Rick Dickson

Director of Athletics
Seventh Year
Tulsa, 1976

In his seventh year as Tulane's director of athletics, Rick Dickson has built the Green Wave program into a model in Division I-A athletics and has now taken on the task of building a permanent foundation of support for Tulane Athletics through the Perpetual Wave campaign.

The $65 million campaign was initiated in 2003 following a Board review which resulted in a unanimous resolution reaffirming the institution's NCAA status. During the review, Dickson guided the department through an intense campaign that saw football season ticket sales more than double. In the past year, Dickson has seen great progress in the first year of the campaign.

Dickson's efforts to grow the fan base and establish a plan for long-term financial stability comes on the heels of some of the most successful athletics seasons in school history, both on the field and in the classroom.

Tulane student-athletes achieve at the highest levels in the classroom - compiling a semester grade point average of 3.0 last spring and ranking among the NCAA leaders in graduation rates - while excelling on the field; Tulane is among the C-USA leaders in conference titles and NCAA appearances.

Under Dickson, Tulane is also upgrading its facilities. Renovations to Turchin Baseball Stadium and the Goldring Tennis Complex are scheduled to begin in 2005, while improvements to Fogelman Arena are ongoing. A new field surface and track for the Westfeldt Practice & Competition Facility was recently installed.

Under Dickson's watch, Tulane teams have won 16 Conference USA Championships and advanced to NCAA postseason play 24 times, including the 2001 and 2005 College World Series.

Dickson's innovative scheduling strategy has resulted in some of the best-attended events ever at the school, highlighted by the three-game 2001 Super Regional series at Zephyr Field that attracted more than 35,000 fans. Football games with teams such as LSU and Texas have attracted regional and national attention.

Dickson also has has hired and retained successful coaches, bringing in Liz Kritza (volleyball), Dave Dickerson (men's basketball), Bob Toledo (football) and Heather Van Norman (track & field) while signing successful coaches like Lisa Stockton (women's basketball) and Rick Jones (baseball) to contract extensions.

A native of Tulsa, Okla., Dickson came to Tulane from Washington State, where he served as athletics director from 1994-2000. Prior to that, he spent six years as AD at the University of Tulsa, his alma mater.

Dickson and his wife Brenda are the parents of Kari, a recent Tulane graduate; twin girls Kasi and Kelli, and Doug, all students or graduates of Tulane University.