Mark Harlan is the athletic director at the University of Utah. Prior to taking the position at Utah, he was the athletic director at the University of South Florida.

College

Harlan is a graduate of the University of Arizona, where he earned a bachelor's degree in political science and a master's degree in education.^[1]

Career

Harlan is the athletics director at the University of Utah. In his five years leading the Utes' athletics department, Utah has won four national championships and 24 conference championships. The Utes earned their highest finish in the LEARFIELD Director's Cup in 2022-23 and won a school-record 10 conference championships, while Harlan was named Cushman & Wakefield A.D. of the Year by NACDA. He earned a contract extension in June 2023, through 2028.^[2] Harlan has held sports administration positions at the University of South Florida, San Jose State, Northern Colorado, UCLA, and the University of Arizona.^[3] He spent five years as athletic director at the University of South Florida. In 2015–2016, the USF men's basketball team was involved in an academic scandal. USF released a statement that in part read they and the NCAA “are working together to investigate and resolve an inquiry into potential violations of NCAA bylaws and university standards….” Harlan was criticized for his ethical character and mismanagement.^[4] In 2016, he was criticized for the debacle of USF's pitch to join the Big 12 conference. In their presentation, they misspelled the word “research” as “reasearch”.^[5] Harlan left USF to become the athletic director of the University of Utah in June 2018.^[6][7][8]

Family

Harlan and his wife, Carolyn, have two children, Savannah and Austin.^[1]