David Williams II, vice chancellor for athletics and university affairs and athletics director at Vanderbilt University, has announced that he plans to step down from his leadership role at the helm of the Commodores, ending his 15-year tenure leading Vanderbilt Athletics.
Originally planning to step down at the end of the 2017-18 academic year, Williams agreed to extend his service as athletics director for up to a year to help ensure a smooth transition.
Williams will continue in his current roles until his successor is named and in place. He will then transition full-time to his role as a tenured professor of law at the Vanderbilt Law School, a position he has held along with his university leadership responsibilities since he first joined the university faculty in 2000. In addition, Williams will continue his focus on one of his passions, sports law, by establishing a new Sports, Law & Society Program at Vanderbilt Law School.
“David is a visionary leader and has helped lead a transformation at Vanderbilt, both within athletics and across the entire university,” Vanderbilt University Chancellor Nicholas S. Zeppos said. “We are all deeply grateful for his commitment to build a program where student-athletes thrive on and off the field — competing in one of the nation’s toughest athletics conferences, flourishing within a rigorous academic environment, and developing the leadership qualities that will bolster their success and impact beyond Vanderbilt.”
Under Williams, the Commodores have enjoyed unprecedented success on and off the field, and his leadership extended well beyond the athletics program.
“It has been a remarkable run and I have cherished the opportunity to work with so many passionate and committed students, coaches and staff,” said Williams. “After 27 years as a senior administrator in higher education, I am also excited to move back to my first love of teaching and to bring all that I’ve learned and experienced fully into that role.”
During Williams’ tenure, the Commodores have won four national championships — in bowling, baseball and women’s tennis. Vanderbilt has also won more than 19 league titles and tournaments, including the men’s golf and women’s tennis Southeastern Conference championships and the Southland Conference Bowling Championship. The Vanderbilt football team has played in five bowl games during Williams’ tenure, breaking a 26-year drought in 2008.
Academically, Vanderbilt student-athletes have earned over a cumulative 3.0 GPA every year for the past 13 years. In the NCAA’s recently released Academic Progress Rates (APR) for the 2016-17 academic year, a total of 11 Commodore athletic programs finished with perfect 1000 APR scores, and Vanderbilt football finished No. 2 in the nation.
Experience in Athletics Supports Vision for Program
During his tenure as athletics director, Williams brought significant attention to sports’ impact on society, underscoring Vanderbilt’s rich and often troubled history during the civil rights movement, and he was instrumental in leading efforts for recognition of and reconciliation with Vanderbilt and Nashville pioneers, such as Perry Wallace, and in educating current students, faculty and staff about the university’s past.
“Establishing the Sports, Law & Society Program at the Law School will lay a new foundation for deeper understanding of the role sports has and continues to play in shaping many of the biggest issues in our country and the world,” Williams said.
“I am excited that the university is establishing a Sports, Law & Society Program at the Law School, and I cannot imagine a more qualified leader than David Williams,” noted Chris Guthrie, dean of Vanderbilt’s Law School and John Wade-Kent Syverud Professor of Law. “David’s teaching, writing and thought leadership will elevate Vanderbilt’s profile in sports law and enrich our companion programs in intellectual property, law and business, and social justice.”
Williams’ background in NCAA Governance and law is extensive. He has served on the NCAA’s General Advisory Board, its Academic Council, the Enforcement Task Force and was the chair of its Infractions Appeals Committee. Williams is presently serving as a member of the NCAA’s Minority Opportunities Committee. He is a member of the state bars of Tennessee, Michigan and the District of Columbia and is an active member of the American Bar Association, where he served on the Bar Admissions Committee. He was also a member of the Section of Legal Education and Admissions Standards Review Committee and the Standing Committee on Public Education.
Williams was named Vanderbilt’s vice chancellor, general counsel and secretary in 2000 and previously oversaw Vanderbilt student affairs. In 2013, he was named vice chancellor for university affairs and athletics director.
He joined Vanderbilt after serving as a professor of law and in numerous administrative roles at Ohio State University for 14 years. Over the course of his career, Williams has written, lectured and participated in many seminars on topics of tax law, sports law, law and education, and legal history. In addition to serving on Vanderbilt’s law faculty, he has taught at the law schools of Belmont University, the University of Detroit, Capital University and Ohio State University, and he directed the Ohio State University law program in Oxford, England, in 1992 and 1995.
A native of Detroit, Williams is a two-time graduate of Northern Michigan University, where he was a member of the track team. He also earned a master of business administration and a doctor of jurisprudence from the University of Detroit, where he presently serves as a member of its Board of Trustees, and an L.L.M. in taxation from New York University. Before entering law school, Williams spent 10 years as a teacher and coach in the Detroit public school system.
