NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Lipscomb University Director of Athletics Philip Hutcheson has been selected as a recipient of the Under Armour AD of the Year Award for 2019-20, announced today by the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics (NACDA).

He is one of 28 individuals overall and one of four NCAA Division I-AAA (no football) athletics directors selected for the award that spans seven divisions.

The award spans seven divisions (NCAA FBS, FCS, Division I-AAA, II, III, NAIA/Other Four-Year Institutions and Junior College/Community Colleges). Winners will be recognized June 9 during NACDA's 55th Annual Convention at the Mandalay Bay Resort in Las Vegas, Nevada.

“Since returning to his alma mater in 2008, Philip has done a tremendous job of taking Lipscomb’s athletic department to new heights in terms of competitive achievements, academic excellence, community service and building a strong coaching staff that are not only successful on the playing field but who are having an impact on the lives of our student athletes,” said Lipscomb Senior Vice President Matt Paden.

"He daily challenges the coaches, staff members, student athletes, and the entire Lipscomb community to become the best versions of themselves. His servant’s heart allows him to lead by example as someone who understands what it takes to win in all aspects of life while maintaining a strong commitment to our institutional mission and values. We are incredibly blessed to have Philip as our Athletics Director and are so proud for his being recognized in this very special way.”

The ADOY Award highlights the efforts of athletics directors at all levels for their commitment and positive contributions to student-athletes, campuses and their surrounding communities.

Hutcheson has led Lipscomb’s department of intercollegiate athletics since 2008. His leadership has been instrumental to success in a number of areas.

With Hutcheson at the helm, Lipscomb kicked off the 2019 campaign by winning its second ASUN Beam Award, an award given out for being the first member school to accomplish a particular feat. One season after securing the program's first-ever Men's Basketball appearance in the NCAA Tournament, Lipscomb earned the ASUN Beam Award for being the first ASUN school to participate in a national final with its appearance in the 2019 NIT Championship game versus the Texas Longhorns.

For the 7th straight year, Lipscomb University leads the ASUN All-Sports standings in the race for the Bill Bibb Trophy coming out of the Fall in-part due to strong outings from Men's and Women's Cross-Country and Women's Soccer. For the sixth time overall and fifth time in the past six years, the Lipscomb Bisons have claimed the ASUN Conference Academic Champion Trophy. Lipscomb achieved the honor behind 87.55 percent of its student-athletes earning a 3.0 GPA or higher during the 2018-19 academic year. During this period, the Bisons saw 225 student-athletes eclipse the 3.0 GPA mark giving Lipscomb a total of 2,840 all-academic honorees, the most in the ASUN since its inception of the honor.

During the 2019 campaign, Lipscomb has reached all-time highs for the institution in the following metrics: total donors, annual dollars raised, sponsorship sales, and total attendance and revenue across all ticketed sports.

Facilities are also on the rise, as the 2019 campaign saw the completion of the Lipscomb Soccer Stadium Complex, major renovations to the Men's and Women's Basketball locker rooms, and completion of the Fueling Center. In addition to these completed projects, Lipscomb has also embarked on fundraising for multiple capital projects that will benefit additional Men's and Women's programs.

Rounding out the student-athlete experience, Lipscomb has invested heavily in preparing its student-athletes for life after college. Perhaps the most meaningful capital improvement of the 2019 year was the newly-minted Student Athlete Development Center, a facility designed to provide students with the best possible academic support, ample space for studying and breakout sessions, and a full-compliment of resources to engage students in areas of advising, mentoring and internships, and a series on "adulting". This series aims to bring in financial professionals to teach our student-athletes real-life skills that they will need immediately following graduation such as creating a budget, obtaining credit and applying for loans, buying a car, the many types of insurance, home mortgages, and saving for retirement.

Growing up as a Lipscomb "lifer" by attending the institution from grade school all-the-way through his Bachelor's degree, Philip has spent his entire life intertwined with Lipscomb. In addition to attending the University at a time where enrollment was half of what it is now, Philip also stood out as an athlete, where he not only set the all-time scoring record for the Lipscomb program, but for the entire realm of college basketball across all divisions. He currently sits second on the all-time list with 4,106 points, only trailing former Bison John Pierce.

Through these times as a student, star athlete, alumnus and now AD, Philip is the "go-to" guy for the campus community.

"The future of our industry continues to look bright with athletics leaders like these at the helm of departments across the country," said Bob Vecchione, NACDA Chief Executive Officer. "Out of our 28 ADOY winners, 22 are receiving this honor for the first time in their careers. It is exciting and inspiring to see the new faces coming up through the ranks and earning well-deserved recognition for their efforts on their campuses."

Under Armour is now in its 12th year of sponsoring the award and over 276 different athletics directors have been honored with the award during that time.

"The Athletics Director of the Year Award acknowledges the leadership and positive influence top athletics directors have had at their respective institutions across all levels," said Brian Cummings, Under Armour's vice president of North America sports marketing. "Under Armour is proud to partner with NACDA to honor those individuals who set the standard in guiding their student-athletes through the on-going journey to be better.

All NACDA-member directors of athletics in the United States, Canada and Mexico who met the criteria were eligible for the award. Among the criteria were service as an AD for a minimum of five consecutive years; demonstration of commitment to higher education and student-athletes; continuous teamwork, loyalty and excellence; and the ability to inspire individuals or groups to high levels of accomplishments. Additionally, each AD's institution must have passed a compliance check through its appropriate governing body (i.e., NCAA, NAIA, etc.), in which the institution could not have been on probation or cited for a lack of institutional control during the tenure of the current athletics director.

Nominators were NACDA-member directors of athletics, institutional presidents and conference commissioners, as well as other respected intercollegiate athletics administrators. Special Divisional Selection Committees composed of current and former directors of athletics, current and former commissioners and other key athletics administrators voted on nominees for the award. A complete listing of Selection Committee members can be found on NACDA's website at www.nacda.com.