By Stewart Mandel, Ralph D. Russo, Matt Baker and Lauren Merola
Stanford athletic director Bernard Muir is expected to resign from his role after 13 years with the university, sources briefed on his plans confirmed Monday.
ESPN first reported the news of Muir’s expected resignation.
Muir, 56, saw Stanford football through its transition from longtime coach David Shaw to Troy Taylor in 2022 and the hiring of Andrew Luck in an expanded, “hands-on” general manager role in 2024. Muir also steered the school through two men’s basketball coaching changes and the retirement of legendary women’s basketball coach Tara VanDerveer.
But Stanford remained one of the nation’s most well-rounded athletic departments during Muir’s tenure. The Cardinal won the Learfield Directors Cup — an award given to the nation’s best athletic departments — eight times and finished second in his other years. Stanford also claimed 33 NCAA championships since Muir replaced Bob Bowlsby in the summer of 2012.
Stanford has recently fallen on hard times in its most visible sports. After reaching three Rose Bowls in the early 2010s, the football program finished 3-9 in each of the past four seasons. Men’s basketball has not reached the NCAA Tournament since 2014, and the powerhouse women’s basketball program, which won a national championship in 2021, will likely miss the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 1987 in its first season since VanDerveer retired and longtime assistant Kate Paye took over.
Stanford’s strict admissions process has made it difficult for many of its programs to adapt to the transfer portal era, and until recently the school wanted nothing to do with NIL. Two likely 2025 women’s basketball All-Americans, Lauren Betts (UCLA) and Kiki Iriafen (USC), left Stanford before their eligibility expired, and softball sensation NiJaree Canady left last summer for Texas Tech as Stanford could not match that school’s $1 million NIL deal.
“We were very deliberate (with NIL) at first, just trying to make sure as an institution, with where this (is) going, what we are doing was equitable in nature, and that we were following the rules,” Muir told The Athletic last summer about being slower to embrace NIL.
One of Muir’s most defining marks at Stanford, however, is his response to the conference realignment chaos. Muir helped Stanford find a new league after the Pac-12 collapsed in 2023, reaching a deal with the ACC in September 2023 to join as full members starting with the 2024-25 school year.
Muir said at the time Stanford will start at a 30 percent revenue share for the first seven years, then go to 70 percent in Year 8, 75 percent in Year 9 and 100 percent in Year 10.
“We thought this would be a great opportunity, even though the travel might not make some sense to some,” Muir said then. “Our student-athlete leadership told us, ‘We want to continue to compete at a high level.’ We think we can balance the travel with the academic rigor.”
(Photo: Kirby Lee / Imagn Images)
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