Photo by: Matt Woolverton
Marrochello Named NACDA Athletics Director of the Year
March 17, 2025 | General
CLEVELAND – The National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics (NACDA) has announced that Boston University director of athletics Drew Marrochello is a recipient of the 2024-25 NACDA AD of the Year Award (ADOY). He will be recognized in conjunction with the 60th Annual NACDA & Affiliates Convention at the World Center Marriott Resort in Orlando, Fla., at the beginning of the Association-Wide Featured Session on Tuesday, June 10.
The ADOY Award annually honors 28 athletics directors across all levels for their commitment and positive contributions to student-athletes, campuses and their surrounding communities.
"NACDA is proud to usher in a new class of Athletics Director of the Year Award winners for 2024-25 and recognize these servant leaders guiding their departments into a new age of intercollegiate athletics," said Pat Manak, NACDA chief executive officer. "Each of the seven Divisions has at least one first-time honoree, including four brand new winners in the junior college ranks. These 28 individuals represent their institutions, conferences and the industry as a whole with a level of dedication and passion that shines through in their collective accomplishments."
Now in his 11th year at the helm of the department and 20th year overall at BU, Marrochello has overseen an impressive stretch of success for the Terriers with notable achievement in athletics, academics and fundraising. Here are some of the highlights from the 2024 calendar year:
- In the Spring 2024 semester, the student-athlete body at Boston University set a department record with a GPA of 3.43. That number was matched in Fall 2024. The top 10 cumulative student-athlete GPAs on record at BU have been achieved during Marrochello's decade at the helm.
- In 2023-24, BU had the highest department winning percentage of any New England Division I school and over half of BU's varsity programs finished first or second in their respective conference's regular season and/or postseason.
- The department raised over $5.7 million in cash and pledges during the 2024 fiscal year, including a record-breaking $2.4 million towards its Annual Fund. This included the most successful BU Giving Day in its 10-year history with nearly $1.4 million raised on April 3.
- Two significant projects in BU's Case Center took place in 2024 as Walter Brown Arena underwent the largest renovation of an existing facility in BU Athletics history to greatly benefit the women's ice hockey program while the men's basketball program had its team spaces fully renovated, including a new locker room.
- Eight BU student-athletes were named the top scholar-athlete in their conference (7 in Patriot League, 1 in Hockey East).
- Five programs won conference titles in 2023-24 with men's soccer and men's tennis winning their first Patriot League crowns.
- The softball team became the first Northeast program to post 50+ victories in back-to-back seasons and finished the year nationally ranked by two organizations for the first time. They placed No. 23 in the final NFCA Top 25 poll and No. 21 in the last D1Softball poll.
- For the seventh time in 11 years, BU claimed the Patriot League Women's Presidents' Cup.
- BU had its highest Learfield Division I Cup finish in Marrochello's tenure at 93rd, which was tops in the Patriot League and ninth among Division I non-football schools.
- The men's ice hockey team made its second consecutive Frozen Four appearance, a feat that hadn't been accomplished in 27 years. Freshman Macklin Celebrini became the fourth Terrier to win the Hobey Baker Award as the nation's top player and then went on to be the No. 1 overall pick at the 2024 NHL Draft.
- Marrochello worked with TD Garden and his fellow D1 colleagues in the Boston area to bring the Women's Beanpot title game to TD Garden for the first time ever. The event drew an attendance of 10,633, marking the largest crowd to ever watch a women's hockey game in New England.
- The lightweight rowing team won a 2024 national championship in the double scull.
The ADOY Award program is in its 27th year and has recognized a total of 605 deserving athletics directors to date.
All NACDA-member directors of athletics in the United States, Canada and Mexico who met the criteria were eligible for the award. Among the criteria were service as an AD for a minimum of five academic years; demonstration of commitment to higher education and student-athletes; continuous teamwork, loyalty and excellence; and the ability to inspire individuals or groups to high levels of accomplishments. Additionally, each AD's institution must have passed a compliance check through its appropriate governing body (i.e., NCAA, NAIA, etc.), in which the institution could not have been on probation or cited for a lack of institutional control during the tenure of the current athletics director.
Nominators were NACDA-member directors of athletics, institutional presidents and conference commissioners, as well as other respected intercollegiate athletics administrators. Special Divisional Selection Committees composed of current and former directors of athletics, current and former commissioners and other key athletics administrators voted on nominees for the award. Additional history surrounding the ADOY award, including a list of past winners, can be found here.
