Joel Maturi

Joel Maturi is the athletic director at the University of Minnesota. He previously held the same post at the University of Denver and Miami University.

Early career

Maturi graduated from Notre Dame in 1967 and started his career as a coach and administrator in high school sports, culminating in his induction to the Wisconsin Basketball Hall of Fame. Maturi was hired as the AD at Denver in 1996 after serving as associate athletic director at the University of Wisconsin-Madison from 1987 to 1996, and helped the Denver program transition to Division I from Division II. He was hired at Miami as AD in 1998 and held that post until hired by Minnesota on July 12, 2002.

University of Minnesota

At Minnesota, he has been expected to help the Minnesota Golden Gophers recover from the fallout from the Clem Haskins men's basketball scandal. Maturi played a crucial role in securing funding for an on campus stadium for the football team after years of wrangling with the state legislature. [cite web | last = Tibbets | first = Than | title = TCF banks on U's campus stadium | publisher = Minnesota Daily | date = March 25, 2005 | url = http://www.mndaily.com/articles/2005/03/25/63806 | accessdate = 2007-04-20 ] [cite web | last = Hammerand | first = Jim | title = Legislature approves U football stadium | publisher = Minnesota Daily | date = May 24, 2006 | url = http://www.mndaily.com/articles/2006/05/24/68417 | accessdate = 2007-04-24 ] In 2007, Maturi scored a coup for Minnesota when he hired Tubby Smith away from the University of Kentucky to be the new men's basketball coach. [cite web | title = Smith welcomes challenge to make Gophers a winner | publisher = Associated Press | date = March 24, 2007 | url = http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/news/story?id=2809781 | accessdate = 2007-04-20 ] He signed a three year contract extension through 2009 in late 2006. [cite web | title = Maturi signs three-year contract extension as Gopher's AD | publisher = Associated Press | date = September 21, 2006 | url = http://minnesota.publicradio.org/display/web/2006/09/21/maturi | accessdate = 2007-04-20 ] Maturi's teams have won several national championships in his tenure: wrestling (2007) [cite web | title = Minnesota Championships | publisher = University of Minnesota | date = 2007 | url = http://www.gophersports.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=8400&KEY=&ATCLID=284497 | accessdate = 2007-04-20] , men's golf (2002), men's hockey (2002, 2003), and women's hockey (2004, 2005). [cite web | title = Athletics Director Joel Maturi | publisher = University of Minnesota | date = 2007 | url = http://www.gophersports.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=8400&KEY=&ATCLID=293874 | accessdate = 2007-04-20 ]

References

ee also

* [http://www.gophersports.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=8400&KEY=&ATCLID=293874 GopherSports.com Biography]