Buffalo, NY - The National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics (NACDA) announced today that Canisius Director of Athletics Bill Maher has been named one of 28 winners of the Cushman & Wakefield AD of the Year Award.
The award spans seven divisions (NCAA FBS, FCS, Division I-AAA, II, III, NAIA/Other Four-Year Institutions and Junior College/Community Colleges). Winners will be recognized in conjunction with the 58th Annual NACDA & Affiliates Convention at the World Center Marriott Resort in Orlando, Fla., at the beginning of the Association-Wide Featured Session on Tuesday, June 13, starting at 4 p.m.
The Athletic Director of the Year Award highlights the efforts of athletics directors at all levels for their commitment and positive contributions to student-athletes, campuses and their surrounding communities.
Maher is in his 18th year leading the Canisius athletic department, making him the longest-tenured athletic director among the four Division I schools in Western New York, and ranking him fourth among active athletic directors within the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC). In his time at Canisius, the school’s 20 varsity programs teams have won 47 conference or regional championships, with three of those titles (softball, baseball and hockey) coming in the last 10 months. Additionally, a total of 77 student-athletes have won conference player or rookie of the year awards, including a program-record 10 honorees in 2017-18. Canisius has also claimed the Battle of the Bridge and won the Canal Cup in 12 of the last 16 seasons (including 10 straight from 2010-11 through 2019-20). The Battle of the Bridge is an all-sports competition with long-time rival Niagara University.
In addition to all of the success in the athletic venue, the Golden Griffins have achieved numerous academic honors on the regional and national level as well. During Maher’s tenure, Canisius has had 32 student-athletes recognized on the district level as CoSIDA Capital One All-Academic selections, including 10 Capital One Academic All-Americans over the last 15 years.
Canisius’ teams have amassed 42 NCAA Public Recognition Awards under Maher’s guidance while the College recently reported a record 97 percent success rate in the NCAA’s most recent Graduation Success Rate report.
At Canisius, Maher has helped rebrand and build the school’s Blue & Gold Fund, the primary fundraising arm for the athletic department. Canisius has increased Blue & Gold Fund support by 21 percent over the most recent six years and realized a net increase of 25 percent in donor participation. In 2021-22, more than 1,900 donors contributed more than $400,000 to the Blue and Gold Athletics Fund.
Maher has formerly served the MAAC's representative to the NCAA Council, which has one representative from each of the 31 Division I conferences. He chairs the MAAC men’s lacrosse committee, the MAAC Technology Committee and served as the Chair of the MAAC Committee on Athletic Administration during the 2021-22 academic year. Canisius has hosted 29 MAAC Championships since 2005 and the College recently hosted the 2023 Atlantic Hockey Association’s Championship game, becoming the first league member to host the conference’s title contest in the league’s updated postseason format. Additionally, Maher has served as the Tournament Director when Canisius has co-hosted the NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Tournament with the MAAC and Niagara University on five previous occasions (2007, 2010, 2014, 2017 and 2022). In 2019, Canisius joined with the MAAC and Niagara to serve as hosts for the NCAA Division I Men’s Hockey Frozen Four, and the trio is on the schedule to bring the NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball First and Second Rounds back to downtown Buffalo in 2026.
A four-year letter-winner on the Canisius University football team from 1985-88, Maher earned All-America honorable mention honors as a senior. He received his bachelor's degree in physical education from Canisius in 1989 and his master's degree in sport management from East Stroudsburg University in 1990. Following an internship with the New York Knicks, Maher returned to Canisius in 1991, becoming the assistant athletic director for compliance in 1994. He went on to serve in various capacities, including interim athletic director, at the University at Buffalo from 1988-2005.
Maher is one of four athletic directors to be honored by NACDA at the 1-AAA Division level. Other honorees include Renee Baumgartner from Santa Clara, Scott Leykam from the University of Portland and Paul Schlickmann from Fairfield.
"The Cushman & Wakefield Athletics Director of the Year Award has grown to become a universally recognized and respected honor for leaders in college athletics over the last two decades,” said Pat Manak, NACDA Chief Executive Officer. “This year we are proud to honor many seasoned veterans, as well as a few new faces, who have faithfully guided their departments through the steady waves of change the industry has overcome in the last few years. This deserving group of athletics directors are a source of inspiration not only for their peers, but for young administrators everywhere who are climbing the ladder to follow in their footsteps.”
Cushman & Wakefield is in its second year of sponsoring the award. The Athletic Director of the Year Award program is in its 25th year and has recognized a total of 556 deserving athletics directors to date.
All NACDA-member directors of athletics in the United States, Canada and Mexico who met the criteria were eligible for the award. Among the criteria were service as an AD for a minimum of five academic years; demonstration of commitment to higher education and student-athletes; continuous teamwork, loyalty and excellence; and the ability to inspire individuals or groups to high levels of accomplishments. Additionally, each AD's institution must have passed a compliance check through its appropriate governing body (i.e., NCAA, NAIA, etc.), in which the institution could not have been on probation or cited for a lack of institutional control during the tenure of the current athletics director.
Nominators were NACDA-member directors of athletics, institutional presidents and conference commissioners, as well as other respected intercollegiate athletics administrators. Special Divisional Selection Committees composed of current and former directors of athletics, current and former commissioners and other key athletics administrators voted on nominees for the award. A complete listing of Selection Committee members can be found here.
About NACDA: Now in its 58th year, NACDA is the professional and educational Association for more than 22,000 college athletics administrators at more than 2,200 institutions throughout the United States, Canada and Mexico. NACDA manages 18 professional associations and four foundations. In addition to virtual programming, NACDA hosts six major professional development events in-person annually. The NACDA & Affiliates Convention is the largest gathering of collegiate athletics administrators in the country. For more information, visit www.nacda.com.
