Mark Ingram
Mark Ingram was named UAB’s Director of Athletics on May 1, 2015, and is in his ninth year at the helm of the Blazer Athletic Department.
Ingram has guided the UAB Department of Athletics through its most unique and unprecedented era of collegiate athletics with the reinstatement of Football, Bowling and Rifle, while experiencing record-setting performances on the fundraising trail and in the classroom.
In his nine years leading the Blazers, UAB has won a total of nine championships, including two in football, two in men’s basketball, one in women’s basketball and two in rifle.
The record fundraising contributed to the approval and completion of Protective Stadium, which UAB Football has called home since the 2021 season. The project was a partnership between UAB, the City of Birmingham, Jefferson County, the BJCC and the community.
Ingram is a member of the NCAA Football Competition committee, as well as having served on the Board of Directors for the 2022 World Games and the Birmingham Bowl Executive Committee.
Additionally under Ingram’s leadership, the UAB Department of Athletics has:
- Reinstated UAB Football, Rifle and Bowling
- Raised more than $100 million in cash and pledges for UAB Athletics
- Helped obtain the approval of Protective Stadium
- Completed the design and construction of a $22.5 million football practice facility, which includes a $4.2 million sponsorship and naming agreement with Legacy Credit Union – the largest of its kind in UAB Athletics history.
- Has completed over 20 additional facilities projects, including BBVA Field which now seats 6,000 and is the home to men’s and women’s soccer, a new 8-lane state-of-the-art track & field, and a new five-court beach volleyball complex, a new men’s and women’s basketball practice facility.
- The Blazers had nine of their teams record a perfect 1,000 APR multiyear rate for the 2020-21 academic year, with five teams (Men’s Golf, Men’s Tennis, Women’s Basketball, Bowling and Women’s Soccer) posting perfect 4-year APR scores from 2017-18 through 2020-21.
- For the first time in school history, UAB won the Conference USA 2022-23 Institutional Academic Excellence Award, which is given to the member institution with the highest combined overall GPA. UAB student-athletes posted a combined 3.31 GPA for the 2022-23 academic year.
- Additionally, under Ingram’s leadership, UAB student-athlete graduation rate has improved from 76% to 94%.
- UAB won C-USA SAAC Cup three straight years (2020-22), which is presented to a member institution who’s athletes make contributions in community service projects, as well as achievement in personal development programming and academic success.
- Competitively, UAB football became the first team in C-USA history to win three straight divisional titles and won the overall championship in 2018 and 2020. Rifle won back-to-back SoCon Championships in 2019 and 2020. Men’s Basketball won the 2015-16 regular season title and the 2021 Conference USA Tournament title, and Women’s Basketball won the 2017-18 C-USA regular season title.
Ingram was an integral member of the design team for the new 46,000 square foot Football Operations Center, which features an open-air pavilion covering a turf practice field, making UAB a pioneer in this architectural design.
The Football Operations Center is just one of many capital projects and facility renovations Ingram has led, which includes a list of:
- Protective Stadium – Home to UAB Football
- Football Operations Center
- Men’s and Women’s Basketball practice facility
- New Soccer Stadium Renovations to PNC Field
- New Softball Stadium at Mary Bowers Field
- Artificial Turf Installed at Baseball’s Young Memorial Field
- New Olympic Track & Field
- New Five-Court Beach Volleyball complex
- Hoke Hire Academic Center Renovations
- Olympic Sports Weight Room and Cardio Room Renovations
- Olympic Sports Nutrition Station
- Baseball, Softball and Beach Volleyball Scoreboard
- New Basketball Weight Room in Bartow Arena
- Women’s Basketball Locker Room Renovations
- Men’s and Women’s Golf Indoor Practice Facility
- Dance Studio for Spirit Teams
- Recruiting Photoshoot Lounge
- Office Upgrades for 10 Sports Teams and Five Administrative Units
- Champion Club Hospitality Room Upgrades
- Green and Gold Hospitality Room Upgrades
- Bartow Arena Upgrades for Upper-Level Safety
- Highway Marquee Board
- Olympic Sports Equipment High Density Storage and Inventory System
Prior to arriving in the Magic City, Ingram was most recently the Associate Vice President/Executive Senior Associate Athletics Director at Temple University.
“Having spent time as a student-athlete, then years as an administrator at the University of Georgia, University of Tennessee, University of Missouri and Temple University in several roles, Mark has a track record that has impressed and excited us,” UAB President Ray L. Watts said at the time Ingram was announced to lead the department. “He also has great energy and a strong desire to be at UAB.”
Ingram spent three years at Temple and two as Associate Vice President/Executive Senior Associate Athletics Director. He served as sport administrator for Men’s Golf and Women’s Lacrosse. Ingram joined Temple from the University of Tennessee, where he was Senior Associate Athletic Director.
In five years at Tennessee, his alma mater where he was a two-year starter for the Vol’s football team, Ingram was responsible for the planning and strategy for the department’s Capital Campaign that raised $336 million during his tenure.
Before joining the Tennessee staff, he served as Assistant Athletics Director for Development at the University of Georgia for two years and Assistant Athletics Director for Development at the University of Missouri.
Ingram, a Winston-Salem, N.C., native, graduated from the University of Tennessee in 1996 with a Bachelor’s degree in Sport Management and minors in both Business and Psychology. As a student-athlete, Ingram was a two-time Academic All-SEC honoree and was twice awarded the Volunteer award, given to the most valuable player who was formerly a walk-on. Also a member of the SEC Good Works Team, Ingram earned his Master’s degree in Sport Administration from Tennessee in 1997.
Ingram and his wife Amy have four children: John (USNA, ‘24), Anne Lauren, Charlie and Audrey.
