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So you want to be a Mid-Major Athletics Director? (Part 1)
There is an Athletics Director job opening (again) at the University of Louisiana at Monroe.
John Hartwell resigned from the Sunbelt Conference school on Monday.
He replaced Scott McDonald (2019-2023) who replaced Nick Floyd (2017-2018) who replaced Brian Wickstrom (2013-2017).
Hartwell spent just 2 ½ years as the AD for this quaint public university located along lovely Bayou Desiard in Monroe.
He reported for duty in early 2023 after spending seven years in a similar position working for the Utah State Aggies of the Mountain West Conference.
Hartwell’s departure from Utah State was announced as a family-based decision. His wife has elderly parents living in El Dorado, Arkansas (about 70 miles northwest of Monroe, Louisiana).
Mission accomplished by the Hartwell family! John accepted the job at UL-Monroe.
The 60-year old Hartwell’s resume also included three years (2012-2015) serving as the Athletics Director at Troy University in Alabama – another Sunbelt school.
John Hartwell’s positive track record at those two previous universities gave every indication that ULM was quite fortunate to locate a person with such experience.
What went wrong at ULM?
Hartwell’s sudden departure as AD for the Warhawks came as quite a surprise. His one-sentence statement on Monday said he was grateful to “student athletes, coaches, senior staff, donors, alumni, and all of Warhawk Nation.”
He failed to mention his new boss, Dr. Carrie L. Castille.
She started working as the new President of ULM less than two months ago in early June, 2025.
Dr. Castille became the first female President in the school’s 94 years of existence.
She earned her Bachelors degree in Industrial Engineering from UL-Lafayette. Additionally, Dr. Castille also holds a Master’s degree in Environmental Studies plus a PhD. in a related field from LSU.
The majority of Dr. Castille’s professional experience, though, has been with state and federal government jobs – primarily related to agriculture.
Dr. Castille told the assembled media in June that she was embarking on a “50 CEO’s in 50 days” listening tour.
Her priorities included ensuring fiscal responsibility, growing enrollment, and preparing students to be workforce ready from Day One.
Let’s take a closer look at that what ULM’s new President is facing with the school’s sports programs
I have found nothing which indicated that ULM’s new chief had experience in dealing with some long-term and complicated sports issues like the Warhawks’ athletic programs.
A brief history lesson is in order.
The school (previously known as Northeast Louisiana University until 1999) won four Southland Conference football titles in Division 1-AA (FCS) during a ten year period from 1983-1992.
The Northeast Indians (as they were known at the time) won the national championship in football in 1987.
The 1987 football championship is memorialized on the west side of the football stadium today.
ULM made the leap into the major college football group (FBS) in 1994. Many believe that the school felt the need to step-up one level to keep pace with their I-20 rivals at Louisiana Tech (which moved up to the FBS group in 1989).
Unfortunately, the Warhawks have seen very little success in its new football nest.
There has been only one winning season (8-4 in 2012) and bowl game appearance (Independence Bowl) during the school’s 31 seasons playing football at the FBS level.
On the positive side, ULM is a longtime member of the Sunbelt Conference.
The Sunbelt has slowly become a mid-major sports power among the so-called “Group of Five” (American, Conference USA, Mid-American, Mountain West, and Sunbelt) mid-major conferences.
Sunbelt Conference member Coastal Carolina recently finished as the national runner-up to LSU in June’s College World Series.
Unfortunately, UL-Monroe has become much like Vanderbilt of the Southeastern Conference in most sports. The rest of the Sunbelt Conference is becoming accustomed to grabbing an easy win whenever they play the Warhawks in football and, more recently, in most other major sports.
ULM’s men’s basketball and baseball teams just finished in last place in the Sunbelt Conference standings in 2025.
Long-time supporters of ULM’s athletics teams have grown weary of having little to cheer about.
At least the ULM’s women’s softball season was a recent bright spot. The Lady Warhawks ran off a school record 22 straight wins this spring and finished in third place in the Sunbelt Conference.
The sports outlook on the bayou at ULM isn’t likely to improve anytime soon
The ULM Warhawks had the smallest annual athletics budget of all 134 FBS (large division) football schools in 2024. Sadly, ULM’s financial cupboard has been almost bare for decades.
