Baumgartner joins Texas Athletics staff
AUSTIN, Texas — A highly-regarded and veteran administrator, Sarah Baumgartner joined the Chris Del Conte’s Texas Athletics executive team this month as Executive Senior Associate Athletics Director for Sports Administration. A former student-athlete herself, Baumgartner joined the Longhorn staff after serving as Deputy Director of Athletics at Rutgers for the past five years.
“Sarah is a tremendous addition to our staff and a proven leader who will be a great resource for our coaches, student-athletes, athletics department and our entire campus,” said UT Vice President and Athletics Director Chris Del Conte. “I’ve known her for a long time, have tried to hire her before, and am just thrilled that the timing was right this time. She will be an invaluable member of our leadership team, brings a wealth of knowledge and experience and has already hit the ground running. Longhorn Nation will enjoy getting to know her and we’re so lucky to have her in our Longhorn Family.”
In her role with the Longhorns, Baumgartner will provide supervision of the head coaches, directors of operations, and program administrators for all 20 sports programs. She is the liaison to all areas within the athletics department that interact and support the sport programs and is responsible for monitoring student-athlete recruitment, experience, academic progress, and welfare.
In addition, she oversees equipment operations and serves as UT’s liaison to Nike. She is a member of the Vice President/Athletic Director’s senior management team and assists with the department-wide strategic planning efforts.
“I am honored to join The University of Texas Longhorn family,” Baumgartner said. “I want to thank Chris Del Conte for giving me this unique and awesome opportunity to serve our coaches, student-athletes, and staff across all 20 programs. The rich history, passion, and pride here are unprecedented. I’m excited to get to work alongside some of the greatest thought-leaders and true legends in our business as a member of Chris’ executive staff. And personally, my family and I can’t wait to immerse ourselves in every bit of what makes this university and city so magical!”
In her time as Deputy Director of Athletics at Rutgers (2016-21), Baumgartner was responsible for providing oversight of all revenue generating and external departments, while also working with Rutgers Sports Health, student-athlete services and human resources. She was involved in budgeting, capital projects/master planning, contract negotiations, donor solicitation strategy and stewardship, and helped secure a landmark $10.5M naming rights partnership with SHI for the Rutgers football stadium.
She began her time at Rutgers in 2013 as Senior Associate Athletic Director/Chief Development Officer, spearheading the department’s development arm (R Fund) and launching the “R Big Ten Build” campaign, which raised more than $115 million and was responsible for several major capital improvements. The contributions to the campaign included the four largest gifts in Rutgers Athletics history, combining to exceed $26 million, and was buoyed by the largest gift in program history – a $15 million pledged by Gary and Barbara Rodkin to fund the Academic Success Center on Busch Campus. Other funded projects were the RWJBarnabas Health Athletic Performance Center, which is home for the men’s and women’s basketball, gymnastics and wrestling programs, the Marco Battaglia Practice Complex, the Fred Hill Baseball/Softball Training Complex, the Harriett and Bob Druskin Strength and Conditioning Center, the Ron and Joanna Garutti Strength and Conditioning Center, and The Brown Family Football Locker Room.
Prior to Rutgers, Baumgartner spent seven years with Missouri Athletics as the Associate Athletic Director for Development and men’s basketball sport administrator. The Tigers enjoyed unparalleled success during her tenure, both athletically and in donor growth.
At Missouri, Baumgartner oversaw a 15-member staff that raised $84 million toward Mizzou’s “Going for Gold” campaign. The athletics annual fund (Tiger Scholarship Fund) increased donor membership by 60 percent and grew annual fund gifts by 40 percent during that time. She successfully developed and executed the fundraising plan to capitalize on Missouri’s transition from the Big 12 Conference to the SEC, which saw record highs for donor membership and dollars raised at Mizzou.
Baumgartner is a current member of the Women Leaders in College Sports Board of Directors and assists the Foundation Fund Committee to develop more resources for Women Leaders.
She also served as President of the National Association of Athletic Development Directors (NAADD) for the 2019-20 membership year. NAADD is an organization that enhances the athletics development and fundraising profession by providing educational, ethical and networking support.
Additionally, she was a member of the NCAA Division I Women’s Softball Committee from 2016-2019.
A native of Wheaton, Ill., and four-year letterwinner in softball at The University of Illinois, Baumgartner was an All-Big Ten Tournament and a Big Ten Sportsmanship Award honoree. In 2004, she received a bachelor’s in business administration before earning her master’s degree in sports administration from Illinois in 2005.
Baumgartner resides with her spouse, Pascha Boyd, and their twins, Greta and Leo.
