Stan Wilcox, current vice president and director of athletics at Florida State, has been selected as NCAA executive vice president of regulatory affairs by NCAA President Mark Emmert. In this role, Wilcox will provide strategic direction to enforcement, the Eligibility Center, and academic and membership affairs at the national office. Wilcox begins his new role Oct. 1.
“Stan is a highly respected, visionary leader in intercollegiate athletics, and I’m excited to have him join our senior leadership team at the national office,” Emmert said. “Stan’s nearly three decades of experience working in athletics administration at Notre Dame, Duke and Florida State, among others, have clearly demonstrated his commitment to providing student-athletes with the opportunity to excel in both academics and athletics while being successful in life.”
Wilcox was presented to Emmert after a search committee composed of NCAA members and chaired by Southeastern Conference Commissioner Greg Sankey concluded a national search.
Wilcox will oversee all NCAA regulatory functions, continuing to foster strong relationships with NCAA colleges and universities while ensuring regulatory staffs within the national office work efficiently and collaboratively to best serve NCAA members.
“I am honored and humbled to join Mark Emmert’s leadership team at the NCAA as the executive vice president for regulatory affairs. I am so grateful for the opportunities and experiences that have led me to this point. The Big East Conference, Notre Dame University, Duke University and most recently Florida State University have provided a depth and breadth of experiences on which I will rely heavily moving forward,” Wilcox said. “I am excited to return to the NCAA, where my intercollegiate athletics career began, to build upon the solid foundation of my predecessor Oliver Luck.”
During his tenure at Florida State, Wilcox oversaw the strategic planning and management of 20 varsity sports with more than 500 student-athletes. Hired in 2013 as director of athletics, Wilcox was promoted to vice president in 2016. Under his leadership, Florida State student-athletes have earned 200 All-America honors while achieving unprecedented academic success, including posting an average 3.0 GPA for the 2017-18 academic year, the highest in athletics department history.
Wilcox previously had served as deputy director of athletics at Duke, where he had direct sport oversight and also oversaw — among other responsibilities — marketing and ticket sales, corporate sponsorships and sports information. During that time, Wilcox also coordinated nominations and appointments of senior and executive staff to school, conference and NCAA committees, including personally serving a four-year term on the Atlantic Coast Conference Officiating Committee.
A former men’s basketball student-athlete at Notre Dame, Wilcox helped lead the Fighting Irish to a 1978 NCAA Men’s Final Four appearance and four NCAA tournament berths. He went on to graduate from Notre Dame in 1981 with a degree in economics before earning a law degree from the Brooklyn Law School in 1988. Wilcox is a member of the New York State Bar Association.
