Craig Littlepage (born August 5, 1951) is an American college athletics administrator and former

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

player and coach. He is the former athletic director at the

University of Virginia The University of Virginia (UVA) is a Public university#United States, public research university in Charlottesville, Virginia, United States. It was founded in 1819 by Thomas Jefferson and contains his The Lawn, Academical Village, a World H ...

. He was named to that position in 2001 and has been with the school as an administrator since 1990. Littlepage served as the head men's basketball coach at the

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (Penn or UPenn) is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. One of nine colonial colleges, it was chartered in 1755 through the efforts of f ...

from 1982 to 1985 and at

Rutgers University Rutgers University ( ), officially Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is a Public university, public land-grant research university consisting of three campuses in New Jersey. Chartered in 1766, Rutgers was originally called Queen's C ...

from 1985 to 1988.

Early career

Littlepage played

for the

and graduated from Penn's

Wharton School The Wharton School ( ) is the business school of the University of Pennsylvania, a private Ivy League research university in Philadelphia. Established in 1881 through a donation from Joseph Wharton, a co-founder of Bethlehem Steel, the Wharton ...

in 1973 with a degree in

economics Economics () is a behavioral science that studies the Production (economics), production, distribution (economics), distribution, and Consumption (economics), consumption of goods and services. Economics focuses on the behaviour and interac ...

. He served as an assistant coach at

Villanova University Villanova University is a Private university, private Catholic Church, Catholic research university in Villanova, Pennsylvania, United States. It was founded by the Order of Saint Augustine in 1842 and named after Thomas of Villanova, Saint Thom ...

and

Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701, Yale is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Stat ...

before coming to the University of Virginia in 1976 as an assistant coach for

Terry Holland Michael Terrence Holland (April 2, 1942 – February 26, 2023) was an American college athletics administrator and basketball player and coach. Holland served as the head men's basketball coach at Davidson College from 1969 to 1974 and at the U ...

. Littlepage's alma mater Penn hired him as head coach in 1982. He then was hired as head coach by

in 1985. After Littlepage was dismissed as head coach of the Scarlet Knights in 1988, he returned to Virginia and again served as an assistant until 1990 when Holland resigned and was replaced by Jeff Jones.

University of Virginia

On August 21, 2001, University of Virginia President John T. Casteen III announced Littlepage's appointment to be the ninth Virginia Athletics Director. He was the first Black Athletics Director in UVa history. In 2003 and 2006, he was named the Black Coaches Association's "Athletics Administrator of the Year." He was also listed on Sports Illustrated's list of the 101 most influential minorities in sports in 2003 and 2004. Littlepage created a motto of "uncompromised excellence in intercollegiate athletics," and led Virginia athletics to achieving success in a broad range of sports. In 2003, following a controversial performance by the Virginia Pep Band at the 2002

Continental Tire Bowl The Duke's Mayo Bowl is an annual college football bowl game that has been played at Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte, North Carolina, since 2002. Originally commissioned as the Queen City Bowl, it has undergone many name changes due to sp ...

in which the band lampooned the home state of the opposing

West Virginia Mountaineers The West Virginia Mountaineers are the athletic teams that represent West Virginia University in Morgantown, West Virginia. The school is a member of National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I. The Mountaineers have been a membe ...

and was banned from any future performance at the bowl, Littlepage banned the Pep Band from participating in any Cavalier varsity sports. A donation from Carl Smith allowed the formation of the Cavalier Marching Band. In

2006 2006 was designated as the International Year of Deserts and Desertification. Events January * January 1– 4 – Russia temporarily cuts shipment of natural gas to Ukraine during a price dispute. * January 12 – A stampede during t ...

, he headed the

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates College athletics in the United States, student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, and Simon Fraser University, 1 in Canada. ...

Men's Division I Basketball Committee. The committee's most prominent duty was to select the 65 teams that participate in the

NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament The NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament, branded as March Madness, or The Big Dance, is a single-elimination tournament played in the United States to determine the men's college basketball national champion of the NCAA Division I, Di ...

. At the beginning of the 2008 football season, Littlepage briefly banned signs from all school athletic events. Following a student protest at the school's second home game of the season, in which

ESPN ESPN (an initialism of their original name, which was the Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by the Walt Disney Company (80% and operational control) and Hearst Commu ...

Rick Reilly Richard Paul Reilly (born February 3, 1958) is an American sportswriter. Long known for being the "back page" columnist for ''Sports Illustrated'', Reilly moved to ESPN on June 1, 2008, where he was a featured columnist for ESPN.com and wrote t ...

encouraged students to bring in blank signs and signs that said, "This is not a sign," Littlepage repealed the ban. Among the head coaching hires Littlepage has made at Virginia includes

Dave Leitao David Antonio Leitao Jr. (born May 18, 1960) is an American professional basketball coach who is the head coach for City Reapers of Overtime Elite (OTE). He has previously been the head coach of the Maine Red Claws of the NBA Development League ...

and

Tony Bennett Anthony Dominick Benedetto (August 3, 1926 – July 21, 2023), known professionally as Tony Bennett, was an American jazz and traditional pop singer. He received many accolades, including 20 Grammy Awards, a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award, ...

for men's basketball,

Joanne Boyle Joanne Boyle (born November 1, 1963) is the former head coach of the University of Virginia women's basketball team. Prior to joining the Virginia Cavaliers women's basketball, Cavaliers, Boyle served as the head coach of the California Golden ...

for women's basketball, Brian O'Connor in baseball, and

Mike London Michael Wilson London Sr. (born October 9, 1960) is an American college football coach. He is the head football coach for the College of William & Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia. He is a former defensive back and associate head coach and defe ...

and

Bronco Mendenhall Marc Bronco Clay Mendenhall (born February 21, 1966) is an American college football coach who is the head coach at Utah State University (USU). He was previously the head coach at the University of New Mexico (UNM) for the 2024 season, the Unive ...

in football. On September 5, 2017, Littlepage announced his retirement, to commence when a successor is named. Carla Williams was formally named his successor on October 22, 2017.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Littlepage, Craig 1951 births Living people 20th-century American sportsmen American men's basketball coaches American men's basketball players Basketball coaches from Pennsylvania Basketball players from Montgomery County, Pennsylvania College men's basketball head coaches in the United States Penn Quakers men's basketball coaches Penn Quakers men's basketball players Sportspeople from Cheltenham, Pennsylvania Rutgers Scarlet Knights men's basketball coaches San Antonio Spurs draft picks Villanova Wildcats men's basketball coaches Virginia Cavaliers athletic directors Virginia Cavaliers men's basketball coaches