ULM Athletics budget in 2024 was reported as $20.9 million. The budget covered 15 (recently reduced to 14 – more on that later) sports programs for men and women at the school.
By comparison, the LSU athletics budget is ten times larger.
The LSU Tigers’ “kitty” is filled with more than $200 million this year.
Unsurprisingly, players on this fall’s LSU football team will reportedly be paid (yes, legally paid as of July 1, 2025) as much money ($20 million) as the entire ULM athletics budget covering all of its sports.
ULM’s new President earned her undergraduate degree in Industrial Engineering. Dr. Carrie Castille is well schooled on finding ways to trim costs using lean manufacturing concepts such as Six Sigma.
ULM’s overall financial problems are even worse than the Athletic Department’s pickle
The school accepted what appeared to be a valuable gift two years ago from local employer Lumen Technologies (formerly known as CenturyTel).
ULM received the two former Lumen corporate buildings (featuring 800,000 square feet) located a few miles north of ULM’s campus in Monroe. A lease with the company was signed to provide offices for their remaining local employees.
The majority of those two buildings remain unoccupied today.
Unfortunately, ULM is losing about $2 million per year on what at first looked to be a sweet deal.
The annual operating, maintenance, and taxes for the Lumen buildings/facilities cost about $3 million per year. The company’s lease pays ULM about $1 million in revenue back to the school.
Additionally, ULM’s enrollment has been slowly declining.
UL-Monroe has lost about 600 full-time students in recent years. That also includes about 100 fewer students enrolled at the school’s highly-respected professional Pharmacy program.
An estimated $4 million revenue shortfall has resulted.
Former ULM President Nick Bruno recently said that the school’s financial woes are so dire that ULM may be forced to declare a “financial exigency” soon.
That term is higher education’s fancy phrase for a pre-bankruptcy reorganization.
It would allow the school’s leadership to make cuts in university administration and faculty (even tenured staff) along with changes and/or reductions in program offerings at the school.
These extreme financial measures would be in addition to an athletics program which has been bleeding $1-2 million worth of red ink annually in most years.
Welcome to “Blue Bayou”, Dr. Castille!
The name of Linda Ronstadt’s hit record back in the 1970’s is quite appropriate to describe the financial mess which is facing UL-Monroe’s new University President.
Dr. Carrie Castille will (at least for the short term) be able to save a bit of cash after Athletics Director John Hartwell resigned this week. It may buy her a little time with athletic supporters while she tries to come up with yet another plan to manage the school’s underfunded athletics program.
Former AD John Hartwell may have irked the new President in mid-June by abruptly ending the ULM Women’s tennis program. The Lady Warhawks went 3-15 this spring and 0-11 in Sunbelt Conference play.
A press release at the time quoted the now-departed Athletics Director.
“We are committed to being competitive in all of our sports while also operating in a fiscally-responsible manner,” said John Hartwell. “It will enable ULM Athletics to continue progress toward balancing its budget while sponsoring 16 NCAA Division 1 FBS sports, the required NCAA minimum.”
Monday’s sudden resignation of ULM Athletics Director John Hartwell shocked the athletics community at the school.
Dr. Carrie Castille quickly moved to name ULM head football coach Bryant Vincent as the Interim Athletics Director the following day.
The football coach (who was hired by former AD John Hartwell) now must wear two very different hats.
He must provide stability and leadership for all of the Warhawks’ athletic programs. Coach Bryant Vincent also begins his second season in just a few weeks at the helm of ULM’s football team (which finished a respectable 5-7 in his first year in 2024).
Does ULM meet the required 16 sports to remain in the Division 1 FBS group?
No. Neither do the majority of the Sunbelt Conference teams.
Presently, ULM offers 14 current NCAA sports. The Warhawks have six sports for men, and eight for women. They are:
Men’s sports – baseball, basketball, cross country, football, golf, and track & field
Women’s sports – basketball, beach volleyball, cross country, golf, soccer, softball, track & field, and volleyball
Women’s tennis was #15 at ULM prior to being canceled in mid-June, 2025.
ULM has an award-winning water skiing program featuring a men’s and women’s team.
