Committed to preserving and building on UVa's longstanding tradition of academic and athletic excellence, Craig Littlepage is in his ninth year as Virginia's Athletics Director. University President John T. Casteen III announced Littlepage's appointment at a press conference on Aug. 21, 2001.

Before becoming the University's ninth A.D., Littlepage served as interim athletics director beginning June 1, 2001, following the retirement of Terry Holland who became a special assistant to Casteen. Littlepage also served as interim athletics director at Virginia from December of 1994 to July of 1995, while a search was conducted to replace Jim Copeland.

The first African-American athletics director in Atlantic Coast Conference history, Littlepage was named the Black Coaches Association's "Athletics Administrator of the Year" in 2003 and 2006. He was also listed on Sports Illustrated's list of the 101 most influential minorities in sports in 2003 and 2004. In March 2005, Littlepage was named one of Black Enterprise magazine's "Most Powerful African-Americans in Sports."

Littlepage has been a member of UVa's athletics administration since 1990 when he was appointed an assistant athletics director, a position he held from 1990-1991. He then spent four years as the associate director of athletics for programs and six years (1995-2001) as senior associate director of athletics, managing all aspects of the athletics department's day-to-day operations.    

Littlepage leads a comprehensive 25-sport athletics program that routinely competes for state and conference titles, and national rankings in many sports. At the same time, Cavalier student-athletes graduate at a rate comparable to the student body as a whole. Annually, UVa student-athletes rank among the top Division I-A public universities in the country in graduation rates.

Seven years ago, Littlepage outlined a number of ambitious 10-year goals for the department to achieve by 2012: graduate 100 percent of its student-athletes; win 12 national championships and 70 conference titles; fully endow all scholarships and provide the operational support required to meet all other stated goals; build and maintain high-quality facilities; annually recruit the best student-athletes in the country (based on how coaches rate their top prospects); and fully comply with Title IX.

Such goals reflect Littlepage's vision of "uncompromised excellence in intercollegiate athletics" as well as the department's overall mission to "enhance and support the intellectual purpose of the University and its exemplary academic standards and traditions."

The 2008-09 athletic year proved to be one of the most successful in school history as Virginia finished eighth in the Learfield Sports Directors' Cup, tying for the highest finish in school history as teams or individuals in 20 of the 25 athletics programs advanced to NCAA postseason competition. Virginia won six ACC championships (men's cross country, men's and women's swimming and diving, men's tennis, men's outdoor track and field and baseball), the most of any league member.

The baseball team advanced to the College World Series for the first time after winning its first Regional and Super Regional. as head coach Brian O'Connor was named national coach of the year. The women's golf team had its best finish at the NCAA Championships (eighth), while the men's lacrosse team appeared in the national semifinals for the second year in a row. Men's tennis players Dominic Inglot and Michael Shabaz paired to become the ACC's first doubles team from the ACC to win an NCAA Doubles Championship.

In addition to O'Connor, several other Cavalier coaches were cited for outstanding achievement during the year. Women's golf coach Kim Lewellen was one of three national regional coaches of the year, and Jason Vigilante was named the southeast regional women's cross country coach of the year and the NCAA men's southeast region outdoor track and field coach of the year. Men's tennis coach Brian Boland was the ITA mideast region coach of the year and Carrie Lane was named the NCAA women's southeast region outdoor track and field assistant coach of the year.

Great progress has also been made in the area of athletics facility improvements during Littlepage's watch. In the summer of 2006, John Paul Jones Arena, a basketball arena/special events center, opened to rave reviews. Other facility projects completed recently include a 5,000 square foot Olympic sport training room at a cost of $1.7 million; a $7.5 million tennis center expansion at the Boar's Head Inn complex that added nine indoor courts, three specifically for intercollegiate team use (the Boyd Tinsley Indoor Courts) along with seating for 1,000 fans; the Lou Oehmig Short Game Practice Facility at Birdwood Golf Course dedicated in November 2005; and the installation of FieldTurf on three practice fields. The addition of a state-of-the-art video system in JPJA allowed the department to add new video boards at Davenport Field and Klöckner Stadium. In the summer of 2007, the first floor and main lobby of the McCue Center were renovated to showcase the history of the Cavaliers' football program.

In February 2003, the athletics department received a $1.5 million gift from an anonymous donor to renovate Memorial Gymnasium and Onesty Hall, significantly benefiting UVa's wrestling and women's volleyball programs. The University received $2 million in gifts from anonymous donors in June 2001 to launch a construction project to build the UVa Baseball Stadium. Much of the work on the stadium, including a 1,500-seat canopied grandstand, stadium lights, new dugouts, and a new press box, was completed in time for the 2002 season. The baseball playing field is named Ted Davenport Field and was dedicated in April 2002. Virginia has hosted one of the 16 NCAA Regional sites for the Division I Baseball Championship three times recently. UVa also hosted an NCAA Regional in men's tennis each of the last six years.

Littlepage has held many leadership roles within the NCAA, ACC and University-at-large. In February 2002, he was appointed to the 10-member Division I Men's Basketball Committee by the NCAA Championship/Competition Cabinet and served a five-year term which was completed Aug. 31, 2007. In 2005-06, Littlepage served as the chair of the Men's Division I Basketball Committee and administered a selection process that produced one of the most exciting tournaments in NCAA basketball championship history.    Littlepage previously was a member of the NCAA Division I Infractions Committee and the NCAA Academics, Eligibility and Compliance Cabinet, serving on the Recruiting and Student-Athlete Reinstatement Subcommittees.

He chaired the Reinstatement Subcommittee in 1999-2000. He also served the NCAA on committees that studied sports wagering, postgame crowd control, basketball issues, and the College Basketball Partnership. He has participated as a presenter and mentor to the NCAA's Ethnic Minority Male Institute.

He has previously chaired the ACC Student-Athlete Welfare Committee, the ACC Men's and Women's Swimming/Diving Committees, and the ACC Men's Soccer Committee; and he currently is the chairman of the ACC Women's Basketball Committee and the ACC Committee on Awards. Littlepage is a member of the Associate Faculty for the University's Center for Alcohol and Substance Education, and participates in various alcohol and drug prevention/education conferences. He also has been active in the local community, having served on the Board of Directors for the Charlottesville Ronald McDonald House and serving as a Trustee with the Mount Zion Baptist Church. He is also on the Board of Trustees at Saint Anne's Belfield School.

Before beginning his career in athletics administration, Littlepage served two stints as an assistant coach with the Cavalier men's basketball program, from 1976 to 1982 and from 1988 to 1990.

Littlepage held head coaching positions at Pennsylvania (1982-85) and at Rutgers (1985-88) before returning to Virginia. While he was at Penn, the Quakers won the Ivy League championship and participated in the 1985 NCAA Tournament. Littlepage was an assistant basketball coach at Villanova for two years and at Yale for one year before joining the UVa basketball program as an assistant coach in 1976. The LaMott, Pa., native earned his bachelor's degree in economics from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania in 1973. He was a member of three Ivy League basketball championship teams at Penn and was instrumental in the Quakers' drive to three consecutive NCAA Eastern Regional playoff appearances.