Craig Littlepage

Craig Littlepage
Biographical details
Born	August 5, 1951 (age 72); La Mott, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Playing career
1970–1973	Penn
Coaching career (HC unless noted)
1973–1975	Villanova (assistant)
1975–1976	Yale (assistant)
1976–1982	Virginia (assistant)
1982–1985	Penn
1985–1988	Rutgers
1988–1990	Virginia (assistant)
Administrative career (AD unless noted)
1990–1991	Virginia (asst. AD)
1991–1995	Virginia (assoc. AD)
1995–2001	Virginia (sr. assoc. AD)
2001–2017	Virginia

Craig Littlepage (born August 5, 1951) is an American college athletics administrator and former

Rutgers University

from 1985 to 1988.

Early career

Littlepage played

Jeff Jones

.

University of Virginia

On August 21, 2001, University of Virginia President John T. Casteen III announced Littlepage's appointment to be the ninth Virginia Athletics Director. He was the first Black Athletics Director in UVa history. In 2003 and 2006, he was named the Black Coaches Association's "Athletics Administrator of the Year." He was also listed on Sports Illustrated's list of the 101 most influential minorities in sports in 2003 and 2004. Littlepage created a motto of "uncompromised excellence in intercollegiate athletics," and led Virginia athletics to achieving success in a broad range of sports.

In 2003, following a controversial performance by the

Continental Tire Bowl in which the band lampooned the home state of the opposing West Virginia Mountaineers^[1] and was banned from any future performance at the bowl,^[2]

Littlepage banned the Pep Band from participating in any Cavalier varsity sports. A donation from Carl Smith allowed the formation of the Cavalier Marching Band.

In

NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Committee. The committee's most prominent duty was to select the 65 teams that participate in the NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament

.

At the beginning of the 2008 football season, Littlepage briefly banned signs from all school athletic events. Following a student protest at the school's second home game of the season, in which ESPN's Rick Reilly encouraged students to bring in blank signs and signs that said, "This is not a sign,"^[3] Littlepage repealed the ban.^[4]

Among the head coaching hires Littlepage has made at Virginia includes

Tony Bennett for men's basketball, Joanne Boyle for women's basketball, Brian O'Connor in baseball, and Mike London and Bronco Mendenhall

in football.

On September 5, 2017, Littlepage announced his retirement, to commence when a successor is named.[5] Carla Williams was formally named his successor on October 22, 2017.^[6]

References

^ Schackner, Bill (2003-01-01). "West Virginia is furious about U. of Virginia band's halftime spoof". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
^ "UVA apologizes for pep band parody". AP via Sports Illustrated. 2002-12-31.
^ "Troubling Signs". Virginia Magazine. Winter 2008. Archived from the original on 2012-07-17.
^ "Craig Littlepage Repeals Ban On Signs At Virginia Athletics Venues". VirginiaSports.com. 2008-10-02. Archived from the original on 2012-02-16.
^ Teel, David (September 5, 2017). "U.Va. athletic director Craig Littlepage retiring". Daily Press. Retrieved September 6, 2017.
^ "Carla Williams Named Virginia Director of Athletics". Retrieved 2017-10-26.

[1] Schackner, Bill (2003-01-01). "West Virginia is furious about U. of Virginia band's halftime spoof". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

[2] "UVA apologizes for pep band parody". AP via Sports Illustrated. 2002-12-31.

[3] "Troubling Signs". Virginia Magazine. Winter 2008. Archived from the original on 2012-07-17.

[4] "Craig Littlepage Repeals Ban On Signs At Virginia Athletics Venues". VirginiaSports.com. 2008-10-02. Archived from the original on 2012-02-16.

[5] Teel, David (September 5, 2017). "U.Va. athletic director Craig Littlepage retiring". Daily Press. Retrieved September 6, 2017.

[6] "Carla Williams Named Virginia Director of Athletics". Retrieved 2017-10-26.

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