Bill Chaves

Bill Chaves was named director of athletics at the University of North Dakota on Jan. 13, 2018.

A two-time recipient of national Athletic Director of the Year honors, Chaves came to Grand Forks after having spent the previous decade as director of athletics at Eastern Washington University. Chaves was honored in 2015-16 for the second time by the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics (NACDA) as one of 28 winners of the Under Armour AD of the Year Award (ADOY). Chaves also won the honor in the 2012-13 school year, and was recognized that year in Orlando, Fla.

Highlighted by the installation of the first-ever red synthetic surface in America, the tenure of Chaves at EWU was punctuated by progress and innovation.

In 2015, Chaves was appointed to the NCAA Division I Council representing the Big Sky Conference, and served for three years. During his time on the council, he also served on the competition oversight committee and on the women's basketball oversight committee. Chaves was also the only Division I athletic director to serve on the 2-year NCAA Governance Working Group as requested by the NCAA’s Board of Directors. He also has served on a national working group that studied transfers.

In addition, Chaves served four years (2008-12) on the NCAA Administration Cabinet and in his last year served as chair. He also spent 2013-14 on the NCAA Committee on Sportsmanship and Ethical Conduct.

The high point during Chaves' tenure was when Eastern’s football program won its final 11 games of the 2010 season and captured the NCAA Division I Championship. In addition, the athletic program won three Big Sky Presidents’ Cup Trophies ('09-10, '14-15 and '15-16).

Besides three years at Baylor, Chaves was also at the UMass as an assistant athletic director (2002-04) and at Northeastern as director of external affairs for the athletic department (2001-02) and began his career as the ports information director from 1990-95 at Quinnipiac.