of the finest and most comprehensive athletic physical plants in the nation at ASU, playing host to nearly 1 million patrons each year. ASU's athletic staff includes more than 150 full and part-time coaches and administrative and support personnel who provide services to about 500 student-athletes. Love serves on the NCAA Leadership Council, and she chaired the Pac-10 Conference's Athletic Director's Revenue Sharing Committee in 2006-07. Last year, she participated in both Teach for America and Read for America, which required teaching and reading to seventh and eighth-graders at C.J. Jorgensen School and Copper King Elementary School. In the short time she has presided over the affairs of ASU Athletics, Love has already established herself as one of the rising administrators in the country. Love's ability to lead was evident right from the start. She had been on the job a little more than two months (officially began July 1, 2005) when ASU had to move its scheduled football game with LSU from Baton Rouge, La., to Tempe - in less than a week's time - because of the devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina in the state of Louisiana. In the end, $1 million was raised through ticket sales from the game to assist with the Hurricane relief effort. One of only six female athletic directors out of 119 at Division I Schools with football, Love has taken important steps since her appointment to ensure that ASU remains one of the premier athletic programs in the country. She has extended the contracts of head women's basketball coach Charli Turner Thorne (two Pac-10 Championships and five NCAA Tournament appearances); head baseball coach Pat Murphy (seven top 12 finishes and three College World Series appearances); head track and field coach Greg Kraft (four national championships in the last two years); head women's tennis coach Sheila McInerney and women's golf coach Melissa Luellen. In addition, Love has received praise around the country for hiring a powerful class of head coaches, including veteran football coach Dennis Erickson, the 9th-winningest active coach in the nation and two-time national champion who helped ASU fashion a 10-3 record and a Pac-10 co-championship in 2007. In addition, she hired North Carolina State's Herb Sendek (12 postseason appearances in 14 seasons as a head coach), who guided the ASU men's basketball program to its first 20-win season in five years in 2007-08. She also hired softball coach Clint Myers, who coached the team to a national championship in 2008, women's soccer coach Kevin Boyd, who led California to eight NCAA apperances in 10 seasons, and volleyball coach Jason Watson, who led BYU to the Elite Eight in 2007. "In three short years, Lisa Love has made an impact that places her along side the great collegiate athletics leaders of our nation," Arizona State President Michael Crow said. "She has set the bar high, both for athletic and academic performance. She has demonstrated strategic skill in hiring, retaining and developing an exceptional athletic staff. Her vision and personal leadership skills are laying a foundation for sustained success." Love came to ASU from the University of Southern California where she had been since 1989 as head women's volleyball coach (1989-98) and senior administrator (1991-2005). At USC, Love handled the day-to-day supervision of eight sports and was active in the athletic department's strategic planning, gender equity, civil rights and NCAA certification issues and she served on both the Pac-10 Council and the NCAA Management Council. She also served two stints (1992 - 1993 and 2001 - 2002) as vice president of the Pacific-10 Conference. As a coach, Love was a master teacher at the pinnacle of her profession. She compiled an impressive 404-171 as a college head coach for 17 seasons at Texas Arlington (199-78 from 1982-88) and USC (205-93 from 1989-98). At USC, she led the Trojans to nine NCAA tournament berths and eight finishes in the national Top 15. She was selected as the Pac-10 Co-Coach of the Year in 1997. She was national Coach of the Year in 1988 when Arlington went 30-4 and fell one win shy of the Final Four. Love served as president of the American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) from 1997-98 and as the chair of the NCAA Division I Volleyball Committee. In 2005, Love was inducted into the AVCA Hall of Fame. As a varsity athlete in the sport of volleyball, Love was elected to the Hall of Honor at Texas Tech, her alma mater, and as a coach, Love was elected to both the AVCA and Texas-Arlington Halls of Honor. |
 
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