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Excel Search & Advisory Adds Dan Radakovich as Senior Advisor to Collegiate Athletics Practice
Excel Search & Advisory Adds Dan Radakovich as Senior Advisor to Collegiate Athletics Practice
Nationally recognized athletics executive brings decades of leadership experience, institutional perspective and relationships to the team
New York, NY | September 25, 2026
Excel Search & Advisory, a division of Excel Sports Management, has announced the appointment of Dan Radakovich as a Senior Advisor to its growing collegiate sports practice, where he will bring his experience, perspective and deep network of relationships to the team and its clients as the collegiate landscape continues to evolve.
In his new role, Radakovich will provide strategic counsel on leadership and succession matters, help deepen relationships, and provide market and candidate intelligence. His work will support searches spanning athletic directors, head coaches, conference executives and other senior athletics positions, while providing clients with insight into institutional dynamics and industry trends.
“College athletics is entering a period of increasing competitive, commercial, cultural and governance complexity, and few people can match Dan’s combination of leadership experience and deep understanding of presidents, boards, athletic directors and coaches,” said Chris Hoppe, Partner, Collegiate Practice, Excel Search & Advisory.
Radakovich’s addition represents another significant step in the continued growth of Excel Search & Advisory’s collegiate athletics practice. Over the last 10 months, the team has led searches for prominent roles across college sports, including senior leadership placements at Power Four conference offices and universities, while building strategic relationships with some of the industry’s most influential organizations and platforms, including the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics (NACDA), Teamworks, Women Leaders in Sports and D1.ticker.
“Leadership decisions have never been more consequential in college athletics as institutions navigate extraordinary change, and the leaders they select across athletics departments, programs and conferences will have an enormous impact on their future,” said Radakovich.
Radakovich recently concluded a 39-year career in college athletics that included leading athletic departments at Georgia Tech, Clemson University and the University of Miami. His tenure was marked by significant competitive and academic success, including two national championships and six ACC titles at Clemson, as well as Miami’s first College Football Playoff appearance, a men’s basketball Final Four appearance and a 94 percent NCAA graduation success rate. Radakovich was selected as one of four 2025–26 NACDA Athletics Directors of the Year at the Division I FBS level, was named Sports Business Journal’s Athletic Director of the Year in 2017, served as president of LEAD1, now the FBS AD Association, and was one of 13 members selected to the inaugural College Football Playoff Selection Committee in 2014.
Excel Search & Advisory is a market leader in executive search and leadership advisory dedicated to college and professional sports, media and entertainment. With decades of C-suite and board-level expertise, a global network and proprietary insights, the team partners with organizations to identify and recruit transformational leaders, strengthen executive teams and build high-performing cultures. The division also hosts an annual Excellent Leadership HR Summit and produces the Excellent Leadership Podcast.
About Excel Sports Management
Excel Sports Management is an industry-leading sports agency representing top-tier talent, blue-chip brands and marquee properties. Excel is a three-time winner of Sports Business Journal’s Best In Talent Representation and Management award and is consistently ranked as one of the most valuable sports agencies in the world by Forbes. The agency has offices in New York, Miami, Los Angeles, Dallas, Chicago, Charlotte and London with additional employees operating across Europe and the Middle East. For more information, visit excelsm.com.