Penn State athletic director Sandy Barbour addresses her future at PSU
Penn State Vice President for Intercollegiate Athletics Sandy Barbour spoke with the media about her future in Tampa Bay ahead of Saturday’s Outback Bowl.
Barbour signed a contract extension in early 2019 that keeps her in Happy Valley through August 31, 2023.
Penn State named Dr. Neeli Bendapudi as its new president earlier this month. She’ll replace Eric Barron, who is retiring this spring.
Considering her contract status and the change in leadership, Barbour was asked about her future with Penn State.
“Obviously those will be conversations that our new president and I will have,” Barbour said.
“Certainly, from my perspective, I love Penn State. I love what I’m doing. As long as my health is good and I’m having fun, I certainly see that in my future. Obviously, Penn State and Dr. Bendapudi will make their decision as well.”
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Barbour has served as Penn State’s Athletic Director since taking on the role in August of 2014 — just under eight months after PSU hired James Franklin as its head football coach.
When her contract was extended in 2019, Barbour said she intended it to give her a buffer period with the new university president before it expired.
“I’ve got a year and a half left,” she said. “That was by design in the conversations that Dr. Barron and I had, that I would have some time after a new president.”
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Barbour on Penn State’s contract extension for James Franklin
Barbour recently worked with Franklin to agree to a 10-year contract extension that became official in late November.
She was asked on Thursday why she and Penn State elected to give Franklin such a long-term contract.
“If you look at the body of work, you look at what we’ve seen from James as it relates to who he is, what his values are, what his fit is for us, how he’s developed student-athletes,” she said. “And then, oh, by the way, we’ve also won a lot of football games.
“As you really dig into it, that 2016-17-18-19 period was as good as we’ve been in about 35 or 40 years. So I think his body of work really spoke to me and spoke to the leadership of campus and we wanted to send a signal to him and we wanted to send a signal to everybody else how much he’s appreciated.
“He’s our guy. Penn State is a place where we feel very comfortable with leadership over long, sustained periods of time.”
