A two-time NACDA Athletics Director of the Year (2020 & 2025), Rick Hart served as SMU’s Director of Athletics from 2012 to 2025. During his tenure as the CEO of SMU Athletics, Hart transformed the department, guiding the Mustangs into the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) and securing their first College Football Playoff appearance.
During Hart’s time on the Hilltop, with the support of SMU’s President and Board of Trustees, SMU repeatedly demonstrated its commitment to “Shaping Champions” – providing a best-in-class student-athlete experience while competing with integrity at the highest level of college athletics.
Hart’s strategic vision, dubbed “The SMU Advantage,” emphasized comprehensive excellence and operating with values of service, passion, integrity, respect, innovation, and teamwork, aligning athletics with SMU’s bold vision and educational, co-curricular mission. Hart’s legacy includes hiring championship-caliber coaches and elevating SMU to national prominence, cementing his reputation as one of college athletics’ most impactful leaders.
Hart is currently a member of the NACDA Board of Directors, having served as NACDA President in 2022-23, and has previously served on the NACDA Executive Committee, the NCAA Division I Championship/Sports Management Cabinet, the FCS Athletics Directors Association Executive Committee and as a faculty member for the D1-A Athletics Directors’ Institute.
Hart came to SMU after six years as Director of Athletics at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. Hart served seven years at Oklahoma and worked in athletics at the University of North Carolina and East Carolina University and has served with the U.S. Olympic Committee.
Hart and his wife, Allison, both graduates of North Carolina, are proud parents of Trevor, a fourth-generation athletics administrator and SMU and Northwestern graduate, and Caroline (Carly), an SMU graduate. Hart’s father, Dave, served as Director of Athletics at Tennessee, Florida State and East Carolina, and his late grandfather, Dave Sr., served in a variety of roles within collegiate athletics including stints as a Coach, Athletics Director and Conference Commissioner.