Stanford is set to hire former Nike CEO John Donahoe as the school’s new athletic director, sources told ESPN on Thursday.
Donahoe, 65, will arrive in the collegiate athletic director space with a vast swath of business experience, as Stanford officials viewed him as a “unicorn candidate” because of both his business ties and history at the school. Stanford coveted a non-traditional candidate for the role, and Donahoe’s hire delivers a seasoned CEO with stints at Nike, Bain & Company and eBay. He also served as the board chair of PayPal.
Donahoe also brings strong Stanford ties, as he’s an MBA graduate from 1986. He’s also had two stints on the Stanford business school’s advisory board, including currently serving in that role.
Donahoe replaces Bernard Muir, who announced in February he was stepping down from the school after serving in that role since 2012. Alden Mitchell has been working as the school’s interim athletic director.
The hire is a head-turning one for Stanford, bringing in someone with Donahoe’s high-level business experience. And it comes at a time when the athletic department has struggled in its highest profile sports, as football is amid four consecutive 3-9 seasons and the men’s basketball team hasn’t reached the NCAA tournament since 2014.
In hiring Donahoe, they are aiming for someone who can find an innovative way to support general manager Andrew Luck and the Stanford football program while also figuring out a sustainable model for the future of Stanford’s Olympic sports.
Stanford’s Olympic sports remain the best in the country, as Stanford athletes or former athletes accounted for 39 medals in the 2024 Paris Olympics. If Stanford were a country, they’d have tied with Canada for the 11th most medals. (Stanford has also won 26 of the possible 31 director’s cups for overall 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 recruiters. Donahoe has a long-standing relationship with both, as he maintained strong ties to the school throughout his career.
Per ESPN sources, Luck will report to Donahoe in this role. Luck spent time with him in the interview process and is excited to work with him, per sources. (That’s a change from the prior structure, as upon Luck’s hiring he’d been slated to report to Levin.)
Stanford is set to begin a football season in which it is picked last in the 17-team ACC. Former NFL coach Frank Reich is the interim coach, and both sides have made clear this is a definitive interim situation and he won’t return after the 2025 season.