About NACDA: Now in its 60th year, NACDA is the professional and educational Association for more than 24,000 college athletics administrators at more than 2,300 institutions throughout the United States, Canada and Mexico. NACDA manages 19 professional associations and four foundations. In addition to virtual programming, NACDA hosts and/or has a presence at seven major professional development events in-person annually. The NACDA & Affiliates Convention is the largest gathering of collegiate athletics administrators in the country. For more information, visit www.nacda.com.
The ADOY Award annually honors 28 athletics directors across all levels for their commitment and positive contributions to student-athletes, campuses and their surrounding communities.
"NACDA is proud to usher in a new class of Athletics Director of the Year Award winners for 2024-25 and recognize these servant leaders guiding their departments into a new age of intercollegiate athletics," said Pat Manak, NACDA chief executive officer. "Each of the seven Divisions has at least one first-time honoree, including four brand new winners in the junior college ranks. These 28 individuals represent their institutions, conferences and the industry as a whole with a level of dedication and passion that shines through in their collective accomplishments."
Now in his 11th year at the helm of the department and 20th year overall at BU, Marrochello has overseen an impressive stretch of success for the Terriers with notable achievement in athletics, academics and fundraising. Here are some of the highlights from the 2024 calendar year:
- In the Spring 2024 semester, the student-athlete body at Boston University set a department record with a GPA of 3.43. That number was matched in Fall 2024. The top 10 cumulative student-athlete GPAs on record at BU have been achieved during Marrochello's decade at the helm.
- In 2023-24, BU had the highest department winning percentage of any New England Division I school and over half of BU's varsity programs finished first or second in their respective conference's regular season and/or postseason.
- The department raised over $5.7 million in cash and pledges during the 2024 fiscal year, including a record-breaking $2.4 million towards its Annual Fund. This included the most successful BU Giving Day in its 10-year history with nearly $1.4 million raised on April 3.
- Two significant projects in BU's Case Center took place in 2024 as Walter Brown Arena underwent the largest renovation of an existing facility in BU Athletics history to greatly benefit the women's ice hockey program while the men's basketball program had its team spaces fully renovated, including a new locker room.
- Eight BU student-athletes were named the top scholar-athlete in their conference (7 in Patriot League, 1 in Hockey East).
- Five programs won conference titles in 2023-24 with men's soccer and men's tennis winning their first Patriot League crowns.
- The softball team became the first Northeast program to post 50+ victories in back-to-back seasons and finished the year nationally ranked by two organizations for the first time. They placed No. 23 in the final NFCA Top 25 poll and No. 21 in the last D1Softball poll.
- For the seventh time in 11 years, BU claimed the Patriot League Women's Presidents' Cup.
- BU had its highest Learfield Division I Cup finish in Marrochello's tenure at 93rd, which was tops in the Patriot League and ninth among Division I non-football schools.
- The men's ice hockey team made its second consecutive Frozen Four appearance, a feat that hadn't been accomplished in 27 years. Freshman Macklin Celebrini became the fourth Terrier to win the Hobey Baker Award as the nation's top player and then went on to be the No. 1 overall pick at the 2024 NHL Draft.
- Marrochello worked with TD Garden and his fellow D1 colleagues in the Boston area to bring the Women's Beanpot title game to TD Garden for the first time ever. The event drew an attendance of 10,633, marking the largest crowd to ever watch a women's hockey game in New England.
- The lightweight rowing team won a 2024 national championship in the double scull.
The ADOY Award program is in its 27th year and has recognized a total of 605 deserving athletics directors to date.
All NACDA-member directors of athletics in the United States, Canada and Mexico who met the criteria were eligible for the award. Among the criteria were service as an AD for a minimum of five academic years; demonstration of commitment to higher education and student-athletes; continuous teamwork, loyalty and excellence; and the ability to inspire individuals or groups to high levels of accomplishments. Additionally, each AD's institution must have passed a compliance check through its appropriate governing body (i.e., NCAA, NAIA, etc.), in which the institution could not have been on probation or cited for a lack of institutional control during the tenure of the current athletics director.
Nominators were NACDA-member directors of athletics, institutional presidents and conference commissioners, as well as other respected intercollegiate athletics administrators. Special Divisional Selection Committees composed of current and former directors of athletics, current and former commissioners and other key athletics administrators voted on nominees for the award. Additional history surrounding the ADOY award, including a list of past winners, can be found here.
About NACDA: Now in its 60th year, NACDA is the professional and educational Association for more than 24,000 college athletics administrators at more than 2,300 institutions throughout the United States, Canada and Mexico. NACDA manages 19 professional associations and four foundations. In addition to virtual programming, NACDA hosts and/or has a presence at seven major professional development events in-person annually. The NACDA & Affiliates Convention is the largest gathering of collegiate athletics administrators in the country. For more information, visit www.nacda.com.
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