Joseph Louis Alleva (born c. 1952) is the former

athletics director An athletic director (commonly "athletics director" or "AD") is an administrator at many American clubs or institutions, such as colleges and universities, as well as in larger high schools and middle schools, who oversees the work of coaches and ...

Louisiana State University Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, commonly referred to as Louisiana State University (LSU), is an American Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Baton Rouge, Louis ...

and

Duke University Duke University is a Private university, private research university in Durham, North Carolina, United States. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present-day city of Trinity, North Carolina, Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1 ...

Duke

Alleva began as athletic director in 1998. Alleva hired three football coaches in his 11 years: Carl Franks,

Ted Roof Terrence Edwin Roof Jr. (born December 11, 1963) is an American college football coach and former player. He was most recently the defensive coordinator and linebackers coach for the UCF Knights. He previously served as the defensive coordinator ...

, and

David Cutcliffe David Nelson Cutcliffe (born September 16, 1954) is an American former college football coach who most recently served as the head football coach of the Duke Blue Devils. Under Cutcliffe, in 2012 the Blue Devils ended an 18-year bowl drought an ...

. Franks' record in his five years was 7–45, including two 0–11 seasons. Roof went 6–45. Despite an initial preference for former UCLA head coach

Karl Dorrell Karl James Dorrell (born December 18, 1963) is an American football coach. He has been the head coach for the UCLA Bruins football, UCLA Bruins and Colorado Buffaloes football, Colorado Buffaloes, being named the Pac-12 Coach of the Year for b ...

, Alleva eventually settled on Cutcliffe as Roof's replacement. Cutcliffe won ACC Coach of the Year in 2012. His first baseball coach hired was Bill Hillier who compiled a 121–214 record. In the beginning of the

Duke lacrosse case The Duke lacrosse rape hoax was a widely reported 2006 criminal case hoax in Durham, North Carolina, United States, in which three members of the Duke University men's lacrosse team were falsely accused of rape. The three students were David Ev ...

, on April 5, 2006, Joe Alleva forced Duke lacrosse coach

Mike Pressler Mike Pressler (born February 27, 1960) is an American lacrosse coach, who is currently the head coach and general manager of Atlas Lacrosse Club of the Premier Lacrosse League as well as the varsity head coach for Highland Park High School's la ...

to resign under threat and faced criticism for his handling of the case. In 2008, Alleva announced he was leaving Duke for the athletic director position at Louisiana State University.

LSU

On April 2, 2008, Alleva was named athletic director at

and officially started on July 1, 2008. In 2009, he was named vice chancellor, making it the first time in LSU history the director of athletics has also held a vice chancellor position. During his tenure at LSU, the University won the 2009 baseball national championship and 2015 men's golf national championship. The athletes at LSU earned 48 individual NCAA championships in the sports of men's and women's track and field, gymnastics, men's golf, women's golf and women’s tennis. LSU captured 18 Southeastern Conference team championships and the Tigers and Lady Tigers won 124 individual SEC titles during Alleva's tenure. Alleva helped renovate and build multiple athletic facilities at LSU. Tiger Stadium received the installation of 430 new windows. The 2014 Tiger Stadium south end zone expansion and the construction of the

LSU Gymnastics Training Facility The LSU Gymnastics Training Facility is a gymnastics facility located on the campus of Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge, LA. The facility, opened in 2016, serves as the stand-alone practice facility for the LSU Tigers women's gymnastics ...

and the

LSU Tennis Complex The LSU Tennis Complex is a tennis facility located on the campus of Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge, LA. The facility, built in 2015, serves as the home of the LSU Tigers and LSU Lady Tigers tennis teams. It has a seating capacity of 1 ...

happened under his watch. During his tenure at LSU, Alleva came under criticism for the head football coaching search to replace

Les Miles Leslie Edwin Miles (born November 10, 1953) is a former American football coach. He most recently served as the head coach at Kansas. His head coaching career began with the Oklahoma State Cowboys, where he coached from 2001 to 2004. Following t ...

. He also received scrutiny for his handling of rescheduling the 2016 LSU–Florida football game due to

Hurricane Matthew Hurricane Matthew was a powerful tropical cyclone which caused catastrophic damage and a humanitarian crisis in Haiti, as well as widespread devastation in the southeastern United States. The deadliest Atlantic hurricane since Hurricane Stan ...

. Alleva was criticized for his head men's basketball coaching hires prior to the hiring of

Will Wade Frank Williams Wade (born November 26, 1982) is an American college basketball coach who serves as the head men's basketball coach at NC State Wolfpack men's basketball, North Carolina State University. He previously coached at Chattanooga Mocs ...

. He also came under fire for his handling of head men's basketball coach Will Wade's suspension at the end of the 2018–19 LSU Tigers men's basketball season. Joe Alleva resigned from his position as LSU's athletic director on April 17, 2019 and was replaced by Scott Woodward. After leaving the athletic director role, Alleva became the special assistant to the president for donor relations at LSU.

References

External links

LSU Tigers bio

Duke Blue Devils bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Alleva, Joe Place of birth missing (living people) 1950s births Living people Duke Blue Devils athletic directors LSU Tigers and Lady Tigers athletic directors Lehigh University alumni Year of birth missing (living people)