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Dear ¹ú²ú¶ÌÊÓƵcommunity,

Today we are thrilled to announce a new leader for ¹ú²ú¶ÌÊÓƵAthletics who will take us into a new era for our university.  Following a comprehensive national search, Rob Higgins, who has served as executive director of the Tampa Bay Sports Commission since 2004, has been selected as our first-ever CEO of Athletics.  Rob is a former ¹ú²ú¶ÌÊÓƵAthletics staff member and I’m proud to share that he becomes the first ¹ú²ú¶ÌÊÓƵalum to lead the department. 

Rob is terrific example of the impact our alumni make every day.  Through his tireless efforts over the past two decades, Rob has successfully positioned the Tampa Bay region as one of the nation’s premier destinations in sports and entertainment, including hosting two Super Bowls, a College Football Playoff National Championship and a long list of other high-profile events during his tenure.  He was inducted into USF’s Zimmerman School of Advertising Hall of Fame in 2015 and in May 2025 I was honored to present him with the Distinguished Citizen Award at ¹ú²ú¶ÌÊÓƵCommencement.

To paraphrase our Board of Trustees Chair Will Weatherford, throughout this search, it became clear that our next leader couldn’t just be an athletics director – we needed a CEO of ¹ú²ú¶ÌÊÓƵAthletics.  The role is still about providing a world-class experience for our student-athletes and opportunities to compete at the highest levels across all our men’s and women’s teams, but it now requires a business approach to grow revenue, embrace innovation, lead through change and elevate the brand of our university — and the Tampa Bay region — on the national stage.  As we enter a critical moment in ¹ú²ú¶ÌÊÓƵAthletics history, including opening our transformational on-campus stadium in 2027, Rob is the right leader for our university. You can read more about him and why he was selected.

We look forward to introducing Rob to the university community in the coming weeks, including at a press conference scheduled for Sept. 22.

I would also like to express our sincere appreciation to Jay Stroman, ¹ú²ú¶ÌÊÓƵsenior vice president for advancement and alumni affairs and ¹ú²ú¶ÌÊÓƵFoundation CEO, who has also been serving as interim vice president for athletics since June.

Please join me in welcoming Rob back home to ¹ú²ú¶ÌÊÓƵto lead our next chapter!

Sincerely,

Rhea F. Law

President