Sources: Stanford to employ ex-Nike CEO as AD

• Seth Wickersham Close Seth Wickersham ESPN Senior Citizen Writer Senior Author for ESPN.com and ESPN The Magazine Joined

• ESPN The Publication after finishing from the University of Missouri. Although he mainly covers the NFL, his tasks also have actually taken him to the Athens Olympics, the World Series, the NCAA tournament and the NHL and NBA playoffs.Jul 31, 2025, 11:10 PM ET Stanford is set to work with former Nike CEO John Donahoe as the school’s brand-new athletic director, sources

told ESPN on Thursday.Donahoe, 65, will get here in the college athletic director area with a large swath of organization experience, as Stanford authorities saw him as

a”unicorn candidate”since of both his business ties and history at the school. Stanford longed for a nontraditional candidate for the role, and Donahoe’s hire delivers a skilled CEO with stints at Nike, Bain & Company and eBay. He also functioned as the board chair of PayPal.Donahoe likewise brings strong Stanford ties, as he’s a 1986 MBA graduate. He has likewise had two stints on the Stanford company school’s advisory board, including presently serving because role.Editor’s Picks

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Donahoe replaces Bernard Muir, who announced in February he was stepping down from the school after serving because role because 2012. Alden Mitchell has been working as the school’s interim athletic director.The hire is a head-turning one for Stanford, generating somebody with Donahoe’s high-level business experience. And it comes at a time when the athletic department has actually had a hard time in its greatest profile sports, as football is in the middle of 4 consecutive 3-9 seasons and the men’s basketball group hasn’t reached the NCAA tournament because 2014. In hiring Donahoe, they are aiming for somebody who

can discover an innovative way to support basic manager Andrew Luck and the Stanford football program while also determining a sustainable design for the future of Stanford’s Olympic sports.Stanford’s Olympic sports remain the very best in the nation, as Stanford professional athletes or former athletes accounted for 39 medals in the 2024 Paris Olympics. If Stanford were a nation, they would have connected with Canada for the 11th most medals. (Stanford has also won 26 of the possible 31 director’s cups for general athletic success in college, including a 25-year streak from 1995 to 2019.)Stanford officials approached Donahoe in recent weeks about the position, with both President Jonathan Levin and former women’s basketball coach Tara VanDerveer among the chief employers. Donahoe has an enduring relationship with both, as he preserved strong ties to the school throughout his career.Per ESPN sources, Luck will report to Donahoe in this function. Luck hung around with him in the interview process and is thrilled

to work with him, per sources.(That’s a change from the previous structure, as upon Luck’s hiring he had actually been slated to report to Levin.)Stanford is set to start a football season in which it is picked last in the 17-team ACC. Previous NFL coach Frank Reich is the interim coach, and both sides have explained this is a definitive interim situation and he will not return after the 2025 season.