Northern Illinois University Vice President and Director of Athletics and Recreation Sean T. Frazier will serve as president of the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics (NACDA) in 2025-26 following his appointment by the NACDA Board of Directors at the association’s annual convention in Orlando earlier this month.

Frazier, who begins his 13th year at NIU in July, has served as a NACDA Officer since 2023, was a member of the NACDA Executive Committee from 2016-20 and spent three years as president of the Minority Opportunities and Athletic Association (MOAA) from 2010-13. He succeeds past president Ross Bjork of Ohio State.

“I am overwhelmed by the overall vote of confidence from NACDA – this is a full circle moment for me,” Frazier said. “We have a lot of work to do, and it is going to take a lot of commitment from all of us. Especially during these times in college athletics, the practitioner’s voice is extremely important. For me, and many of us, it’s about the student-athlete experience, the leadership, the staff … the things that make our profession the greatest of all time. As my mentor Mr. Cleary once said to me – at the end of the day, this is not too hard, but you have to be consistent and true to yourself. I’m excited about the journey – I will not let you down.”

Over the last 12 years, Frazier has guided the Huskies to historic milestones competitively, academically and socially, and in 2024-25, set a course for NIU Athletics’ future with the announcement that NIU will join the Mountain West in football and the Horizon League for 14 of its sports programs, beginning in 2025-26. This forward-thinking response to the changing college athletics landscape positions the Huskies for sustainability and continued success on the competition fields and off.

Under Frazier, NIU Athletics’ umbrella has expanded to include the NIU Convocation Center, NIU Recreation and the Huskie Marching Band. The Huskies continue to re-set the bar in terms of academic achievement, have claimed 14 Mid-American Conference Championships – the most under leadership of any NIU athletic director – and have broken fundraising records in support of Huskie student-athletes.

Frazier’s record of success at NIU has led to national recognition. In 2021-22, he was named one of five finalists for the Athletics Director of the Year by Sports Business Journal and in 2023, he was recognized by Crain’s Chicago Business. In May 2024, Frazier became a Hall of Famer as he was inducted into the Suffolk County Sports Hall of Fame on his native Long Island.

In 2021, Frazier joined the United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee (USOPC) College Sports Sustainability Think Tank which convened leaders from across the collegiate, Olympic and Paralympic landscape. He has written numerous papers, presented on topics of diversity, leadership and hiring at national meetings and served on many NCAA committees. In addition, NIU became the first two-time recipient of the NCAA and MOAA Award for Diversity and Inclusion, earning the honor in 2016 and in 2022.

A former football student-athlete at the University of Alabama, Frazier has 27 years of overall experience as a director of athletics at the NCAA Division I, II and III levels, as an administrator at two Division I universities, as a coach and as a student-athlete. Prior to NIU, Frazier spent six years in senior leadership roles at the University of Wisconsin (UW) and was promoted to deputy director of athletics in 2011. Prior to Wisconsin, Frazier served as director of athletics at Merrimack College in North Andover, Mass., was the director of athletics and recreation at Clarkson University in Potsdam, N.Y. and led the athletics and recreation department at Manhattanville College in Purchase, N.Y.

He enters his term as president of NACDA during a time of monumental change in intercollegiate athletics as leaders across the country adapt to the revenue sharing model and other terms finalized by the approved settlement of the House case. In addition, Name, Image and Likeness (NIL), the transfer portal and adjustments to the College Football Playoff (CFP) continue to affect the daily business of college athletics.