 |
|
During Baddour's tenure, the Tar Heels have won 11 national championships, including six in women's soccer, two each in men's basketball and field hockey and one in men's soccer, won two football bowl games and had numerous top 10 national finishes in Olympic Sports. Nineteen different UNC men's and women's teams have combined for 61 ACC championships, more than any other school in that time. UNC has led the league in the number of team championships in seven of the last 12 seasons.
The 2008-09 season was one of the finest in Carolina history. Women's soccer and men's basketball won NCAA championships, men's soccer and women's lacrosse reached the NCAA finals, baseball advanced to the College World Series for the fourth year in a row and football played in the Meineke Car Care Bowl. UNC became the first school in ACC history to play in the men's basketball Final Four, the College World Series and a football bowl game in the same year.
Carolina finished second nationally in the 2008-09 Learfield Sports Directors Cup, an award that measures NCAA postseason performance. It was the 10th time in 12 years the Tar Heels finished first among ACC schools. Overall, Carolina has averaged a seventh-place finish in the Directors Cup during Baddour's tenure. At least 23 of 28 Tar Heel teams have qualified for NCAA postseason competition in each of the last four seasons.
The second-place finish in the Directors Cup marked the seventh top 10 finish by the Tar Heels in the last eight years, including top four showings in 2006, 2007 and 2009. By comparison, the other 11 ACC schools have combined for four top 10 finishes - and no finishes in the top four - in the 16-year-history of the Directors Cup. The NCAA also honored six UNC athletic teams last year - baseball, men's basketball, women's fencing, women's golf, men's lacrosse and volleyball - with public recognition awards for their latest multi-year Academic Progress Rate scores.
Baddour emphasizes academic achievement and the overall student experience. Last year, 270 student-athletes made the ACC Academic Honor Roll, 329 earned Dean's List honors over the two semesters, and all 28 sports rated well in the APR. Eleven different programs finished the spring with a cumulative grade point average of better than 3.0.
Five years ago, Baddour created the the Carolina Leadership Academy, a training program for student-athletes, coaches and administrators. The program develops leadership skills through interactive workshops, 360-degree feedback, one-on-one coaching, peer mentoring and educational resources. Carolina's coaches consider the program an overwhelming success and it is a model for schools across the nation. Baddour has hired head coaches in nine sports, including Roy Williams, Butch Davis and Mike Fox, overseen renovations or created plans to update virtually every facility in the athletic complex, expanded the direction and staffing for student-athlete services and worked tirelessly to set the program on sound financial footing.
Baddour has made it a top priority to ensure the athletic department stays financially stable. The department and Rams Club helped to raise $280 million over the last nine seasons in support of the Carolina First campaign, increasing the scholarship endowment to where it is the largest for a public school in the country. He worked out funding for facility enhancement projects, scholarships and operating budgets. He negotiated partnerships with Nike to outfit the athletic program, with Learfield Communications to direct UNC's multi-media properties, with Wachovia for on-site sponsorship in the Smith Center and Aramark for concessions. The Nike deal was widely praised as one of the most socially conscious contracts of its kind with respect to global labor issues. Boshamer Stadium, home of the baseball program, re-opened in 2009 after a $25 million renovation and drew rave reviews in its first season. Currently, the department is working on upgrades or new facilities at Kenan Stadium, the Smith Center, Carmichael Auditorium, sports medicine and wrestling. The athletic department and Rams Club moved into the Ernie Williamson Athletics Center in 2007 and the Carolina Basketball Museum opened its doors in early 2008. Nearly 40,000 visitors have toured the museum, called one of the finest of its kind in the country.
Baddour began his UNC career in 1967 as assistant dean of men. In 1971 he became assistant dean of undergraduate admissions. He served as Assistant Dean at the UNC School of Law from 1983 to 1986. He served as the school's director of admissions and scholarship programs, head of personnel and supervisor of career planning and placement.
Baddour spent 11 years as John Swofford's top assistant before being named the Director of Athletics on June 25, 1997. In 2001, he received a Distinguished Service Medal from the UNC General Alumni Association.
Baddour and his wife, Lynda, have three children. Allen, a superior court judge for Orange and Chatham Counties, and his wife, Holly, have two sons, Henry and Jack; David, an attorney with RTP-based Womble-Carlyle, and his wife, Carey, have two daughters, Lauren and Julia, and son, Johnathan; Jennifer, a family therapist in private practice in Cary, and her husband, Kevin Snead, have a son, William.
