Hunter Yurachek, vice chancellor and director of athletics at the University of Arkansas, has been named one of four Football Bowl Subdivision Cushman & Wakefield Athletics Directors of the Year by the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics (NACDA).
Yurachek and the other honorees will be formally recognized during NACDA’s 57th Annual Convention at the Mandalay Bay Resort in Las Vegas on June 28.
Yurachek is in his fifth year as vice chancellor and director of athletics at the University of Arkansas and recently signed a new agreement that will extend his tenure in Fayetteville through at least June 30, 2027. Yurachek also a finalist for the Sports Business Journal Athletic Director of the Year.
“While I am humbled to be recognized by my peers with this award, the success of our program is truly a tribute to our remarkable student-athletes, coaches and staff as well as the extraordinary support of our Razorback Foundation members and fans,” Yurachek said in a statement. “By embracing a shared commitment to our mission of developing champions and Razorbacks for Life, we have provided our program the opportunity to achieve record-breaking athletics success while also adding more than 100 student-athletes a year to Senior Walk, as graduates of the University of Arkansas. I am grateful for the continued support of Dr. Don Bobbitt, Dr. Charles Robinson and all those who help lead our institution. It is an honor to be your Director of Athletics and I look forward to the amazing things still to come for the University of Arkansas and Razorback Athletics.”
In 2020-21, Razorback Athletics turned in the most successful collective year in school history, including a program-best eighth place finish in the Learfield IMG Directors’ Cup. Arkansas’ previous best finish was 14th in the competition that tracks the nation’s most successful intercollegiate athletics programs. Arkansas officially sponsors 19 men’s and women’s sports, and the UA finished higher than any other program sponsoring 19 or fewer.
Razorback accolades in 2021-22 have included a national championship in women’s track and field, eight top 10 NCAA finishes and 10 SEC regular season and tournament championships including triple crowns in men’s and women’s cross country and track. Also, UA women won a second-straight SEC regular season crown in soccer and a baseball regular season and tournament championship. Arkansas’ championship total led the league and doubled the next closest SEC program. In addition, men’s basketball advanced to the Elite Eight for the first time in more than 25 years.
Meanwhile, Razorback student-athletes combined for a 3.25 GPA while 104 student-athletes graduated from the University of Arkansas. Also this acaemic year, a multi-million-dollar renovation of the Randal Tyson Track Center was completed, as was construction of the $27 million J.B. and Johnelle Hunt Family Baseball Development Center and the $15 million Frank O’Mara Track and Field High Performance Center.
