Joe Castiglione
The 11th and second longest serving director of athletics at OU joined the staff in July 1998. Castiglione created a team of administrators, coaches and support staff who pursue and achieve lofty goals under the banner of ethical integrity. The student-athlete is the daily priority for department staff and that focus is reflected in the program’s success.
Castiglione was named Co-National Athletic Director of the Year in May 2018 by Sports Business Journal. He had won the award in 2009 and been a finalist in 2016. A survey conducted by Sports Illustrated in the summer of 2017 named him the best athletics director in the country.
He completed a master’s of education degree in May 2007 and subsequently became an adjunct professor in the Jeannine Rainbolt College of Education, teaching graduate classes in marketing, development and leadership in higher education. He serves on the College’s Board of Advocates and received the “Award of Distinction” given by the college in 2019. He was recognized for his distinguished service by OU’s College of Arts and Sciences and was named a Price College Distinguished Partner in 2018.
Hired on April 30, 1998, Castiglione joined the Sooner family after serving as athletics director at Missouri for more than five years. His career began as the sports promotions director at Rice. Other stops included director of athletics fund-raising at Georgetown, then director of communications and marketing at Missouri. He marked his 25th year of serving student-athletes as an athletics director with the 2018-19 academic year.
He was named to the College Football Playoff Committee in January 2018, making him the only person to serve on that committee as well as the NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball and Baseball committees. He has served on multiple NCAA committees and commissions including the NCAA’s Board of Governor’s Commission to Combat Sexual Violence on Campus, NCAA Championship/Competition Cabinet, the NCAA Division I Women’s Basketball Discussion Group and the United States Olympic Committee Athlete Career and Education Strategic Working Group. He also serves on the Gatorade Collegiate Advisory Board and the National Football Foundation and College Football Hall of Fame Board of Directors.
A native of Fort Lauderdale, Fla., Castiglione is married to the former Kristen Bartel, a 1990 graduate of the University of Missouri. They are the parents of two sons, Joseph Jr., and Jonathan.
