John Currie Named NACDA’s Cushman & Wakefield Athletics Director of the Year
3/15/2022 2:00:00 PM | General
Wake Forest Director of Athletics John Currie and staff continue to focus on supporting student-athletes and building relationships throughout the Wake Forest, Winston-Salem and ACC communities.
Award Information | ADOY Selection Committee | Previous Award Recipients
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. – A year of outstanding Wake Forest accomplishments continued today as the National Association of College Directors of Athletics (NACDA) named John Currie as the Cushman & Wakefield Athletics Director of the Year. The NACDA ADOY Award recognizes administrative excellence within college athletics and highlights positive contributions of athletics directors to student-athletes, campuses and their surrounding communities.
"As director of athletics, John has made a tremendous impact at Wake Forest as well as in the Winston-Salem community," said Wake Forest President Susan R. Wente, Ph.D. "He strives each day to make his alma mater a more inclusive campus committed to excellence on and off the field. A true servant leader and a role model and mentor for our student-athletes, John truly deserves this honor."
"This is a most unexpected but incredible honor, which reflects the collective efforts of our student-athletes, coaches, staff, University leadership and indeed Deacon fans everywhere," said Currie. "To be selected by the NACDA leadership and some of the most respected leaders in college athletics is beyond humbling. Mary Lawrence, Jack, Gigi, Mary-Dell and I are blessed to be able to live in Winston-Salem and work under President Wente's leadership and are deeply excited about the continued growth of Wake Forest Athletics."
Since returning to his alma mater in 2019, Currie and his leadership team have operated with a vision of delivering A Model Intercollegiate Athletics Program including the five core goals of:
Currie's commitment to a World Class Student-Athlete Experience and his resolve to return Demon Deacons basketball to ACC relevance was demonstrated when he made the only major men's basketball coaching change of 2020 and navigated the challenges of the pandemic to introduce proven-winner Steve Forbes as Wake Forest's new head coach on April 30, 2020. Just 22 months later, Forbes has led Wake Forest to the biggest year-to-year win improvement in ACC history, and his squad tied the single-season program record for ACC triumphs with 13 and home victories with 16. Additionally, graduate transfer Alondes Williams was named the ACC's Player of the Year, the first Deacon to win the award since 2003.
With the support of President Wente and University leadership, Currie moved strategically to secure a long term contract extension with 2021 ACC Football Coach of the Year Dave Clawson as the Deacs won their first ACC Atlantic Division title in 15 years, and the TaxSlayer Gator Bowl in the program's sixth-straight postseason appearance. Wake Forest became the first ACC school since 2004-05 to sweep the football and men's basketball coach of the year honors when Forbes was honored March 7, 2022.
Academic excellence is reflected in Wake Forest's most recent report card, with a combined Demon Deacons graduate success rate of a record 96 percent, including 11 programs scoring a perfect 100 percent rate. Seven athletic programs scored a 990 or better Academic Progress Rate.
Inclusion efforts sine Currie's arrival include the creation of the Robert Grant and Kenneth "Butch" Henry Trailblazer Award honoring the first Black Demon Deacon football players and recognizing the historical role Wake Forest Athletics played in integrating sports in the South. Throughout the 2021-22 academic year, Wake Forest Athletics has celebrated the 50th Anniversary of Women's Intercollegiate Athletics, presented by Blue Cross NC. Meanwhile, the Winston-Salem community has come together for the first ever joint-performances of HBCU Winston-Salem State University's Red Sea of Sound with the Wake's Spirit of the Old Gold & Black for both the 2019 and 2021 football season openers. And this past fall, Inside Higher Ed provided national acclaim for Wake Forest's innovative student pregame tailgate zone which brought together members of 29 campus organizations and saw multiple games with more than 80 percent of Wake Forest's student body in attendance.
Wake's focus on grass roots community engagement, brand building and delivering The Best Fan Experience in North Carolina has included the launch of the DEACTOWN concept, on campus, around Winston-Salem and anywhere Deacon fans find themselves. For the first time ever, Wake Forest hosted ESPN's College Gameday, Sept. 12, 2020, generating exposure value to the University in excess of $13 million. A massive growth in social media presence garnered almost 150 million Twitter and Instagram impressions across Deacon sports in 2021. Other fan friendly developments have been the Truist Field DEACTOWN Fan Zone and Field Level Terrance, a partnership with R&D Brewing to create Deacon Brew last fall, the official craft beer of Wake Forest Athletics while the Deacs have also entered a long-term partnership with Winston-Salem-based HanesBrands®, Inc. (HBI).
