Mark Harlan - Athletics Director - Staff Directory

Staff Directory

Mark Harlan

Title:
Athletics Director
Email:
Phone:
801-581-3508

Over his seven years as the Director of Athletics at the University of Utah, Mark Harlan has led the Utes’ athletics programs to unprecedented success in the classroom, in competition and in the community, while elevating the overall student-athlete experience and raising the bar in fundraising to record-setting levels. The 2023 Cushman & Wakefield NACDA Athletics Director of the Year has guided the Utes to such comprehensive success while navigating historic changes in intercollegiate athletics and a transition from the Pac-12 Conference to the Big 12 Conference in 2024. Harlan arrived in Salt Lake City in 2018 bringing with him more than 20 years of intercollegiate athletics experience at five different universities.

Utah’s first year as a member of the Big 12 Conference in 2024-25 continued the momentum of the Utes’ record-setting trajectory that has significantly elevated Utah’s national brand. In 2024-25, six Utah teams advanced to NCAA Championship postseason competition, following a run of three-consecutive record-setting years with eight teams each year in either the NCAA Championships or a bowl game. Overall, during Harlan’s tenure, Utah has won five team national championships, earned 11 NCAA Top 4 finishes, claimed 32 conference championships (24 of which have come just over the past four years) and earned 46 berths in either NCAA Championships or a bowl game, achieved by 10 different sport programs.

Among the greatest achievements during the record-setting run from 2020-25:

The Utah Ski Team has won four of the past five NCAA championships and was runner-up in its only non-championship season;
Gymnastics extended its streak to five consecutive Top-4 NCAA Championships finishes;
The football program earned back-to-back Pac-12 Championships and Rose Bowl berths in 2022 and 2023;
Utah’s student-athletes earned 22 Academic All-America Awards—21 of which have come in the past four years, the most in a four-year span in department history.

Head coaches hired by Harlan have produced 20 of the 32 conference championships won during his tenure, including Director of Skiing Fredrik Landstedt, whose team has claimed five NCAA team championships, and gymnastics head coach Carly Dockendorf, who has led the Red Rocks to back-to-back Top-4 NCAA Championships finishes in her two seasons at the helm. Overall, eight of Utah’s current head coaches have been hired by Harlan, including Landstedt, Dockendorf, Gary Henderson (baseball), Hideki Nakada (women’s soccer), Andrew McMinn (lacrosse), Jonas Persson (swimming and diving), RuthAnn Allen (women’s tennis) and Alex Jensen (men’s basketball), who was hired in March 2025.

The 2022-23 competition year stands as one of the most successful in the storied history of Utah Athletics. Utah earned its highest finish in the LEARFIELD Director’s Cup and Harlan was named Cushman & Wakefield Athletics Director of the Year by the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics (NACDA).

The Utes claimed a school-record 10 conference championships in 2022-23 between regular season, tournaments or championship games, and sent a record-tying eight teams to postseason competition. Among those, the Utes’ football program played in its second consecutive Rose Bowl as back-to-back Pac-12 champions, skiing won the NCAA championship, gymnastics placed third at the NCAA Championships, softball reached its first Women’s College World Series since 1994 and women’s basketball advanced to the Sweet Sixteen for the first time since 2006.

In June 2023, University of Utah President Taylor Randall announced an extension of Harlan’s contract through 2028.

That historic year followed what had been Utah’s most successful year since joining the Pac-12 in 2011. Seven of Utah’s sport programs in 2021-22 earned NCAA postseason berths and football played in yet another bowl game, the most Utah teams in postseason competition (8) in the same year to that point in Utah Athletics history. The football team played in a New Year’s Six Bowl, with its first Rose Bowl berth, and was one of four Utah teams to win a conference championship, along with gymnastics (Pac-12), skiing (RMISA) and lacrosse (ASUN regular season).

While the football program rose to Pac-12 superiority with two conference championships and appearances in four of the final six Pac-12 championship games, six other Utah programs have claimed at least one conference championship over the last seven years: skiing, gymnastics, lacrosse, women’s basketball, men’s tennis and softball. The Utah skiing program’s five national championships (2019, ’21-’24), have been achieved under the leadership of Coach Landstedt, Harlan’s first head coach hire in 2018.

