INDIANAPOLIS – Grant Leiendecker will succeed Barry Collier at Butler University.
Leiendecker, a 2011 graduate and Butler’s associate vice president of athletics since August 2023, will assume director of athletics duties when Collier retires in May.
Collier announced his retirement in November. He’ll continue to work alongside Leiendecker during the transition. Leiendecker’s selection followed a national search for Collier’s successor.
According to the university, Leiendecker has been a senior leader in the athletics department since returning to Butler last year, responsible for leading Butler’s comprehensive advancement program for athletics.
"I am extremely humbled and excited to serve Butler as the university’s Director of Athletics,” Leiendecker said in a statement. “In many ways, our alma mater is home for my wife Kylee and me, and our family has always considered ourselves part of the Bulldog family. I'm grateful to President Danko, the search committee, and the board of trustees for this opportunity, and to Barry Collier for his leadership of Butler Athletics and his mentorship personally. There is a solid foundation, which includes so many talented student athletes, coaches and administrators, for us to continue to build upon as we boldly pursue unprecedented heights for Butler Athletics and our university as a whole.”
Leiendecker was a scholarship member of the Butler men’s basketball program and was inducted into the Butler Athletics Hall of Fame in 2021 along with teammates from the 2010 and 2011 teams that reached back-to-back national championship games in the NCAA tournament.
Leiendecker graduated from Butler with a finance degree in 2011. He went on to Chapel Hill and earned a master’s degree in sports administration at the University of North Carolina. Before returning to Butler in August 2023, he spent four years at Marquette University.
He also served as director of major gifts for the Rams Club—the athletic booster and scholarship organization for UNC.