The National Collegiate Water Ski Association (not related to the NCAA) ranked UL-Monroe #2 this spring behind UL-Lafayette. However, the NCAA itself does not recognize water skiing as an official sport, so those two teams will not count toward the required total.
ULM isn’t the only Sunbelt Conference school which doesn’t offer 16 NCAA sports
A review of the Sunbelt Conference website showed that the majority of the 14 Sunbelt member institutions do not meet the 16 sports required to remain at the Division 1 (FBS) level.
Arkansas State currently offers only 13 NCAA sports (six for men and seven for women).
The group with 14 NCAA sports includes UL-Lafayette, ULM, and next year’s (let’s hope) new Sunbelt member, Louisiana Tech.
Georgia State, South Alabama, Southern Miss, and Troy currently offer just 15 sports.
The NCAA Division 1 (FBS) minimum of 16 sports are being offered by Sunbelt members Appalachian State, Georgia Southern, Marshall, and Old Dominion. James Madison currently has 17, while Coastal Carolina checks in at #1 in the Sunbelt with 18 total sports offered.
Not surprisingly, the Group of Five Conferences petitioned the NCAA following the COVID-19 outbreak to request a relaxation of enforcement on certain stipulations for those schools to remain in the upper division FBS.
The NCAA has a well-earned reputation for being sloth-like in making most administrative decisions.
The group has not shown an interest in either enforcing its rules or reducing the current 16 sports requirement for all schools in the FBS division.
By the way, the smaller college FCS level requires a minimum of 14 sports teams.
According to the NCAA’s rules, Arkansas State doesn’t even meet that level.
Are you still interested in becoming the Athletics Director at a mid-major school like UL-Monroe?
Professor SwampSwami will return tomorrow with a detailed presentation featuring another mid-major university which made a big change in its athletics path from FBS down to FCS a few years ago.
I will show you where their revenues come from and how much money goes to pay for the various athletics programs at this mid-sized university.
You will gain a much better appreciation as to why there have been so many AD’s come and go from ULM over the past decade. It just might be the toughest Athletics Director job in the country.
Class begins tomorrow. Don’t be late!
The post So you want to be a Mid-Major Athletics Director? (Part 1) appeared first on SwampSwamiSports.com.
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By SwampSwamiSports.comThere is an Athletics Director job opening (again) at the University of Louisiana at Monroe.
John Hartwell resigned from the Sunbelt Conference school on Monday.
He replaced Scott McDonald (2019-2023) who replaced Nick Floyd (2017-2018) who replaced Brian Wickstrom (2013-2017).
Hartwell spent just 2 ½ years as the AD for this quaint public university located along lovely Bayou Desiard in Monroe.
He reported for duty in early 2023 after spending seven years in a similar position working for the Utah State Aggies of the Mountain West Conference.
Hartwell’s departure from Utah State was announced as a family-based decision. His wife has elderly parents living in El Dorado, Arkansas (about 70 miles northwest of Monroe, Louisiana).
Mission accomplished by the Hartwell family! John accepted the job at UL-Monroe.
The 60-year old Hartwell’s resume also included three years (2012-2015) serving as the Athletics Director at Troy University in Alabama – another Sunbelt school.
John Hartwell’s positive track record at those two previous universities gave every indication that ULM was quite fortunate to locate a person with such experience.
What went wrong at ULM?
Hartwell’s sudden departure as AD for the Warhawks came as quite a surprise. His one-sentence statement on Monday said he was grateful to “student athletes, coaches, senior staff, donors, alumni, and all of Warhawk Nation.”
He failed to mention his new boss, Dr. Carrie L. Castille.
She started working as the new President of ULM less than two months ago in early June, 2025.
Dr. Castille became the first female President in the school’s 94 years of existence.
She earned her Bachelors degree in Industrial Engineering from UL-Lafayette. Additionally, Dr. Castille also holds a Master’s degree in Environmental Studies plus a PhD. in a related field from LSU.
The majority of Dr. Castille’s professional experience, though, has been with state and federal government jobs – primarily related to agriculture.
Dr. Castille told the assembled media in June that she was embarking on a “50 CEO’s in 50 days” listening tour.
Her priorities included ensuring fiscal responsibility, growing enrollment, and preparing students to be workforce ready from Day One.
