Butler picks next athletic director from 2010, 2011 Final Four teams

Butler University

A member of the Butler University basketball teams that reached the national championship game in 2010 and 2011 has been chosen as the school’s next athletic director.

Grant Leiendecker, who has served as Butler’s associate vice president of athletics since August, will assume the top role in the school’s department of athletics in May, taking over for longtime Athletic Director Barry Collier.

Collier, who is 69 and has overseen Butler’s athletic programs since 2006, announced in November that he intended to step down effective April 30.

Leiendecker graduated from Butler in 2011 with a degree in Finance. He was inducted into the Butler Athletics Hall of Fame in 2021 along with his teammates on the 2010 and 2011 teams coached by Brad Stevens that each appeared in the national championship game. (Duke University won in 2010, and University of Connecticut won in 2011.)

Leiendecker earned a master’s degree in Sport Administration from the University of North Carolina in 2014.

He returned to Butler in 2023 after spending the previous four years as assistant vice president, senior associate athletic director for development at Marquette University. In addition to leading the athletics development team at Marquette, Leiendecker served as a member of their athletics and university advancement leadership teams.

“Since returning to Butler last year, Grant has developed incredibly positive relationships with our student-athletes, coaches, staff, supporters and members of the University administration,” Butler President James Danko said in a media release on Friday.

“I had the pleasure of speaking with many exceptional candidates throughout this process, but ultimately, Grant—with his vision, passion, and commitment to our mission and values—stood out above the others,” Danko said. “He has a bold vision for Butler Athletics as intercollegiate athletics faces unprecedented transformation.”