By Jackson Posey | Sports Editor
Baylor is hiring former Duquesne Athletics Director Dave Harper to an administrative role in the athletics department, the university announced Tuesday.
Harper will be tasked with managing NIL efforts, “driving and maximizing revenue” and overseeing “effective and efficient” revenue distribution, according to an email from Vice President and Director of Intercollegiate Athletics Doug McNamee. As of last year, NCAA schools are now permitted to distribute over $20 million of university revenue directly to student-athletes.
“While Dave’s track record, particularly in driving revenue, is incredibly strong, he is also an ideal fit for our university’s mission and is well-known across the industry as a leader of high character and a fearless builder,” McNamee wrote. “It says something incredibly positive about Baylor and this moment, that we can attract someone with Dave’s pedigree to join our team.”
Harper’s official title will be executive senior associate athletics director, according to multiple reports. He previously joined Duquesne as athletics director in October 2015 and was promoted to vice president of athletics in March 2021.
During his tenure, Harper spearheaded the development and construction of an on-campus basketball arena, which opened in February 2021. Three years later, the Dukes won the 2024 Atlantic 10 championship to secure their first March Madness auto-bid since 1977, then knocked off No. 21 BYU in the first round to mark the program’s first NCAA Tournament win since 1969.
Four Duquesne programs made their first NCAA championship postseason appearances during his tenure: football, women’s soccer, women’s basketball and women’s bowling.
Revenue generation has become a major buzzword among college athletics administrators since the House v. NCAA settlement in June allowed schools to pay its players directly. Programs have spent the past year searching for creative ways to drive revenue.
Last week, New Mexico State announced it would add sponsored casino patches to its football uniforms. Big 12 rival Utah signed a private equity deal which could be worth up to $500 million in December. Notre Dame introduced alcohol sales at football games last year, one of nearly a dozen Division I programs to eliminate a “dry” policy in the past three years.
President Linda Livingstone acknowledged the increased financial pressure on university athletic departments in a September interview with The Lariat.
“We’ve talked about a lot of ways to increase revenue at the institution that can help take pressure off of tuition for our students, and that’s certainly one that you can do,” Livingstone said of selling alcohol at games. “But even in the context of that discussion, it has not been something that has risen to the level of a priority for us.”