In addition to success in competition, academic achievement has risen to new heights under Harlan’s leadership, with Utah’s student-athletes posting the top semester GPAs on record, including a program-best 3.57 GPA in Spring 2020. In each of his first three years at Utah, the Utes’ student-athletes broke the previous record for full-year GPA, including a top GPA of 3.407 in 2020-21, and in 2024-25 posted the third-best full-year GPA of 3.387, trailing only the 2020-21 record year, and the 3.390 of 2019-20.

Utah recorded its sixth consecutive year with a 93-percent or higher NCAA Graduation Success Rate (GSR) in 2024, with a program-record-tying 95-percent score, which ranked tied for second among power conference public institutions. This stretch includes the first 95-percent GSR in 2018, followed by 94-percent GSRs in 2019, ’20 and ’23, and 93-percent scores in 2021 and 2022.

Under Harlan’s leadership, Utah Athletics has driven record fundraising success. The Crimson Club has experienced unprecedented growth, particularly in the past two years, with membership reaching all-time highs and record revenue-generation representing 233-percent growth since 2022. Additionally, Utah Athletics has raised more than $115 million for capital projects during Harlan’s tenure, including the development of the $85 million Ken Garff Red Zone at Rice-Eccles Stadium and the baseball program’s $40 million Charlie Monfort Field at America First Ballpark, set to open on campus in 2026. The largest gift in Utah Athletics history, $17.5 million, was given by the Ken Garff family for the stadium expansion.

Key fundraising initiatives have led to this significant growth. The 2023 launch of the Crimson Club Champions Alliance, a society recognizing the top donors to Utah Athletics, has led to more than $50 million given in its first two years. The Crimson Club Legacy Society was launched in 2025 to establish planned giving for long-term sustainable resources, and a $14 million gift from an anonymous donor in support of Utah’s women’s athletics programs marked the second largest gift in Utah Athletics history.

In addition to the 2021 Rice-Eccles Stadium expansion and the 2026 opening of Charlie Monfort Field at America First Ballpark to bring Utah Baseball back to campus in a spectacular new home, continued upgrades of Utah’s athletics facilities under Harlan include: Expansion of the Dumke Gymnastics Center, completed in 2023 to modernize and improve the home of the 10-time national champion Red Rocks program, and construction of the David S. Layton Golf Academy, the on-campus training facility for Utah’s men’s golf team, which opened in January 2021. Located on Guardsman Way, across from the Spence and Cleone Eccles Football Center, the 7,000-square foot, $2.9 million golf training facility provides state-of-the-art technology for Utah’s student-athletes to enhance every aspect of their performance.

The health, well-being, and holistic development of student-athletes remain a top priority for Harlan. His commitment is reflected in his support of the Crimson Council, Utah’s Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC), which plays a vital role in fostering leadership, enhancing the student-athlete experience and promoting a culture of service and personal growth. He continues to support student-led engagement groups, such as the U.T.A.H. Group and UnmUTEd, that promote belonging and empower student-athletes to represent Utah as their full, authentic selves.

Under Harlan’s leadership, mental health resources have been significantly expanded, including the addition of a third full-time mental health professional in 2018. Today, the department’s Sport Psychology and Wellness team includes five full-time staff members dedicated to supporting student-athletes in the areas of psychology, wellness and mental performance.

Harlan has also championed the continued growth of the Ute Academy, which supports student-athletes through four key pillars: Leadership, Professional and Personal Development, and Community Service. These initiatives reflect his broader vision of preparing student-athletes for success during and beyond their collegiate careers.

