NU’s Phillips wins national honors
The National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics (NACDA) has named Northwestern’s Jim Phillips as its AD of the Year Award for the Central Region.
Phillips, now in his fifth year as the director of Athletics and Recreation at Northwestern, received the award in recognition of his commitment and contributions to the university and surrounding community.
NACDA presents the AD of the Year Award to winners in four geographic regions — northeast, southeast, central and west — representing seven levels of competition: Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS), Football Championship Subdivision (FCS), Division I (formerly Division I-AAA), Division II, Division III, NAIA and Junior/Community Colleges.
Phillips and the additional 27 regional award recipients will be officially recognized for their achievements Wednesday at NACDA’s 47th Annual Convention in Dallas, Texas.
“We are extremely proud of the phenomenal year Northwestern Athletics enjoyed across the board in 2011-12 as we continue to reach new heights athletically, academically and socially,” Phillips said. “I am honored and humbled to receive this award on behalf of all the student-athletes, coaches and staff at Northwestern who have made our success possible.”
Phillips served as NACDA’s 3rd Vice President in 2011-12 and will continue to climb the organization’s ranks, eventually becoming the first Northwestern AD to hold the position of NACDA President in 2014-15.
Among the highlights for Northwestern last season were a seventh NCAA championship in the last eight years for the women’s lacrosse team, a sweep of the Big Ten regular season and tournament championships by the men’s soccer program, and a Big Ten regular season crown for the women’s tennis team. Additionally, both the football and men’s basketball teams appeared in postseason competition for a school-record fourth consecutive year.
Northwestern’s 11 women’s programs combined to finish an impressive 11th nationally in the Capital One Cup women’s standings, up from 14th a year ago. In all, 12 of NU’s 19 varsity programs advanced to postseason play this year.
The Wildcats excelled in the classroom as well, with a school-record 206 student-athletes garnering Academic All-Big Ten accolades and eight Northwestern teams earning perfect 1,000 scores in the recently released multiyear Academic Progress Rate (APR) data. For the second year in a row, Northwestern football led all FBS programs with its APR score of 995, tying for the best count in the country among all NCAA institutions sponsoring football.