Let’s take a closer look at that what ULM’s new President is facing with the school’s sports programs
I have found nothing which indicated that ULM’s new chief had experience in dealing with some long-term and complicated sports issues like the Warhawks’ athletic programs.
A brief history lesson is in order.
The school (previously known as Northeast Louisiana University until 1999) won four Southland Conference football titles in Division 1-AA (FCS) during a ten year period from 1983-1992.
The Northeast Indians (as they were known at the time) won the national championship in football in 1987.
The 1987 football championship is memorialized on the west side of the football stadium today.
ULM made the leap into the major college football group (FBS) in 1994. Many believe that the school felt the need to step-up one level to keep pace with their I-20 rivals at Louisiana Tech (which moved up to the FBS group in 1989).
Unfortunately, the Warhawks have seen very little success in its new football nest.
There has been only one winning season (8-4 in 2012) and bowl game appearance (Independence Bowl) during the school’s 31 seasons playing football at the FBS level.
On the positive side, ULM is a longtime member of the Sunbelt Conference.
The Sunbelt has slowly become a mid-major sports power among the so-called “Group of Five” (American, Conference USA, Mid-American, Mountain West, and Sunbelt) mid-major conferences.
Sunbelt Conference member Coastal Carolina recently finished as the national runner-up to LSU in June’s College World Series.
Unfortunately, UL-Monroe has become much like Vanderbilt of the Southeastern Conference in most sports. The rest of the Sunbelt Conference is becoming accustomed to grabbing an easy win whenever they play the Warhawks in football and, more recently, in most other major sports.
ULM’s men’s basketball and baseball teams just finished in last place in the Sunbelt Conference standings in 2025.
Long-time supporters of ULM’s athletics teams have grown weary of having little to cheer about.
At least the ULM’s women’s softball season was a recent bright spot. The Lady Warhawks ran off a school record 22 straight wins this spring and finished in third place in the Sunbelt Conference.
The sports outlook on the bayou at ULM isn’t likely to improve anytime soon
The ULM Warhawks had the smallest annual athletics budget of all 134 FBS (large division) football schools in 2024. Sadly, ULM’s financial cupboard has been almost bare for decades.
ULM Athletics budget in 2024 was reported as $20.9 million. The budget covered 15 (recently reduced to 14 – more on that later) sports programs for men and women at the school.
By comparison, the LSU athletics budget is ten times larger.
The LSU Tigers’ “kitty” is filled with more than $200 million this year.
Unsurprisingly, players on this fall’s LSU football team will reportedly be paid (yes, legally paid as of July 1, 2025) as much money ($20 million) as the entire ULM athletics budget covering all of its sports.
ULM’s new President earned her undergraduate degree in Industrial Engineering. Dr. Carrie Castille is well schooled on finding ways to trim costs using lean manufacturing concepts such as Six Sigma.
ULM’s overall financial problems are even worse than the Athletic Department’s pickle
The school accepted what appeared to be a valuable gift two years ago from local employer Lumen Technologies (formerly known as CenturyTel).
ULM received the two former Lumen corporate buildings (featuring 800,000 square feet) located a few miles north of ULM’s campus in Monroe. A lease with the company was signed to provide offices for their remaining local employees.
The majority of those two buildings remain unoccupied today.
Unfortunately, ULM is losing about $2 million per year on what at first looked to be a sweet deal.
The annual operating, maintenance, and taxes for the Lumen buildings/facilities cost about $3 million per year. The company’s lease pays ULM about $1 million in revenue back to the school.
Additionally, ULM’s enrollment has been slowly declining.
UL-Monroe has lost about 600 full-time students in recent years. That also includes about 100 fewer students enrolled at the school’s highly-respected professional Pharmacy program.
An estimated $4 million revenue shortfall has resulted.
Former ULM President Nick Bruno recently said that the school’s financial woes are so dire that ULM may be forced to declare a “financial exigency” soon.
That term is higher education’s fancy phrase for a pre-bankruptcy reorganization.
It would allow the school’s leadership to make cuts in university administration and faculty (even tenured staff) along with changes and/or reductions in program offerings at the school.
These extreme financial measures would be in addition to an athletics program which has been bleeding $1-2 million worth of red ink annually in most years.
Welcome to “Blue Bayou”, Dr. Castille!