Capitalizing on the incredible on-field success of Coach Clawson, his staff and Wake Forest football student-athletes this past season, Truist Field welcomed a 6.4 percent increase in average game attendance this fall compared to the 2019 season, good for the seventh-largest increase rate among Power 5 schools and ranking second in the ACC. Student football attendance averaged a record 3,384 per game while LJVM Coliseum welcomed more than 11,500 students for men's basketball games, the most since the 2008-09 season and up 144% from the 2019-20 season.
Deacon Club donors have also responded in resounding fashion as Currie's team persevered through the pandemic to reach a new all-time Wake Forest Athletics cash giving record of $37.5 million in FY21, an increase of $14.5 million - 63% - from the previous year. Thanks to the leadership generosity of Bob ('61) and Michele McCreary and the 4th Quarter Drive, Wake Forest broke ground on the new 60,000 square foot $38 million McCreary Football Complex on Feb. 12, 2022. The new complex will be debt-free, fully funded by donor gifts including design, construction, and a maintenance reserve.
John Currie Background
Currie was named as Wake Forest's sixth athletics director on March 4, 2019, succeeding his mentor, two-time NACDA Athletics Director of the Year (2002-03; 2007-08) Ron Wellman. The 2021-2022 academic year marks Currie's 12th as a Power-5 athletics director. While athletics director at Kansas State, he was recognized in 2013 as both a NACDA Under Armour Athletic Director of the Year and the recipient of the Bobby Dodd Athletic Director Award. Named a Sports Business Journal Forty Under 40 winner in 2011, Currie is an adjunct faculty member at Columbia University in New York and is a life member of the Fiesta Bowl Board of Directors. He holds a masters degree in Sports Administration from the University of Tennessee and an undergraduate degree in History from Wake Forest University.
He and his wife of 23 years, Mary Lawrence, are the proud parents of three children, Jack, Gigi and Mary-Dell, and King Charles Cavaliers named Charlie and Chase.
Additional Comments
Dave Clawson, Head Football Coach
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. – A year of outstanding Wake Forest accomplishments continued today as the National Association of College Directors of Athletics (NACDA) named John Currie as the Cushman & Wakefield Athletics Director of the Year. The NACDA ADOY Award recognizes administrative excellence within college athletics and highlights positive contributions of athletics directors to student-athletes, campuses and their surrounding communities.
"As director of athletics, John has made a tremendous impact at Wake Forest as well as in the Winston-Salem community," said Wake Forest President Susan R. Wente, Ph.D. "He strives each day to make his alma mater a more inclusive campus committed to excellence on and off the field. A true servant leader and a role model and mentor for our student-athletes, John truly deserves this honor."
"This is a most unexpected but incredible honor, which reflects the collective efforts of our student-athletes, coaches, staff, University leadership and indeed Deacon fans everywhere," said Currie. "To be selected by the NACDA leadership and some of the most respected leaders in college athletics is beyond humbling. Mary Lawrence, Jack, Gigi, Mary-Dell and I are blessed to be able to live in Winston-Salem and work under President Wente's leadership and are deeply excited about the continued growth of Wake Forest Athletics."
Since returning to his alma mater in 2019, Currie and his leadership team have operated with a vision of delivering A Model Intercollegiate Athletics Program including the five core goals of:
- A World Class Student-Athlete Experience.
- Integrity in Academics, Compliance, Finance, Inclusion and Safety.
- Value to the University, Winston-Salem and Triad Communities.
- Win Championships.
- The Best Fan Experience in North Carolina.
Currie's commitment to a World Class Student-Athlete Experience and his resolve to return Demon Deacons basketball to ACC relevance was demonstrated when he made the only major men's basketball coaching change of 2020 and navigated the challenges of the pandemic to introduce proven-winner Steve Forbes as Wake Forest's new head coach on April 30, 2020. Just 22 months later, Forbes has led Wake Forest to the biggest year-to-year win improvement in ACC history, and his squad tied the single-season program record for ACC triumphs with 13 and home victories with 16. Additionally, graduate transfer Alondes Williams was named the ACC's Player of the Year, the first Deacon to win the award since 2003.
With the support of President Wente and University leadership, Currie moved strategically to secure a long term contract extension with 2021 ACC Football Coach of the Year Dave Clawson as the Deacs won their first ACC Atlantic Division title in 15 years, and the TaxSlayer Gator Bowl in the program's sixth-straight postseason appearance. Wake Forest became the first ACC school since 2004-05 to sweep the football and men's basketball coach of the year honors when Forbes was honored March 7, 2022.
Academic excellence is reflected in Wake Forest's most recent report card, with a combined Demon Deacons graduate success rate of a record 96 percent, including 11 programs scoring a perfect 100 percent rate. Seven athletic programs scored a 990 or better Academic Progress Rate.
