Jim Sterk
Jim Sterk was named Mizzou’s 20th Director of Athletics on Aug., 9, 2016, following highly successful tenures leading programs at San Diego State, Washington State and Portland State.
Sterk joined the Mizzou family from San Diego State, where he enjoyed a highly-successful six-year tenure that included arguably the most successful five-year run in Aztec history with 32 team conference championships from 2011-12 thru 2015-16, including a Mountain West Conference-leading 28 titles in that span, and the nation’s fourth-highest combined winning percentage in football and men’s basketball. In addition, SDSU was one of only four schools nationally to have appeared in six-consecutive NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournaments and have its football team play in five-straight bowl games over that stretch.
Selected as a 2015-16 Under Armour Athletic Director of the Year by NACDA, Sterk was appointed to the NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Committee as the Mountain West Conference’s representative, however, he had to relinquish that prestigious position when he left for Mizzou.
Sterk went to SDSU from Washington State, where he served as athletics director from 2000-10. Prior to his hiring at WSU, he was athletics director at Portland State from 1995 to 2000, where he led the Vikings transition from NCAA Division II to the Division I level.
The NCAA recognized WSU and Sterk in 2006 as the Division IA Athletic Directors’ “Program of Excellence.” He oversaw a period of unparalleled success at WSU with historic academic and athletic accomplishments during his time in Pullman.
A 1980 graduate of Western Washington University, Sterk earned four letters for the Vikings in football and one in basketball. He was credited with a school-record 164 tackles during the 1977 season, garnering first-team NAIA District I all-star accolades. He was named team captain and MVP, helping the Vikings to the district championship game. In 2010, Sterk was inducted into Western Washington’s Athletics Hall of Fame.
He received his master’s degree in sports administration from Ohio University. In addition to SDSU, Washington State and Portland State, he has served in athletic administrative positions at North Carolina, Maine, Seattle Pacific and Tulane.
Sterk and his wife Debi have three daughters: Ashley, Amy and Abby, and a granddaughter Kinsley Jane.