Utah has continued to be a leader in student-athlete Name, Image and Likeness (NIL) support and innovation. Four years after being one of the first departments in the nation to launch an NIL program in June 2021, Elevate U, Utah again has led the way after the June 2025 approval of the House vs. NCAA settlement, serving its student-athletes with the next iteration of Elevate U, which educates and equips Utah student-athletes as Brand Ambassadors. Strategic partnerships with industry-leading providers The Brandr Group and Influencer provide additional support, including the June 2022 launch via Influencer of the Elevate U Exchange to create an NIL marketplace for Utah’s student-athletes and interested businesses, collectives and individuals. Under Harlan’s guidance two NIL collectives launched—the Crimson Collective, led by Matt Garff, and the gymnastics-focused Who Rocks the House Collective, led by Kim Brunisholz—and helped Utah’s student-athletes earn millions of dollars in NIL while participating in meaningful service-focused events and activities with various charitable organizations throughout the Salt Lake valley and beyond.

Harlan has significantly upgraded the strength and appeal of Utah’s future football schedules with the addition of 11 games since his arrival in 2018—including five home-and-home series—against SEC, Big Ten and ACC opponents: Florida (2022, ’23), UCLA (2025, ’30), Arkansas (2026, ’29), Wisconsin (2028, ’33) and LSU (2031, ’32). In addition, the Utes will open the 2027 season against Miami in the Vegas Kickoff Classic.

Harlan has been named to several influential committees throughout his career, including a one-year appointment to the College Football Playoff Selection Committee in 2023. Most recently, he was named to the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee’s Collegiate Advisory Council in June 2024. Harlan previously served a two-year appointment to the NCAA Division I Baseball Committee, after a three-year term on the Division I Football Oversight Committee that began in 2019. He served as chair of the Pac-12 A.D. Committee for 2023-24, and previously held a lead role in the league’s Football Working Group and served as the A.D. liaison to the league’s football coaches in navigating the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic. Previous NCAA committee appointments include the Division I Council Transfer Working Group and the Division I Competition Oversight Committee.

Prior to his arrival in Salt Lake City, Harlan spent four years as the Director of Athletics at the University of South Florida, where he spearheaded record competitive, academic and fundraising accomplishments while also negotiating new multimedia rights and apparel partnerships. The Bulls won 14 American Athletic Conference titles under his leadership and nine USF programs ranked in the Top 25 in 2015-16, when the Bulls led the American Athletic Conference in the Learfield Directors’ Cup standings.

The USF football program appeared in three consecutive bowl games from 2015-17 and won a school-record 11 games in 2016. In the classroom, USF student-athletes set school marks for combined grade-point average and GSR, and fundraising success included a 300-percent increase in major giving, including the best fundraising year in school history in 2016-17 ($15 million). Harlan chaired the AAC’s A.D. Committee in 2017-18 after serving as vice chair in 2016.

From 2010-14, Harlan served as senior associate athletics director for external relations at UCLA, with oversight responsibilities including the men’s basketball program, development, communications, marketing, ticket sales, sponsorships, multimedia rights and alumni affairs.

While at UCLA, Harlan reorganized the structure of the major giving program and the annual fund, which resulted in a record number of donors and dollars raised in 2013. He successfully managed completion of a $137 million campaign to renovate iconic Pauley Pavilion in 2012. Harlan was also heavily involved in the negotiations with the City of Pasadena to enable a $200 million renovation of the Rose Bowl Stadium.

Harlan left for UCLA after four years as the senior vice president for central development at the University of Arizona Foundation from 2006-10. Under Harlan’s direction, the Foundation posted two record years in the amount of funds raised and in the number of gifts processed on behalf of the university. He moved into central development at Arizona after over a decade working in the Wildcat athletics department. He held a variety of roles in athletics, serving as the assistant coordinator for football recruiting and operations (1992-94), program coordinator for event management (1994-97), director of operations (1997-2000), director of annual development (2000-02) and assistant athletics director for development and marketing (2002-04).

Harlan’s background also includes one-year stints as senior associate athletics director for external operations at San Jose State (2005-06) and associate athletics director for external operations at Northern Colorado (2004-05). At SJSU, he launched a planned giving program that generated $8 million in estate gifts directed toward student-athlete scholarship endowments. At Northern Colorado, he played a key role in the school's transition to NCAA Division I and the Big Sky Conference.

Harlan, 56, earned a bachelor’s degree in political science and a master’s degree in education from the University of Arizona. He and his wife, Carolyn, have two children: Savannah (20) and Austin (17) along with Cali the Labradoodle (11).