Jan 11, 2025; Dallas, Texas, USA; (editor’s be aware, in digicam movement blur) A view of the SMU Mustangs brand through the first half of the sport between the SMU Mustangs and the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets at Moody Coliseum. Obligatory Credit score: Jerome Miron-Imagn Pictures SMU athletic director Rick Hart introduced Friday that he will likely be leaving his place on the finish of the varsity 12 months.
“It’s with great satisfaction, heartfelt love, and sure, combined feelings, that I share with you that I’ve made the choice that this educational 12 months will likely be my final at SMU,” Hart wrote in a press release posted to X.
“… It’s time for a brand new problem for me and for a brand new voice to steer the Mustangs.”
It has been a heck of a experience! To the Mustangs – and to what’s on the horizon! #PonyUp pic.twitter.com/Jo3SkcnSbL
— Rick Hart (@AD_RickHart) February 7, 2025
Hart took over as athletic director at SMU in July 2012. He was accountable for overseeing the Mustangs’ shift to the Atlantic Coast Convention, which took impact with the 2024-25 college 12 months. In its first 12 months within the convention, the soccer program superior to the 12-team Faculty Soccer Playoff.
His departure coincides with that of college president R. Gerald Turner, who introduced final summer season that he would depart the varsity efficient June. 1.
Hart mentioned that by leaving now, incoming president Jay Hartzell — most not too long ago the president on the College of Texas — will be capable to “transfer ahead along with his personal imaginative and prescient.”
In his assertion, Hart didn’t specify what his subsequent transfer will likely be.
“After I interviewed for this job, President Turner shared that he wished for a nationally aggressive athletics program on par with the standard of the college,” Hart mentioned in his assertion. “Mission achieved! In fact, there may be at all times extra we might have finished and extra that lies forward, however I’m excited for what comes subsequent for me and for SMU athletics.”
In a information launch, SMU mentioned it can start it seek for Hart’s successor “within the coming weeks.”
–Area Stage Media