Inclusion efforts sine Currie's arrival include the creation of the Robert Grant and Kenneth "Butch" Henry Trailblazer Award honoring the first Black Demon Deacon football players and recognizing the historical role Wake Forest Athletics played in integrating sports in the South. Throughout the 2021-22 academic year, Wake Forest Athletics has celebrated the 50th Anniversary of Women's Intercollegiate Athletics, presented by Blue Cross NC. Meanwhile, the Winston-Salem community has come together for the first ever joint-performances of HBCU Winston-Salem State University's Red Sea of Sound with the Wake's Spirit of the Old Gold & Black for both the 2019 and 2021 football season openers. And this past fall, Inside Higher Ed provided national acclaim for Wake Forest's innovative student pregame tailgate zone which brought together members of 29 campus organizations and saw multiple games with more than 80 percent of Wake Forest's student body in attendance.
Wake's focus on grass roots community engagement, brand building and delivering The Best Fan Experience in North Carolina has included the launch of the DEACTOWN concept, on campus, around Winston-Salem and anywhere Deacon fans find themselves. For the first time ever, Wake Forest hosted ESPN's College Gameday, Sept. 12, 2020, generating exposure value to the University in excess of $13 million. A massive growth in social media presence garnered almost 150 million Twitter and Instagram impressions across Deacon sports in 2021. Other fan friendly developments have been the Truist Field DEACTOWN Fan Zone and Field Level Terrance, a partnership with R&D Brewing to create Deacon Brew last fall, the official craft beer of Wake Forest Athletics while the Deacs have also entered a long-term partnership with Winston-Salem-based HanesBrands®, Inc. (HBI).
Capitalizing on the incredible on-field success of Coach Clawson, his staff and Wake Forest football student-athletes this past season, Truist Field welcomed a 6.4 percent increase in average game attendance this fall compared to the 2019 season, good for the seventh-largest increase rate among Power 5 schools and ranking second in the ACC. Student football attendance averaged a record 3,384 per game while LJVM Coliseum welcomed more than 11,500 students for men's basketball games, the most since the 2008-09 season and up 144% from the 2019-20 season.
Deacon Club donors have also responded in resounding fashion as Currie's team persevered through the pandemic to reach a new all-time Wake Forest Athletics cash giving record of $37.5 million in FY21, an increase of $14.5 million - 63% - from the previous year. Thanks to the leadership generosity of Bob ('61) and Michele McCreary and the 4th Quarter Drive, Wake Forest broke ground on the new 60,000 square foot $38 million McCreary Football Complex on Feb. 12, 2022. The new complex will be debt-free, fully funded by donor gifts including design, construction, and a maintenance reserve.
John Currie Background
Currie was named as Wake Forest's sixth athletics director on March 4, 2019, succeeding his mentor, two-time NACDA Athletics Director of the Year (2002-03; 2007-08) Ron Wellman. The 2021-2022 academic year marks Currie's 12th as a Power-5 athletics director. While athletics director at Kansas State, he was recognized in 2013 as both a NACDA Under Armour Athletic Director of the Year and the recipient of the Bobby Dodd Athletic Director Award. Named a Sports Business Journal Forty Under 40 winner in 2011, Currie is an adjunct faculty member at Columbia University in New York and is a life member of the Fiesta Bowl Board of Directors. He holds a masters degree in Sports Administration from the University of Tennessee and an undergraduate degree in History from Wake Forest University.
He and his wife of 23 years, Mary Lawrence, are the proud parents of three children, Jack, Gigi and Mary-Dell, and King Charles Cavaliers named Charlie and Chase.
Additional Comments
Dave Clawson, Head Football Coach
- "John Currie has done a great job since he came back to Wake Forest almost three years ago. He is very focused on doing what is best for our student-athletes and he values building great relationships with coaches, staff and everyone in the Wake Forest and Winston-Salem community. He is deserving of this honor and I am excited to continue to work with John as we move forward."
- "John Currie is a tremendous leader for Wake Forest Athletics and his commitment to excellence for all our programs, including our women's golf team, is special for someone in his role. His engagement with our student-athletes, staff and coaches is excellent and he is very deserving of this honor."
- "Mr. Currie has been instrumental in creating a world-class student athlete experience for our Demon Deacons. As the S.A.A.C. President, I have been impressed by his availability and willingness to participate in monthly SAAC meetings, his requirement of Diversity, Equity & Inclusion training for all coaches, staff and student-athletes per our request, and his efforts to re-engage campus and the city of Winston-Salem to show support of all athletics programs. We are lucky to have an AD who wants to see our success both on and off the field!"
- "John is a visionary leader and an even better human being. Best in class coaches want to be on his team and student-athletes excel under his mentorship. John leads through teamwork and inclusiveness with unwavering integrity. John is an innovator and remains a trailblazer for Wake Forest Athletics as a national model for excellence as well as a steward for our broader community in advocating for our collective future. At his core, John is a true servant leader with tremendous passion, energy and a boundless ambition for the long-term success of Wake Forest University."
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