Sports Business Awards Release
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – University of Arkansas Vice Chancellor and Director of Athletics Hunter Yurachek was named one of five finalists for Athletic Director of the Year by the Sports Business Journal on Monday. Yurachek joins Sandy Barbour (Penn State), Lisa Campos (UTSA), Sean Frazier (Northern Illinois) and Tom Holmoe (BYU) as nominees for the prestigious award. The winner will be announced during the Sports Business Awards to be held at the New York Marriott Marquis Times Square on Wednesday, May 18, 2022.
Yurachek’s selection was one of two selections from the University of Arkansas. Razorback Athletics is also a nominee in the category of Best in Sports Social Media. Other nominees in that category include the Brooklyn Nets, the Drone Racing League, ESPN on TikTok and Just Women’s Sports. The winner will also be announced at the May award ceremony.
Yurachek is in his fifth year as vice chancellor and director of athletics at the University of Arkansas. In 2020-21, Razorback Athletics turned in the most successful collective year in school history, including a program-best eighth place finish in the Learfield IMG Directors’ Cup. Arkansas’ previous best finish was 14th in the competition that tracks the nation’s most successful intercollegiate athletics programs.
The Razorbacks won an NCAA title (Women’s Indoor Track & Field), earned eight Top-10 NCAA finishes and a remarkable 10 SEC regular season and tournament championships, including SEC triple crown sweeps in both men’s and women’s cross country & track and field, a second-straight soccer regular season crown, the program’s first softball regular season title and a baseball regular season and tournament championship. Arkansas’ championship total led the league and doubled the next closest SEC program. In addition, men’s basketball advanced to the Elite Eight for the first time in more than 25 years.
Meanwhile, Razorback student-athletes combined for a 3.25 GPA and 104 student-athletes graduated from the University of Arkansas. A multi-million-dollar renovation of the Randal Tyson Track Center was completed, while brand new facilities, including the $27 million J.B. and Johnelle Hunt Family Baseball Development Center and the $15 million Frank O’Mara Track and Field High Performance Center were constructed.
Arkansas has continued its championship momentum in the 2021-22 academic year winning three Southeastern Conference championships (men’s and women’s cross country, soccer) and a New Year’s Day bowl game (Outback Bowl) in football in the fall semester. The Razorbacks ranked No. 8 in the final fall standings of the Learfield Directors’ Cup, the highest of any SEC program.
The men’s and women’s indoor track and field teams won SEC championships and recorded top-10 NCAA finishes. In addition, both the men’s and women’s basketball programs received bids to their respective NCAA Basketball Tournaments.
Razorback Athletics was also honored with a nomination in the Best of Sports Social Media category for its innovative and outstanding engagement on multiple social media platforms, specifically for its work during the 2021 NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament. Arkansas was the first tournament team to surpass one million cross-platform interactions. The Razorbacks finished third among all Division I NCAA Men’s Basketball programs in total cross-platform interactions with 1.8 million for March 2021.
In addition, from March 14-April 5, 2021, Razorback Athletics generated 2.3 million video views on Twitter, 1.3 million video views on Facebook (first among NCAA teams) and 745,594 video views on Instagram (fourth among NCAA teams).
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