The name of Linda Ronstadt’s hit record back in the 1970’s is quite appropriate to describe the financial mess which is facing UL-Monroe’s new University President.
Dr. Carrie Castille will (at least for the short term) be able to save a bit of cash after Athletics Director John Hartwell resigned this week. It may buy her a little time with athletic supporters while she tries to come up with yet another plan to manage the school’s underfunded athletics program.
Former AD John Hartwell may have irked the new President in mid-June by abruptly ending the ULM Women’s tennis program. The Lady Warhawks went 3-15 this spring and 0-11 in Sunbelt Conference play.
A press release at the time quoted the now-departed Athletics Director.
“We are committed to being competitive in all of our sports while also operating in a fiscally-responsible manner,” said John Hartwell. “It will enable ULM Athletics to continue progress toward balancing its budget while sponsoring 16 NCAA Division 1 FBS sports, the required NCAA minimum.”
Monday’s sudden resignation of ULM Athletics Director John Hartwell shocked the athletics community at the school.
Dr. Carrie Castille quickly moved to name ULM head football coach Bryant Vincent as the Interim Athletics Director the following day.
The football coach (who was hired by former AD John Hartwell) now must wear two very different hats.
He must provide stability and leadership for all of the Warhawks’ athletic programs. Coach Bryant Vincent also begins his second season in just a few weeks at the helm of ULM’s football team (which finished a respectable 5-7 in his first year in 2024).
Does ULM meet the required 16 sports to remain in the Division 1 FBS group?
No. Neither do the majority of the Sunbelt Conference teams.
Presently, ULM offers 14 current NCAA sports. The Warhawks have six sports for men, and eight for women. They are:
Men’s sports – baseball, basketball, cross country, football, golf, and track & field
Women’s sports – basketball, beach volleyball, cross country, golf, soccer, softball, track & field, and volleyball
Women’s tennis was #15 at ULM prior to being canceled in mid-June, 2025.
ULM has an award-winning water skiing program featuring a men’s and women’s team.
The National Collegiate Water Ski Association (not related to the NCAA) ranked UL-Monroe #2 this spring behind UL-Lafayette. However, the NCAA itself does not recognize water skiing as an official sport, so those two teams will not count toward the required total.
ULM isn’t the only Sunbelt Conference school which doesn’t offer 16 NCAA sports
A review of the Sunbelt Conference website showed that the majority of the 14 Sunbelt member institutions do not meet the 16 sports required to remain at the Division 1 (FBS) level.
Arkansas State currently offers only 13 NCAA sports (six for men and seven for women).
The group with 14 NCAA sports includes UL-Lafayette, ULM, and next year’s (let’s hope) new Sunbelt member, Louisiana Tech.
Georgia State, South Alabama, Southern Miss, and Troy currently offer just 15 sports.
The NCAA Division 1 (FBS) minimum of 16 sports are being offered by Sunbelt members Appalachian State, Georgia Southern, Marshall, and Old Dominion. James Madison currently has 17, while Coastal Carolina checks in at #1 in the Sunbelt with 18 total sports offered.
Not surprisingly, the Group of Five Conferences petitioned the NCAA following the COVID-19 outbreak to request a relaxation of enforcement on certain stipulations for those schools to remain in the upper division FBS.
The NCAA has a well-earned reputation for being sloth-like in making most administrative decisions.
The group has not shown an interest in either enforcing its rules or reducing the current 16 sports requirement for all schools in the FBS division.
By the way, the smaller college FCS level requires a minimum of 14 sports teams.
According to the NCAA’s rules, Arkansas State doesn’t even meet that level.
Are you still interested in becoming the Athletics Director at a mid-major school like UL-Monroe?
Professor SwampSwami will return tomorrow with a detailed presentation featuring another mid-major university which made a big change in its athletics path from FBS down to FCS a few years ago.
I will show you where their revenues come from and how much money goes to pay for the various athletics programs at this mid-sized university.
You will gain a much better appreciation as to why there have been so many AD’s come and go from ULM over the past decade. It just might be the toughest Athletics Director job in the country.
Class begins tomorrow. Don’t be late!
The post So you want to be a Mid-Major Athletics Director? (Part 1) appeared first on SwampSwamiSports.com.